The wisdom of collaborative network organizations: Capturing the value of networked individuals

Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation

Volumn 26, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 211-230

  Dutton, William H ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Collaborative working; Distributed problem solving networks; Information and communication technologies; Network society; Organisational change; Wisdom of crowds

Indexed keywords

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY; ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE; ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK;

EID: 49949087287     PISSN: 08109028     EISSN: 14701030     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/08109020802270182     Document Type: Article

References (54)

1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the EPSRC Workshop on 'Managing for Usability: Challenges and Opportunities for e-Science Project Management' at the Oxford e- Research Centre, University of Oxford, 10-11 April 2008. It is based on 'The Performance of Distributed Problem-Solving Networks' research project, anchored in collaboration between the Oxford Internet Institute and the McKinsey Technology Initiative (see: www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/project.cfm?id=45). The author thanks David Bray, Paul David, Matthijs den Besten, Wolf Richter, and the entire OII research team, as well as colleagues within the McKinsey Technology Initiative, particularly James Manyika, Brad Johnson, and Michael Chui. The paper is not intended to convey the consensus view of the project team, but the author's synthesis of the team's findings. The author thanks Malcolm Peltu for providing editorial support on this paper. The project was supported by a grant from McKinsey & Company, and drew from work undertaken within the ESRC's Oxford e-Social Science Project (RES-149-25-1022).
2. See, for example, S. Weber, The Success of Open Source, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004.
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4. See, for example, J. Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, Doubleday, New The Wisdom of Collaborative Network Organizations 229 York, 2004;
5. Y. Benkler, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets Freedom, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2006.
6. The paper is one synthesis of studies by the OII and McKinsey Technology Initiative (MTI) that analysed and assessed the performance of such uses of the Internet, the Web and other advances in information and communication technology. Greater detail and updates on OII-MTI case studies and findings are available through the project's website, available http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/project.cfm?id=45.
7. See http://www.iit.edu/~it/delphi.html.
8. An important landmark publication in this development was R. Hiltz and M. Turoff, The Network Nation, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1978.
9. An excellent overview of groupware and other early collaborative tools is provided by Johansen, Groupware: Computer Support for Business Teams, The Free Press, New York, 1988.
10. The definition and rationale for this early classification is provided by P. A. David, 'Toward analytical framework for the study of distributed problem-solving networks', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2007.
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13. See, for example, W. Richter, 'Intellectual property law and the performance of distributed problem-solving networks (DPSNs)', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2008.
14. The term Web 2.0 remains a subject of debate, but is generally used to refer to Web applications that exploit user-generated content to 'harness collective intelligence'; see O'Reilly, What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software 30 September 2005. Available at: http://www.oreilly.com/ pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=1.
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16. An excellent overview of the semantic Web has been provided by Y. Wilks, 'What is the semantic Web and what will it do for eScience?', OII Research Report No. 12, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2006. Available at: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/RR12.pdf.
17. See http://atlas.ch/.
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19. See http://www.mozilla.org/bugs/.
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23. See http://sciencecommons.org/projects/data/background-briefing/.
24. See http://digg.com/about.
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26. See http://www.sermo.com/.
27. D. Bray, K. Croxson, W. Dutton and B. Konsynski, 'Sermo: An authenticated, communitybased, knowledge ecosystem', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2008a.
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29. See http://www.seriosity.com/.
30. D. Bray, K. Croxson, W. Dutton and B. Konsynski, 'Seriosity: Addressing the challenges limited attention spans', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2008b.
31. See http://www.mozilla.com.
32. Dalle et al., op. cit.
33. See http://en.wikipedia.org/Biki/Wikipedia:About.
34. M. den Besten and M. Loubser, 'Resolving simple and contested entries on Wikipedia', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2008.
35. See http://aswarmofangels.com/.
36. I. Cassarino and A. Geuna, 'Distributed film production: Artistic experimentation or feasible alternative? The case of A Swarm of Angels', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2008.
37. See, for example: W. H. Dutton, Society on the Line: Information Politics in the Digital Age, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999;
38. W. Dutton, 'The Internet and social transformation', in W. H. Dutton, B. Kahin, R. O'Callaghan and A. W. Wyckoff (eds), Transforming Enterprise: The Economic and Social Implications of Information Technology, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005, pp. 375-98.
39. Far from making geography irrelevant, the Internet makes geography more important as it could enable you to be where you need to be in order to have face-to-face communication.
40. David, op. cit. provides a useful discussion of the distinctions among these concepts.
41. Bray et al., 2008a, op. cit.
42. P. Quintas, 'Software by design', in R. Mansell and R. Silverstone (eds), Communication by Design, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996, pp. 75-102.
43. For more on Telegarden, see: http://www.ieor.berkeley.edu/~goldberg/ garden/Ars/
44. and M. L. McLaughlin, K. K. Osborne and N. B. Ellison, 'Virtual community in a telepresence environment', in S. Jones (ed.), Virtual Culture, Sage, London, 1997, pp. 146-68.
45. M. Loubser, 'Governance structures in distributed problem-solving networks', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2008.
46. R. Ackland, 'What can we learn about distributed problem-solving networks through Webmetrics', Working Paper, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, 2008.
47. Ibid.
48. Croxson and Bray, op. cit.
49. J. G. March, 'Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning', Organization Science, 2, 1, 1991, pp. 71-87.
50. D. Bray, 'Knowledge ecosystems: Technology, motivations, processes, and performance', Dissertation, Graduate School, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2008.
51. Richter, op. cit.
52. Loubser, op. cit.
53. Croxson and Bray, op. cit.
54. N. Carr, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google W. W. Norton & Company, London, 2008.