Collective Intelligence's topics - tribe.net

Seeking feedback on a collective intelligence project. Thanks for your help! :)

2009-04-09T06:43:50Z

Hi all,

I've been having a lot of success recently getting people involved in this project to create jobs for people with Autism and Asperger syndrome at http://www.AutLabs.com . I don't have any specific problems at the moment, but I'd like to solicit the group here for some critical feedback. Do any of you see anything about the site or the wiki that might be causing any problems I'm unaware of or that might cause problems in the future? Or do you see anything that could simply be improved?

Thanks!

ike

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

Remember Remember The Fifth of November

2008-10-14T00:21:52Z

Remember Remember The Fifth of November

Well girls and boys that favourite holiday season is upon us again. It is time to gather the family and hang the pumpkins on the good old Halloween tree. Time to unbutton and zip down those over stuff pants after eating lots of tasty Vegan tofu turkey on Thanks Taking Day. Time to gather the neighbourhood kids in good cheer as we sing the traditional Election Fraud hymns. There is that great holiday called Bonfire Night to celebrate the rebellious actions of some guy. And who could forget that this Autumn season ends with an early Festivus. Hopefully this year there will be lots of "Airing of Grievances" followed by unusual amount of "Feats of Strength" to give us all that holiday joy and maybe even a "Festivus Miracle" or two.

It is my favourite time of the year. Memories of building leaf men from freshly fallen leaves. My childhood memories of kicking piles of leaves and leaf ball fights. But what is so important not to forget to purchase or make a traditional V for Vendetta mask. I often wear mine to work and when picking up the kids from after school. Right now as you read this stores are filling their stocks and shelves with those beautiful V for Vendetta masks. Yes that is right the mask popularised by the graphic novel and movie. Just imagine you sporting on a fashionable V mask with your hoody or jacket or any other appropriate attire. You could even don on some foxy black Jacobean Era outfit.

But you say "uncle Evergreen V, I ain't got no money to buy me a V for Vendetta mask, cuz the big business bailout also called the Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008 has left me penniless and I ain't got no job either due to outsourcing." I am so glad you asked me that question little Tiny Tim. Here is a shiny brand new penny for your thoughts. Well if you have just a little money for two colour prints then I have a deal for you. You can actually download a papercrafted V for Vendetta mask. This two page colour print out has tags or folds on the various sections of the mask to where you fold and glue the paper mask together. This can be a fun group project with friends and like minded people. You can even work side by side with your significant other or meet some like minded individuals for those heated discussions over steamy issues about civics and social justice. Make it a shared event with friends, neighbours, co-workers, classmates and family. It can be found at the following link:

papercraft-guyfawkes-pdf.zip
http://www.zshare.net/download/161188971bb2c38b/

I will add to this a round of applause to the first person or persons who can make a viral video going step by step on the print out to a well glossed version of the infamous V mask. Yes that is right a viral video rewarded with a round of applause from me.

Remember Remember The Fifth of November

Evergreen V

PS ... please watch

Remember
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ga7wsBd9_M&feature=user

V for Vendetta in Kinetic Typography
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8332842891866779485&ei=LmjqSLeQG4nGqQKIzMmbDA&q=V+for+vendetta&vt=lf&hl=en

November 5 V Speech
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4857964137818958423&ei=-GvqSKSrA5OwrAK17uT8BA&q=V+for+Vendetta+Revolution&vt=lf&hl=en

V speech
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2118953091665527418&ei=-GvqSKSrA5OwrAK17uT8BA&q=V+for+Vendetta+Revolution&vt=lf&hl=en

Poster for a Free Cascadia "Be the Evergreen Revolution"
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/10/13/evergreenrevolutionnovemberv.jpeg

Another site with the Guy Fawkes (V for Vendetta) mask in PDF format
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/10/13/guyfawkesmask.pdf

Image of the Guy Fawkes (V for Vendetta) make after construction
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/10/13/guyfawkesdemomask.jpg

And please forward this message and make it "go viral!"

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

Collaborative learning about Collective Intelligence

2008-09-27T23:56:27Z

Are you interested in learning about Collective Intelligence (CI)? Have you begun reading but feel a little lost? Are you more of an expert who wants to share ideas with others? I’ve set up a concept map using Cmap tools software. It is (hopefully) available to everyone (if there is a bug or two in accessing it, let me know, I’ll iron it out). Feel free to read what is there so far (not much currently, but I’m adding to it all the time) or share what you know.

