About this title: Shirky examines how technology is changing the way humans form groups and exist within them, and the resulting long-term economic and social effects. 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."--Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of "Wired" Magazine.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780143114949ISBN:0143114948
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 344 p. Audience: General/trade. Shipped in protective bubble wrap. Thank you for supporting my small business! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Date Published: 2008-02-28
ISBN-13:9781594201530ISBN:1594201536
Description: New in New jacket. New hardback book with publisher's inventory mark. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 2009-02-24
ISBN-13:9780143114949ISBN:0143114948
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780143114949. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780143114949ISBN:0143114948
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Pr
Date Published: 2008-02-28
ISBN-13:9781594201530ISBN:1594201536
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781594201530. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781594201530ISBN:1594201536
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"This should be required reading for all librarians, if for nothing else than Chapter 3, in which he mentions how the people inside the institutions have the hardest time seeing how the institution is becoming obsolete. (yikes! but true!) AND Chapter 5 in which he explains how Wikipedia works. I also loved the later chapters on the importance of failures, and how institutions often have a hard time letting things go because they've already paid for them.
This "failure"concept first occurred to me in about, oh 1987 or so, when I went to the Newport Music Hall in Columbus to see Nazareth. Yes, this was about 10 years past Nazareth's "prime" such as it was and I remember having the epiphany "I've already spent $10 (or whatever) to get in here, and I can't get it back, wouldn't I rather be ANYWHERE but here right now? Why should I be even MORE miserable just because I spent $10? He uses this analogy (only talking about people sitting through bad movies) for the same reasons people don't pull the plug on projects that obviously aren't working.
Not to mention he answers many of the unenlightened critics of blogs, Twitter, and Facebook in beautiful, easy to read language. Even if you're in his "choir" I challenge you not to think while reading this very thought provoking book."
"Well, it's now official: I made it to page 161 and stopped reading. I've now returned it to the library.
I realized a couple of things that made me stop: 1) The parts I enjoyed were the parts that I knew less about. The parts I knew a little bit more about (community based media and participatory art practices) contained some big factual holes or innacuracies. This made me skeptical about the parts I knew less about and therefore couldn't get so mad/annoyed/whatever about the things he glossed over or got wrong.
2) I said this in a reply to Ann's comment: In my mind, his point is weakened because he used a traditional media channel to send out this message of the revolutionary times we are living in. I wish that he had successfully used the technologies he's claiming are changing our lives to hammer home his point. Instead, he resorts to a wonderful, yet what he seems to consider soon to be outdated media channel. Worse yet, it's one that he isn't terribly skilled in using. He would have been far better off sticking to short form and internet strategies.
2a) I'm pretty shocked at how much adulation this book is getting. I knew writing standards were rapidly on the decline, but at some point I think you have to have a good command of writing out an argument in order to be considered one of the authorities on the subject. Or (I'm not letting it go!) stick to formats that you are more effective communicating in.
******************* Here are my previous comments, which are still true:
This book has been a moderately painful, but quick read.
I feel like this book is falling prey to so many of these "must read" books. It appears to me that Shirky is primarily a journalist used to short, punchy writing; and that he had a word count that needed to be met, so he's cobbled together some better thought out articles with some filler.
The first several chapters were full of sweeping statements about how revolutionary the internet is, with examples that are overused at best (moveable type/gutenberg press) and downright trite (shepherds and sheep? for real?!) at their worst. A discussion of media channels completely failed to even hint at the existence of community-based and -generated media pre-Internet.
At the half-way point, Shirky finally seems to be finding himself on more solid, better researched ground.
I think I'd enjoy reading an article in Wired, or on a blog, that was the wikipedia chapter. He seems generally interested and engaged in its evolution. He nicely points to larger social impacts tools like this might have while also noting that it feeds into social behaviors that have existed all along. I was relieved to get to this chapter.
I wish I could say I'm disappointed, but this is about what I expect from this type of book. It's being discussed a bunch, so I need to know what all the fuss is about. And it is, afterall, a fast read. To use a Shirky-esque cringe worthy analogy: it's like removing a band-aid or waxing your legs. You just take a deep breath, use one quick gesture and it's over quickly.
I have a few other thoughts that I will leave until I've finished the book."
"I very much enjoyed reading _Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations_ by Clay Shirky (2008). Some quotes from Shirky on the practical and current use of the web and technology:
"... many of the significant changes are based not on the fanciest, newest bits of technology but on simple, easy-to-use tools like e-mail, mobile phones, and websites, because those are the tools most people have access to and, critically, are comfortable using in their daily lives. Revolution doesn't happen when society adopts new technologies - it happens when society adopts new behaviors." (from Shirky's "Collective Action and Institutional Challenges")
"The internet augments real-world social life rather than providing an alternative to it. Instead of becoming a separate cyberspace, our electronic networking are becoming deeply embedded in real life." (from Shirky's "Solving Social Dilemmas")
"...a good social tool is like a good woodworking tool - it must be designed to fit the job being done, and it must help people do something they actually want to do." (from Shirky's "Promise, Tool, Bargain")
"One of the biggest changes in our society is the shift from prevention to reaction... Society simply has less control over what kind of groups can form, and what kind of value they can confer their members, and this in turn means a loss of prevention as a strategy for reducing harm." (from Shirky's "Epilogue")"
"This may be one of the best ethnographies of our time. Clay Shirky explores the ways in which technology has altered news consumption, social work, networking, self expression, and more. He argues that new media technologies are as revolutionary as the printing press and movable type once were.
Shirky takes examples from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Digg. Those tools are still the leaders in social media but he could just as easily have written this five years ago using Friendster, Yahoo Groups, Kodak Gallery, or Lycos. The message would have been the same: people use the tools at their disposal to be heard. The beauty of open source and the socialistic nature of the Web allows the next generation of social media to learn from the first generation and create increasingly effective tools. It can only get better.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in user behavior and (post)modern communication. A few thoughts that I am still chewing on include:
"The definition of journalist, seemingly a robust and stable profession, turns out to be tied to particular forms of production as well." So when the barriers to production drop and anyone can disseminate news, how does a professional journalist adapt and remain relevant?
"This potential seems as if it should allow everyone to interact with everyone else, undoing the one-way nature of television. But calling that potential interactivity would be like calling a newspaper interactive because it publishes letters to the editor." Precisely my thinking when I see newscasters pushing their Twitter accounts on the air! So what is true interactivity in mass media? I don't think we've figured it out yet.
"We have lost the clean distinctions between communications media and broadcast media." Can we get it back? More importantly, is that desirable? And if it is not desirable, will the outcome be a more informed news audience that places different (more socially responsible) demands on the professional media? Or is that overly Utopic?"
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