Chapter 4: Harnessing collective intelligence

Further Reading: Tom Gruber

"Gruber (2007) suggests that there are three components of an online system that support collective intelligence and the benefits that might be gained from the idea that in a web 2.0 platform like Facebook, the fact that there is over 500 million members makes it the valuable and useful tool for social interaction and sharing that it has become today." (1)

I wanted to explore this further as I feel it is important for me to understand the power of the systems I am using. 

"Simply collecting the contributions of the masses does not lead to new levels of intelligence." (2)

It is important to be aware of this and remember that when conducting research on web 2.0 platforms a lot of it can be opinion rather than fact.

"I would suggest that collective intelligence be taken seriously as a scientific and societal goal, and that the Internet is our best shot at seeing it happen in our lifetimes. The key, as the visionaries have seen, is a synergy between human and machines. What kind of synergy? Clearly, there are different roles for people and machines. People are the producers and customers: they are the source of knowledge, and they have real world problems and interests. Machines are the enablers: they store and remember data, search and combine data, and draw mathematical and knowledge in the context of conversation. The Internet makes it possible for machines to help people create more knowledge and learn from each other more effectively."(2)

This quote simply highlights that the Internet is not creating the collective intelligence we are and we are therefore responsible for harnessing it. 

"Today, that interaction pattern treats the web as an information source: we learn by browsing, searching, and monitoring the web.  Tomorrow, the web will be understood as an active human-computer system, and we will learn by telling it what we are interested in, asking it what we collectively know, and using it to apply our collective knowledge to address our collective needs." (2)

It is important to remember that Gruber wrote this in 2007 and I think we are well on the way to the tomorrow he talks of.  I am proud to say I am becoming a part of the collective intelligence.

Refrences

(1) http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/docs/566/262964/Module_1_BAPP_Handbook_3730_Reader_1_2011-12_final.pdf

(2)http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1