Cmap Tools are available to the public in beta release for free. It is Concept Mapping software that lets you add links, information, even discussion threads to each tag on the map. It has a lot of pluses (including, did I mention, that it is free), some minuses but it’ll do to start.

One thing Cmap Tools lets you do it view the concept map as a web page. You can see it and click on any of the current links (although not change it or see the discussion thread) here:

http://cmapspublic3.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1221336988093_2090547078_5426&partName=htmltext

If you’re interested in participating, you can find Cmap Tools here:

http://cmap.ihmc.us/

It is easy to install. Once you’re set up, drop me a note and I’ll let you know how to connect so you can post on the discussion threads and add to the concept map. The current organization is just a starting place. I’m assuming (hoping in fact) that as it goes along, it will change.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 1 reply

THIS is the fastest way to build the world we need!

2008-09-26T17:38:07Z

We have a huge, idealistic, smart, practical "movement" going, over on Facebook: The Next Step Together. There are more than a thousand folks in the group now, About 100 joining daily. There's proposal on the table to run our own presidential "election", and we are trying to enroll the entire world! Join us and bring in all your friends! It's all about acting PRACTICALLY, QUICKLY, WITH HUGE NUMBERS... So job ONE is getting EVERYONE IN!

Learn about the Next Step Together at http://nextsteptogether.net
Join the Next Step Together Group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24568801853

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -Mahatma Gandhi

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An experiment in Collective Intelligence - Non Profit moving towards an "open source" model in education - care to help/contribute?

2008-02-02T07:08:47Z

we are a small non profit consisting of 3 passionate individuals who are working towards a model of education based on the "open source model" - essentially it moves us towards a model where knowledge is alive and evolving as opposed to deal text books and dead information. This is powered by the notion that Collective Intelligence will transform what we hold to be true..

the first step in this is working on developing leaders/educators who are willing to adopt and be trained in this model of "being in the world" where the system is open ended and based on not being catalysts but being enzymes - that is we too change ourselves in the process of changing the world.

Our non profit is currently focussed on changing how leadership training is provided and what is provided in the process of leadership training. We have actively worked on brining together the technology of NLP, the work of clare graves, anthropology, mythology and other feilds. This work is being published free of cost as podcasts on a weekly basis while we are working on making this content alive and have the ability to have it transformed by original contributors over time.

We are seeking help from all those other passionate dreamers who have skills and are willing to help bring a change in this world. We are currently seeking help from
1. programmers with killer skills
2. design mavericks to help with design and images
3. mind mappers - to help create mindmaps for books being written with a "holographic paradigm of learning"
4. marketing genius' to help us seed this model and help create a tipping point.

if you wish to be a "PARTNER IN CHANGE" and help a group of passionate individuals bring alive the notion of "open source education" starting first with leadership education then drop us a line with how you could help us take this to the next level

write us at info@radicalchangegroup.com
and for more info on what we are doing visit us at www.radicalchangegroup.com

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

New Hunter S. Thompson Documentary

2008-01-23T22:38:19Z

Dear Friends,
This is a VERY funny and poignant film director Blue Kraning made about Hunter S. Thompson. You can follow this link to where the trailer is posted up on Tribe:

http://people.tribe.net/ef16dbc2-...e40916ff6d

or you can follow the other links to his website www.gonzopatriots.com to see the trailer and buy the film.

I went ahead and copied the text from the tribe page below so you get a better idea of the work.

Please support the spirit of independence in which this film was made AND BUY THIS FILM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much Love To All,
Lisa Ferguson (aka Petunia Maple Cake)

New Hunter S. Thompson Documentary
This is the trailer for the fun-loving but poignant film that is a tribute to Gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, and a document of how his legacy continues to live on in the hearts and minds of his fans. Blasted!!! follows the many "Gonzo Patriots" across America that volunteered their personally owned artillery to fulfill the good doctor's last wish to have his ashes fired from a cannon. Before Johnny Depp became involved with the ceremony, and paid over 2 million dollars for a professional fireworks company to blast his friend's ashes from a 200 foot tall 'Gonzo fist,' an essay contest was held by the Aspen Daily News (at the request of Hunter's family) to see who would be available to provide the service of firing his ashes. Over 50 private cannon owners applied and though these letters were published in Harper's magazine, these brave men and women, who had come forward to fulfill the dying wish of their hero...were eventually forgotten.

