A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy
by Volker Weber
Another good Clay Shirky reading:
This talk is in three parts. The best explanation I have found for the kinds of things that happen when groups of humans interact is psychological research that predates the Internet, so the first part is going to be about W.R. Bion's research, which I will talk about in a moment, research that I believe explains how and why a group is its own worst enemy.
The second part is: Why now? What's going on now that makes this worth thinking about? I think we're seeing a revolution in social software in the current environment that's really interesting.
And third, I want to identify some things, about half a dozen things, in fact, that I think are core to any software that supports larger, long-lived groups.
After reading this piece I understand a lot of things happening in communities. Should have read this five years ago.
Comments
Wow, that's some seriously interesting stuff right there.
Kerr Rainey, 2008-07-30
Related:
Clay Shirky: Institutions vs Collaboration
[I've just started watching it]
Jason Hook, 2008-07-30
Clay Shirky is on the Socialtext Board of Advisors ;-)
Alan Lepofsky, 2008-07-30
