zaterdag, oktober 14, 2006
The wisdom of crowds
During my flight back yesterday, I finished reading 'The Wisdom of Crowds', by James Surowiecki. The book's tag line reads 'why the many are smarter than the few' and a summary is on the site : "large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future."
It's a good book, although not all examples are relevant for this part of the world. It does however make a learning professional think about the value of expertise. Under favorable conditions (a diverse, very large audience without any particular skills or without having access to all detailed information, but making independant decisions), crowds tend to outperform individual experts with access to all information. So, is expertise overrated? Does it make sense to pay a lot of money to an individual for something the crowd can do better? These questions become relevant in an internet age because with almost no extra cost we CAN access a crowd nowadays where it would have been impossible or very costly before. Some web2.0 sites prove that a lot of Joe Commons equal or outperform corporations or professionals.
Wouldn't it be great to use this 'wisdom of crowds' for learning somehow without relying solely on the expert/teacher? The book hasn't given me any answers, just a lot more questions. I recommend this book.
It's a good book, although not all examples are relevant for this part of the world. It does however make a learning professional think about the value of expertise. Under favorable conditions (a diverse, very large audience without any particular skills or without having access to all detailed information, but making independant decisions), crowds tend to outperform individual experts with access to all information. So, is expertise overrated? Does it make sense to pay a lot of money to an individual for something the crowd can do better? These questions become relevant in an internet age because with almost no extra cost we CAN access a crowd nowadays where it would have been impossible or very costly before. Some web2.0 sites prove that a lot of Joe Commons equal or outperform corporations or professionals.
Wouldn't it be great to use this 'wisdom of crowds' for learning somehow without relying solely on the expert/teacher? The book hasn't given me any answers, just a lot more questions. I recommend this book.