DVD's for this film can be purchased at www.gonzopatriots.com

Blue Kraning, Los Angeles based documentary director and Emmy Award winning writer, has just released the DVD of his film, Blasted, The Gonzo Patriots of Hunter S. Thompson, which recently premiered at the Starz Denver International Film Festival and the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

Three years in the making, this film is a tribute to a great journalist and renowned physician. Kraning says the film, “is intended for any fan of Hunter S. Thompson or just anyone who likes to see large stuffed animals blown to bits by a homemade Bowling Ball Cannon fired by a man in a purple polyester suit, or see transgender Civil War re-enactors blast their aptly named mountain howitzer...’Lucrecia,’ while reciting Hunter’s wisdom. I made this film entirely as a one-man-band, in the tradition of Gonzo individuality and artistic freedom, so I will be distributing the film entirely by myself by selling the film off my website at www.gonzopatriots.com”

"Hunter S. Thompson embodied the American ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Blue Kraning's Blasted!!! is a twisted, anarchic, fun, and funny tribute to Hunter, those ideals, and Americans who don't merely mouth the Declaration of Independence, but live it." - Michael Simmons, The Huffington Post

“These are not the famous actors, politicians or even journalists. These are Hunter's readers who are “his people” in the purest sense, an army of thoughtful citizens who are inspired by Hunter's work and who do a fine job of carrying on his legacy.” –Anita Thompson, wife of the late author, Hunter S. Thompson

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Enlightened Communication webcast Jan 17

2008-01-08T17:21:42Z

Andrew Cohen -- founder What Is Enlightenment? magazine -- has been doing some groundbreaking work with collective intelligence. He calls his forum "Enlightened Communication". He'll be doing a free live web cast Jan 17 at 3 and 9pm est. Tune in at http://easylink.playstream.com/winlive/wieunboundlive.wvx
Check out his website for more on enlightened communication: http://www.andrewcohen.org/ec/
I've participated in a lot of ec discussions and it's mindblowing -- I highly recommend checking out the webcast.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

Is this unknown geometry?

2007-05-06T18:54:19Z

http://thecompletefloweroflife.blogspot.com/

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interactive art project on my tribe page,

2007-03-13T05:22:17Z

creating an interactive art project on my tribe page
I create an art piece and ask a question
the comments the question receives
inspires the next image and question

experimenting with interactive art form
so
hop on over to my tribe page
and answer a question or two
feel free to become a new friend if you like the project and want to keep a part of it

happy trails!!
bragitta

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

Inventor of the Week

2007-01-27T05:34:19Z

http://web.mit.edu/invent/i-archive.html

I found this a little while ago and just thought I'd share. : )

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

2006-11-14T06:56:17Z

The MIT Center for Collective Intelligence is now active with a focus on the following basic research question: "How can people and computers be connected so that—collectively—they act more intelligently than any individuals, groups, or computers have ever done before?" / http://cci.mit.edu/index.html

posted in Collective Intelligence - 2 replies

Connecting Tribes for Action Through Tribe Spokescouncil

2006-10-31T07:38:04Z

If you are part of a radical to moderate group or organization of 20 or more people, and can potentially serve as their spokesperson, you are invited to join the Tribe Spokescouncil – a peer group of representatives from Tribe converging to build critical mass for unified action. Groups of Friends, and Tribes, on Tribe.net should be an ideal place to organize. (If you do not yet have a group of 20 to represent, you may still participate, but you may not block consensus decisions.)

We hope that our collective effort will help displace frustration, fear, and malaise with a sense of community, responsibility, focus, and effective, practical power. It’s time.

Our intention is to unite a network of Tribe Friends, Tribes and other groups outside Tribe to generate critical mass and take practical, effective action for better communities, nations and world.

Spokespeople will connect their groups to the Spokescouncil. Discussion and consensus building around agreeing to an action or series of actions will happen in consultation with your group. As a spokesperson you represent the viewpoints of your group, not yourself. You are an emissary (or general!) from a non-violent army meeting with other emissaries to negotiate how to most effectively "fight" for peace, justice and sustainability. We won't spend time covering issues we don't agree on – the need for our prompt action is too great and we agree on too much.

