Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 336 pages
- Published by: Penguin Press HC, The February 28, 2008
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1594201536
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1594201530
-
Book Dimensions:
8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
- Weighs: 1 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
Blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 accoutrements are revolutionizing the social order, a development that's cause for more excitement than alarm, argues interactive telecommunications professor Shirky. He contextualizes the digital networking age with philosophical, sociological, economic and statistical theories and points to its major successes and failures. Grassroots activism stands among the winners—Belarus's flash mobs, for example, blog their way to unprecedented antiauthoritarian demonstrations. Likewise, user/contributor-managed Wikipedia raises the bar for production efficiency by throwing traditional corporate hierarchy out the window. Print journalism falters as publishing methods are transformed through the Web. Shirky is at his best deconstructing Web failures like Wikitorial, the
Los Angeles Times's attempt to facilitate group op-ed writing. Readers will appreciate the Gladwellesque lucidity of his assessments on what makes or breaks group efforts online: Every story in this book relies on the successful fusion of a plausible promise, an effective tool, and an acceptable bargain with the users. The sum of Shirky's incisive exploration, like the Web itself, is greater than its parts.
(Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Product Review
"Clear thinking and good writing about big changes."
-Stewart Brand
"Clay Shirky may be the finest thinker we have on the Internet revolution, but Here Comes Everybody is more than just a technology book; it's an absorbing guide to the future of society itself. Anyone interested in the vitality and influence of groups of human beings -from knitting circles, to political movements, to multinational corporations-needs to read this book."
-Steven Johnson, author of
Everything terrible Is Good for You and
Emergence "How do trends emerge and opinions form? The answer used to be something vague about word of mouth, but now it's a highly measurable science, and nobody understands it better than Clay Shirky. In this delightfully readable book, practically every page has an insight that will change the way you think about the new era of social media. Highly recommended."
-Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of
Wired Magazine and author of
The Long Tail "In story after story, Clay masterfully makes the connections as to why business, society and our lives continue to be transformed by a world of net-enabled social tools. His pattern-matching skills are second to none."
-Ray Ozzie,
Microsoft Chief
software Architect "Clay has long been one of my favorite thinkers on all things Internet-- not only is he smart and articulate, but he's one of those people who is able to crystallize the half-formed ideas that I've been trying to piece together into glittering, brilliant insights that make me think, yes, of course, that's how it all works."
--Cory Doctorow, co-editor of Boing Boing and author of
Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present.
Reader Reviews
I was modestly disappointed to see so few references to pioneers I recognize, including Stewart Brand, Kevin Kelly, Joe Trippi, and so on. Howard Rheingold and Yochai Benkler get single references. Seeing Stewart Brand's recommendation persuaded me I don't know the author well enough, and should err on the side of his being a genuine original. Certainly the book reads well, and for someone like me who reads a great deal, I found myself recognizing thoughts explored by others, but also impressed by the synthesis and the clarity. A few of my fly-leaf notes: + New technologies enable new kinds of groups to form. + "Message" is key, what Eric Raymond calls "plausible promise." + Can now harness "free and ready participation in a large distributed group with a variety of skills." + Cost-benefit of large "unsupervised" endeavors is off the charts. + From sharing to cooperation to collective action + Collective action requires shared vision + Literacy led to mass amatuerism, and I have note to myself, the cell phone can lead to mass on demand education "one cell call at a time" + Transactions costs dramatically lowered. + Revolution happens when it cannot be contained by status quo institutions + Good account of Wikipedia + Light discussion of social capital, Yochai Bnekler does it much better + Value of mass diversity + Implications of Linux for capitalism + Excellent account of how Perl beat out C++ Bottom line in this book: "Open Source teaches us that the communal can be at least as durable as the commercial. Other books I recommend: Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, & the Economic World Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution The Revolution Will Not Be Televised : Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace There is of course also a broad literature on complexity, collapse, resilience, diversity, integral consciousness and so on.
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