Notes about Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky (via Google Bard):
Sure, here is a summary of Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody:
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations is a book by Clay Shirky published by Penguin Press in 2008. The book examines the effect of the Internet on modern group dynamics and organization. Shirky argues that the Internet has made it possible for people to organize and collaborate on a much larger scale than ever before, and that this is leading to a revolution in the way we live and work.
Shirky begins by discussing the history of social organization. He argues that for most of human history, groups have been limited in size and scope by the difficulty of communication and coordination. However, the Internet has made it possible for people to communicate and coordinate with each other on a global scale. This has led to the emergence of new forms of organization, such as Wikipedia, open source software projects, and online protests.
Shirky then goes on to discuss the implications of this new form of organization for society. He argues that it is leading to a more decentralized and democratic society, where power is more evenly distributed. He also argues that it is leading to a more creative and innovative society, as people are able to share ideas and collaborate on projects on a much larger scale.
Here Comes Everybody is a thought-provoking book that offers a new perspective on the way we think about social organization. It is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the future of society.
Here are some of the key points from the book:
- The Internet has made it possible for people to organize and collaborate on a much larger scale than ever before.
- This is leading to a revolution in the way we live and work.
- The new form of organization is more decentralized and democratic.
- It is also leading to a more creative and innovative society.
Here Comes Everybody is a thought-provoking book that offers a new perspective on the way we think about social organization. It is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the future of society.
[Author’s Note: The above text was AI-generated and may not be accurate. The overarching intent behind this blog post is to provide a starting point for discussions among aspiring community builders. Just as startup founders can benefit from startup oriented content (such as those provided by accelerators and incubators), community builders can benefit from community building oriented content. If you are an aspiring community builder, please contribute to the discussion by commenting on this post]
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One response to “Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky”
The internet has changed not only commerce, but also how we live, work and interact as a society. Few of us recognise this, perhaps none more than Clay Shirky.
While Shirky is known for his evangelism of the internet, his sentiment is perhaps best described by his phrase “the internet runs on love”. Shirky is referring to the sentiment of group love.
The first story that Shirky narrates in this book revolves around how a stolen phone, which was accidentally left in a cab and subsequently picked up by the thief, mobilised a movement to find and retrieve that specific phone. The economic costs of such organisation outweighed the benefits (even factoring in that the original owner of the phone had important information pertaining to her upcoming wedding), but that didn’t deter Evan Guttman the mobilizer of this Community from persisting. Guttman’s efforts included making a webpage for the stolen phone, spreading word among his friends, and offering rewards to the thief for the stolen phone. In response, Evan received threats of violence both explicit and implicit.
However, a collaborative news website picked up on this story and soon Evan started to receive ten emails per MINUTE offering encouragement, support and help. A spontaneous group of people came together. This collaborative effort helped pressure the police department, into treating the case as theft, while they were previously reluctant to do so. Finally, the thief was arrested and the phone was retrieved.
In my view (and likely the view of the author), this would not have been possible if the group that gathered online did not share values of justice. No one personally gained financially from their efforts. In fact after retrieving the phone, the owner and Evan declined to press charges. While Shirky does not elaborate on this simple fact beyond stating it, to me this is important because it means that the movement was not driven by retributive values (despite the multiple threats made against them), but rather justice and fairness oriented values. While this group was short-lived and confined to a singular cause, it demonstrated the power of people working together in pursuance of a common cause that reflected their values. It is unlikely that CNN or the New York Times would have covered this story if they did not sense the power of the group that rallied around this cause.
Shirky uses examples such as these to make a broader point: society is not simply constituted by its individual members, but also by its individual groups. In fact, as people our propensity to maintain sociability is so well-developed and natural that we can easily distinguish between transitive labels such as “my wife’s friend’s son” and “my friend’s wife’s son”. Our social life is so primal that even our ancestrally closest species are also social.
Our most successful endeavours are also social in nature, to a degree that we do not even realise. This means that anything which affects the way we interact is likely to have profound social implications.
Notably, new tools for coordination mean more new groups and more importantly, more new kinds of groups. In other words, more is not simply more, it is different – sociology is not simply applied psychology, the way chemistry is not simply applied physics.
In my view, this bolsters the demand that a new approach to community building is now required for the challenges that the new tools of the internet and Blockchain technology have provided.