The Tribe Spokescouncil leadership will be equally shared by all present through consensus decision-making based on the Formal Consensus process. www.consensus.net/ocaccontents.html

Groups represented in the Council should be in general agreement with The Earth Charter: www.earthcharter.org

The organizers of this process will not attempt to achieve their personal or organizational preferences for action while facilitating; we are assuming service roles, taking responsibility to call the circle, help facilitate and keep the process moving within the mission of the Tribe Spokescouncil.

The mass of people eventually represented by the Council will undertake the most effective series of actions upon which it can agree. As a process based in consensus we expect that people will come together with diverse issues they care about, and will find common ground through sharing and listening. We will not act until we have achieved the critical mass necessary for the greatest possible impact. We expect these actions will be diverse in nature, scale and scope. In order to achieve critical mass for one action we suspect groups will need to agree to "build each others' barns", that is, groups will come to know and trust each other through their representatives and agree to lend their numbers to a series of campaigns, so each campaign has the critical mass required for prompt and full success.

If you feel called, or are just curious, join the Tribe Spokescouncil, tribes.tribe.net/spokescouncil

If you have questions about the details of the process, please see the FAQ for the Valleywide Spokescouncil of western Massachusetts, www.valleywidespokescouncil.net

If you know of others who may meet the qualification of responsibly representing at least 20 others and should be invited, please invite them to join.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

Free Wallop invitations through 11/11/06

2006-10-18T19:58:33Z

While I am wary to suggest that social networking software has great potential in the area of collective inteligence, I am happy to offer you invitations to Microsoft's Wallop Social Networking beta, please reply to this message with:
- your name
- your email address

Invitations are free and I ask that you return the favor for others who would like to join (rather than selling your invites on eBay as some others have). I will check this forum daily until November 11, 2006 and will send out invitations for each day.

Happy walloping!
- sean / patternhunter.com

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

arduino / open source board - knowledge share

2006-09-10T21:15:53Z

Arduino is an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple i/o board, and a development environment for writing Arduino software. The Arduino programming language is an implementation of Wiring, itself built on Processing.

http://tribes.tribe.net/arduino

Arduino can be used to develop interactive objects, taking inputs from a variety of switches or sensors, and controlling a variety of lights, motors, and other outputs. Arduino projects can be stand-alone, or they can be communicate with software running on your computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP.) The boards can be assembled by hand or purchased preassembled; the open-source IDE can be downloaded for free.

Arduino received an Honory Mention in the Digital Communities section of the 2006 Ars Electronica Prix.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

What do we have in common?

2006-08-07T22:28:30Z

Well, I think that some discussion on this issue could help us to foresee where we'd like the virtual "tools" should go in the near future. IOW, what should be the objectives implied in the improving of virtual communication and collective intelligence fostering (education, business, economy, social relations and so on).

My special interest relies on the Semiotic Operations with the web tools.

Nice to meet you!

Eufrasio Prates
Brasil

posted in Collective Intelligence - 1 reply

collective intelligence in history?

2006-08-07T22:24:57Z

What instances or types of collective intelligence have been already tried, either recently or throughout history? I have a number of answers in mind but I want to see what others have to say first.

Tim

posted in Collective Intelligence - 5 replies

WoW (World Of Warcraft)

2006-08-01T23:22:19Z

is it just me or does there seem to be something more to MMORPGing than is typically realized? The amount of time, energy, devotion, that these players devote to this artificial universe, as well as the time they spend thinking about it while they are not in the game... All adds up to increase the reality of the experience. but in the end is it just a game designed for profit?

Something like this is more than ripe for occultic activities, especially on the programming end...

opinions and theories?

Just something i've been pondering since my friends started playing and tried to get me "hooked"...

-Jared

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

Interview with Aaron Russo director of "Freedom to Fascism"

2006-06-18T10:41:23Z

Interview with Aaron Russo director of "Freedom to Fascism"

An interview by http://consciousmedianetwork.com of Aaron Russo about his new film, America: Freedom to Fascism. In this film Russo sets out to find the law that requires American citizens pay a direct income tax. This interview contains info about the fiat currency owned by private, for profit bank that we call "dollars". He explains how the Federal Reserve is neither 'Federal' nor has any reserves. He also gives a spot on critique of Michael Moore's Farenheit 911 . America: Freedom to Fascism is opening in USA . Also included on the radio.indymedia php page associated with this file will be a short excerpt from the inteview and the 14 min. trailer to the film.
http://fromfreedomtofascism.com
listen for excerpts of it in the daily rotation of radioActive sanDiego http://radioactiveradio.org
look for mp3 links to 16 min. trailer to film, and 4 minute audio clip of interview at the ".php" page on http://radioactiveradio.org
36 min.

