A New Era of Participation: Engaging, Acting and Collaborating in the Digital Age

A New Era of Participation: Engaging, Acting and Collaborating in the Digital Age

The first two chapters of “Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky provide insights into the phenomenon of using social networks to organize thoughts, groups and action. Shirky cites the active aftermath of the loss of a telephone in a New York City taxi cab to illustrate how a bystander, Evan, activated the onslaught of social media to not only return the phone to his friend, but also galvanize large scale emotional support for the loss and propel an arrest of the teenager who walked off with the phone. Evan’s antics resulted in nationwide news coverage in more than 60 media outlets and gave a new perspective on organizing in the digital age.

Shirky points to the fact that Evan would not have been able to mobilize such public support ten years prior, without the benefit of the Internet weblogs, mailing lists and electronic discussion groups. This citation is used to typify the fact that technology is changing the way that groups assemble and operate, according to Shirky.

In the new “architecture of participation,” according to publisher Tim O’Reilly, citizens are taking on new roles including detective, journalist and ad hoc police officer. So how does this apply to corporations? Shirky states that management presence articulates the difference between ad hoc groups and corporations.  However, people continue to self assemble without management protocols, providing the foundation for a new era of collaboration.

In a deeper analysis of technology enabled organizational structure, Shirky discusses the schism between traditional organizations and those that reside on a technology. He states that management resources take resources, but management challenges grow faster than organizational size. He points to a “Post Managerial Organization” during which time the cost to run a business is so costly that the it exceeds the profit margin of the business.  He further cites the “Coasean Floor,” where activities are buried because they threaten the profitability of the business as they compete for management time. Today,  social tools provide a mechanism for loosely structured groups to move forward without management intervention – and fee of the profit motive.

There is a new hierarchy of activity occurring with the advent of new media forms:  a new ease of assembly, sharing, cooperation and collective action. Collective action is the most difficult to achieve because it presumes a level of shared responsibility and must have rules for “losing” and guiding the collective action.

As students living and working in the digital environment, we will continue to engage in this evolving era or technology-driving social media communication that is changing the very way that we communicate and collaborate to achieve tasks.