It’s easy to forget that the Internet was once all open. Rather, the Internet has been in a continuous cycle of highly-structured portals and free-flowing information. The initial platforms, like BBS boards , gave way to walled gardens like America OnLine . AOL’s...
Just two decades ago, the worldwide web was an uncharted universe. It was so unmapped, companies became billion-dollar brands based on organizing it. Netscape, one of the world’s first widely adopted browsers, turned company co-founder Marc Andreessen into the new...
The past decade has raised the bar in open innovation, particularly the last year. As celebrated at the Crowdsourcing Week 2018 global conference, we’ve recently maximized the power of the group and pushed scientific and technical ideas to their potential. Or have we?...
Individual and organization needs, particularly within government, can seem at odds, though Day 3 of our CSW Global 2018 conference on October 26 emphasized the importance of them evolving together. At its best, the organization fully represents the individual, and...
Can we ever balance the power between man and machine or, perhaps, even use technology to balance the power among men themselves? It was a rousing first day of conference at CSW Global 2018, all building up to this same question. The many speakers tackled job...
The blockchain discussion is often focused on the financial benefits – indeed, you can often catch new folks interchange “bitcoin” and “blockchain” in common conversation. The impact, though, will go well beyond fiat currencies and business markets. One of the...
How do you represent the crowd? For millennia, there have been many techniques to figure out the majority needs. Picture people raising their hands at an event, or clapping to choose the best choice, or submitting tiny pieces of paper to be tallied later. As we...
We’ve had one of the oldest crowdsourcing examples right under our nose. We vote every single day, whether it is an election of our next world leader, a response to “What do we want to eat?” at the family dinner table, or among a circle of tribesman vocalizing our...
There is a natural tension between intellectual property and intellectual growth. Companies value their ideas and processes, as it differentiates them from other businesses, but they have to let go of some of their secrecy and power to truly bloom. The pendulum has...
Major scientific discovery has traditionally been the playground of one group: the elite. It’s no coincidence that Darwin, Copernicus, and others legends came from well-off backgrounds as scientific breakthroughs often require equipment, access, time and privilege not...
The smartest businesses know that they don’t have the power anymore. The people do. The conversation has shifted from focused, monolithic companies telling the consumer what they need to widespread, decentralized networks built by consumers themselves . Today’s top...