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/aluhlooyah_aaronrussointerviewcmn.mp3

http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/10251.php

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Greenspan Sounds Alarm on Oil Supply

2006-06-10T11:44:52Z

Greenspan Sounds Alarm on Oil Supply

[“It’s official. Peak Oil hits the marketplace.” – Michael C. Ruppert]

article:

Greenspan Sounds Alarm on Oil Supply

Reuters
Washington
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/07/business/gspan.php
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, offered a grim view on Wednesday of the world's rising vulnerability to high crude oil prices, saying he was skeptical that oil producers could pump enough crude to meet future demand.
Since the 1940s, U.S. consumers have shown an uncanny ability to shoulder rising energy prices, but consumers' immunity to oil price shocks was running out, Greenspan said.
"The United States, especially, has been able to absorb the huge implicit tax of rising oil prices so far," Greenspan told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his first congressional testimony since leaving the U.S. central bank earlier this year. "However, recent data indicate we may finally be experiencing some impact."
Greenspan was appointed Fed chairman by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, and served until Jan. 31 of this year.
Lawmakers would occasionally call on Greenspan to speak on energy issues when he was chairman, but his views were still highly sought on Capitol Hill.
Since 2004, crude oil prices have doubled. Since the start of 2002, the cost of a barrel of oil has soared by $50.
Crude oil prices have stubbornly stayed above $70 a barrel despite OPEC and other world producers pumping to capacity. Prices are still within striking distance of the $75.35 a barrel record set in U.S. futures in April.
Greenspan warned that a big oil price increase could spur "a significant contraction in the economy."
Greenspan said that few of the world's dominant producers, aside from Saudi Arabia, see the danger that rising crude oil prices pose to the economy, and to their sustained ability to sell oil.
Saudi Arabia is the only country with enough untapped reserves to meet future short-term energy crunches, and has unveiled a $50 billion plan to lift output capacity by 1.5 million barrels per day by 2009.
Greenspan said while U.S. businesses had so far been able to improve productivity to compensate for costly energy, households were suffering from higher gasoline prices.
"Current oil prices over time should lower to some extent our worrisome dependence on petroleum," said Greenspan, who now runs a private consultancy. "Still higher oil prices will inevitably move vehicle transportation to hybrids, and despite the inconvenience, plug-in hybrids."
Greenspan warned that the buffer between supply and demand was extraordinarily thin and that price spikes were a risk.
"The balance of world oil supply and demand has become so precarious that even small acts of sabotage or local insurrection have a significant impact on oil prices," he said, adding that global refining capacity was still too limited.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

What is Collective Intelligence

2006-05-27T14:44:07Z

Dear CI friends,

Discussing about what is intelligence is a community in itself, the question becomes even more complicated when it comes to the collective level.

You may want to read, participate and comment the following article that is an introduction to the topic : http://www.thetransitioner.org/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=About%20Collective%20Intelligence.

The core definition proposed there is:

Collective intelligence is the capability for a group to organize itself in order to decide upon its own future and control the means to attain it in complex contexts.

Any other definitions, views, suggestions ?

posted in Collective Intelligence - 21 replies

Doing Lunch With The Almighty

2006-04-19T02:22:53Z

Perhaps the root connection for man is for him to redevelop a proper relationship with his food. When we consider where our food came from, the sacrificed life that made it possible, the processes by which it was brought to us and the manner in which we consume it, all with a sense of gratitude and conscience we will be closer to finding the right way to live.
This concept seems to be essential in discovering that equilibrium between physical reality and spiritual practice, between belief and experience. I can look around and see where the lack of this concept in the world has been devastating to our collective health and mental well being. This kind of self control, affirmation, gratitude and reverence regarding our food- that which sustains us is the key to spiritual empowerment, enlightnement and right relationship with the whole of Creation.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

What a cool tribe!

2006-04-16T00:42:29Z

A sort of intro:

Hey everybody!

I would introduce myself - but its all in my profile

I wanted to post some abundance resources to manifest your collective intelligence I've recently found that might get you excited and allow you to generate some monetary support -- or give it (oh it aint the only thing but it helps!) to projects that you would like to start, have started or you think just plain deserve it. These are some really innovative web based tools.

Here you go:

www.fundable.com
www.dropcash.com
www.pledgebank.com
www.kiva.org

I'd love to hear about any successes you have with these or other web 2.0 tools.

Namaste!

Cityzen Jane
(I'm looking for friends so drop a note!)

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

SOA

2006-03-30T08:01:00Z

Is SOA a collective intellegnce architecture?

posted in Collective Intelligence - 2 replies

Here's an Idea: Let Everyone Have Ideas

2006-03-27T12:24:55Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/business/yourmoney/26mgmt.html?ei=5090&en=0d90ed5116e769d0&ex=1301029200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

March 26, 2006
Under New Management
Here's an Idea: Let Everyone Have Ideas
By WILLIAM C. TAYLOR

LIKE many top executives, James R. Lavoie and Joseph M. Marino keep a close eye on the stock market. But the two men, co-founders of Rite-Solutions, a software company that builds advanced — and highly classified — command-and-control systems for the Navy, don't worry much about Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

Instead, they focus on an internal market where any employee can propose that the company acquire a new technology, enter a new business or make an efficiency improvement. These proposals become stocks, complete with ticker symbols, discussion lists and e-mail alerts. Employees buy or sell the stocks, and prices change to reflect the sentiments of the company's engineers, computer scientists and project managers — as well as its marketers, accountants and even the receptionist.

"We're the founders, but we're far from the smartest people here," Mr. Lavoie, the chief executive, said during an interview at Rite-Solutions' headquarters outside Newport, R.I. "At most companies, especially technology companies, the most brilliant insights tend to come from people other than senior management. So we created a marketplace to harvest collective genius."

That's a refreshing dose of humility from a successful C.E.O. with decades of experience in his field. (Mr. Lavoie, 59, is a Vietnam War veteran and an accomplished engineer who has devoted his career to military-oriented technologies.)

Most companies operate under the assumption that big ideas come from a few big brains: the inspired founder, the eccentric inventor, the visionary boss. But there's a fine line between individual genius and know-it-all arrogance. What happens when rivals become so numerous, when technologies move so quickly, that no corporate honcho can think of everything? Then it's time to invent a less top-down approach to innovation, to make it everybody's business to come up with great ideas.

That's a key lesson behind the rise of open source technology, most notably Linux. A ragtag army of programmers organized into groups, wrote computer code, made the code available for anyone to revise and, by competing and cooperating in a global community, reshaped the market for software. The brilliance of Linux as a model of innovation is that it is powered by the grass-roots brilliance of the thousands of programmers who created it.

According to Tim O'Reilly, the founder and chief executive of O'Reilly Media, the computer book publisher, and an evangelist for open source technologies, creativity is no longer about which companies have the most visionary executives, but who has the most compelling "architecture of participation." That is, which companies make it easy, interesting and rewarding for a wide range of contributors to offer ideas, solve problems and improve products?

At Rite-Solutions, the architecture of participation is both businesslike and playful. Fifty-five stocks are listed on the company's internal market, which is called Mutual Fun. Each stock comes with a detailed description — called an expect-us, as opposed to a prospectus — and begins trading at a price of $10. Every employee gets $10,000 in "opinion money" to allocate among the offerings, and employees signal their enthusiasm by investing in a stock and, better yet, volunteering to work on the project. Volunteers share in the proceeds, in the form of real money, if the stock becomes a product or delivers savings.

Mr. Marino, 57, president of Rite-Solutions, says the market, which began in January 2005, has already paid big dividends. One of the earliest stocks (ticker symbol: VIEW) was a proposal to apply three-dimensional visualization technology, akin to video games, to help sailors and domestic-security personnel practice making decisions in emergency situations. Initially, Mr. Marino was unenthusiastic about the idea — "I'm not a joystick jockey" — but support among employees was overwhelming. Today, that product line, called Rite-View, accounts for 30 percent of total sales.

"Would this have happened if it were just up to the guys at the top?" Mr. Marino asked. "Absolutely not. But we could not ignore the fact that so many people were rallying around the idea. This system removes the terrible burden of us always having to be right."

Another virtue of the stock market, Mr. Lavoie added, is that it finds good ideas from unlikely sources. Among Rite-Solutions' core technologies are pattern-recognition algorithms used in military applications, as well as for electronic gambling systems at casinos, a big market for the company. A member of the administrative staff, with no technical expertise, thought that this technology might also be used in educational settings, to create an entertaining way for students to learn history or math.

She started a stock called Win/Play/Learn (symbol: WPL), which attracted a rush of investment from engineers eager to turn her idea into a product. Their enthusiasm led to meetings with Hasbro, up the road in Pawtucket, and Rite-Solutions won a contract to help it build its VuGo multimedia system, introduced last Christmas.

Mr. Lavoie called this innovation an example of the "quiet genius" that goes untapped inside most organizations. "We would have never connected those dots," he said. "But one employee floated an idea, lots of employees got passionate about it and that led to a new line of business."

The next frontier is to tap the quiet genius that exists outside organizations — to attract innovations from people who are prepared to work with a company, even if they don't work for it. An intriguing case in point is InnoCentive, a virtual research and development lab through which major corporations invite scientists and engineers worldwide to contribute ideas and solve problems they haven't been able to crack themselves.

InnoCentive, based in Andover, Mass., is literally a marketplace of ideas. It has signed up more than 30 blue-chip companies, including Procter & Gamble, Boeing and DuPont, whose research labs are groaning under the weight of unsolved problems and unfinished projects. It has also signed up more than 90,000 biologists, chemists and other professionals from more than 175 countries. These "solvers" compete to meet thorny technical challenges posted by "seeker" companies. Each challenge has a detailed scientific description, a deadline and an award, which can run as high as $100,000.

"We are talking about the democratization of science," said Alpheus Bingham, who spent 28 years as a scientist and senior research executive at Eli Lilly & Company before becoming the president and chief executive of InnoCentive. "What happens when you open your company to thousands and thousands of minds, each of them with a totally different set of life experiences?"

InnoCentive, founded as an independent start-up by Lilly in 2001, has an impressive record. It can point to a long list of valuable scientific ideas that have arrived, with surprising speed, from faraway places. In addition to the United States, the top countries for solvers are China, India and Russia.

Last month, InnoCentive attracted a $9 million infusion of venture capital to accelerate its growth. "There is a 'collective mind' out there," Dr. Bingham said. "The question for companies is, what fraction of it can you access?"

That remains an unanswered question at many companies, whose leaders continue to rely on their own brainpower as the key source of ideas. But there's evidence that more and more top executives are recognizing the limits of their individual genius.

Back at Rite-Solutions, for example, one of the most valuable stocks on Mutual Fun is the stock market itself (symbol: STK). So many executives from other companies have asked to study the system that a team championed the idea of licensing it as a product — another unexpected opportunity.

"There's nothing wrong with experience," said Mr. Marino, the company's president. "The problem is when experience gets in the way of innovation. As founders, the one thing we know is that we don't know all the answers."

William C. Taylor is a co-founder and founding editor of Fast Company magazine. He lives in Wellesley, Mass.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

The collective web 2015

2006-03-11T19:31:25Z

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html?pg=1&topic=tech&topic_set=

This fairly brilliant article plots the potential trajectory of the net into an unexpected and enlightening direction: a collective mind.

Comments? Thoughts?

It is a longish read but a great one IMO.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 3 replies

Hyper-cortex of human CI systems

2005-09-30T13:50:57Z

http://www.community-intelligence.com/blogs/public/archives/000304.html

posted in Collective Intelligence - 2 replies

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

2005-06-23T03:07:27Z

The Tipping point

The term was popularized and applied to daily life by Malcolm Gladwell's book
"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference"

http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/

Since the publication of Gladwell's book, "tipping point" has become a common cliche, with uses often far removed from its theoretical underpinnings. The concept has been applied to any process in which beyond a certain point, the rate at which the process (chemical, sociological, etc.) proceeds increases dramatically.

Review of the book "The Tipping Point"
http://cla.uconn.edu/reviews/tipping.html

"If you want to 'tip' an epidemic, employ connectors and mavens to deliver the message; make sure the content is sticky enough to be remembered; don't underestimate the power of people in groups, and remember that little things make a big difference."
______________________________________________________

History of the term "tipping point" from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping_point

The phrase tipping point or angle of repose is a sociology term that refers to that dramatic moment when something unique becomes common. The phrase was coined by Morton Grodzins, who studied integrating neighborhoods in the early 1960s.

He discovered that most white families would remain in the neighborhood so long as the comparative number of black families remained very small. But, at a certain point, when "one too many" black families arrived, the remaining white families would move out en masse in a process known as white flight. He called that moment the "tipping point."

_____________________________________________________

posted in Collective Intelligence - 1 reply

Smart Mobs by Howard Rheingold

2005-06-22T20:35:55Z

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/rheingold/rheingold_print.html

I used the word "mob" deliberately because of its dark resonances. Humans have used our talents for cooperation to organize atrocities. Technologies that enable cooperation are not inherently pathological: unlike nuclear bombs or land mines, smart mob technologies have the potential for being used for good as well as evil.

Nevertheless, years before the September 11, 2001 attacks, commentator Thomas Friedman prophetically referred to "superempowered individuals" such as Osama Ben Laden who use modern technologies and networked organizations to execute acts of terrorism. RAND corporation analysts have pointed out that the Russian mafia and Colombian narcotics trafficking enterprises use "netwar" methods combining communication networks, social networks, and networked forms of organization.

On the other hand, when cooperation breaks out, civilizations advance and the lives of citizens improve. This is the big opportunity of smart mobs. Language, the alphabet, cities, the printing press did not eliminate poverty or injustice, but they did make it possible for groups of people to create cooperative enterprises such as science and democracy that increased the health, welfare, and liberty of many.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

New Tribe - history of collective human excellence

2005-05-20T05:42:01Z

http://historyofexcellence.tribe.net/

This tribe is about the long view of human cultural excellence, which is defined as "what works well now and also in the future."

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

Fabric-based intelligence?

2005-05-02T14:55:47Z

Can someone define the terms, fabric-based intelligence, and fabric infrastucture, for me?

posted in Collective Intelligence - 5 replies

Wow!

2005-01-24T14:44:30Z

This needs to be read :

http://cooperation.smartmobs.com/cs/node/128

And the wiki's pretty good too.

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

NUC NEWS

2004-11-23T04:40:32Z

If you want the most up to date nuc news?
Join Cold War Survivors.
http://coldwarsurvivors.tribe.net/

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

new to the group

2004-09-26T12:22:38Z

this might be a bit offtopic to this group -- but, i wanted to give it a shot here anyway. i have crossposted it into other groups that are probably more topical.

I'm new to this group.

let me explain a bit about myself and then i'll go into my question.

for the past five years i've been an instructional technology resource teacher. thats a long title to mean that i helped classroom teachers integrated technology into their curriculum.

in the wake of budget cuts, nclb, and a state adopted smaller classroom size amendment my position has been cut.

and now, i see the school district wasting money on technology. we make sure all of our new schools (and existing schools) are wired for the internet. new schools get a minimum of three computers per classroom (most have 4 to 5 not counting the teacher station) but there is virtually no training to make this technology effective.

i see many teachers simply putting in some edutainment software or even having them go to pbskids.com or some other entertainment/edutainment site.

the school i was most recently at was a K-8 school. Now, not only do the staff lose their exposure to instructional technology so do the students. Nowhere during their whole K-8 experience are they exposed to any technology class short of having the computers in the room.

sure, some teachers are a little more savvy then others and will take their class to the lab to do power point or even make web pages.

but, what of higher order technology skills?

just having the exposure to the vast amount of information on the WWW doesn't make it learning.

what i want to do is create a list of exemplar uses of technology. that is to say -- best practices of technology use in the classroom.

for instance, i find many classroom teacher telling their students to go to the web and "research" a particular classroom topic. This, in my opinion, is a poor use of technology. the teacher should give them a list of sites -- exposing any child to an open web search using google is bound to produce a myriad of bad information (not to mention some that definitely wouldn't be CIPA compliant).

so, my question to the readers of this forum is this:

what are some effective uses of computers in the classroom?

what are ineffective uses?

posted in Collective Intelligence - 5 replies

CI blog

2004-06-22T05:13:47Z

http://www.community-intelligence.com/blogs/public/

posted in Collective Intelligence - 1 reply

WEI Mag article

2004-05-06T15:22:57Z

Greetings everyone,
I'm a reader of What Is Enlightenment? magazine and one of thier editors recently did a presentation on collective intelligence here in Portland Or. Thier most recent issue features Collective Intelligence as thier focus.

http://www.wie.org/collective/

posted in Collective Intelligence - 0 replies

wikis

2004-04-08T05:19:13Z

hey, i started a wiki tribe, which i think some of you might be interested in--

http://wiki.tribe.net

-brendan

posted in Collective Intelligence - 3 replies