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Re: Wednesday, March 9, 2005
I think that division of labor and specialization is the ultimate human skill set. I see the invention of blogs, wikis, and other online communication as the most recent additions to the toolbox. We're going to increasingly reward based on competence (as the Hughtrain, and English Cut), but it won't be a direct reward. It’s going to be especially interesting to watch how the online expression and validation of trust and competence evolves. Cory Doctorow hinted strongly at this with the concept of Whuffie. I've seen, second-hand, how a friend of mine gets small but pervasive and persistent rewards, for having been the first to engineer a simple, open source, file transfer protocol. There's not big money in it, but had he tried to make it proprietary, it won't have flown, and something else would have taken its place. My opinion is he's responsible for enabling a big chunk of the PC revolution though many tangents. He invented something, gave it away (purely for the fun of it), and got some Whuffie in the long run. Scary thought: We're going to see Whuffie become quantified (and even perhaps monitized) at some point. We have to plan for that eventuality. This model will take the place of marketing for companies that are able to articulate and share their knowledge with others. I particularly find the English Cut to be fascinating. I've learned quite a bit about the culture and technology of well made suits. Should I happen to work my way into wealth, I might even become a customer. It certainly has increase my appreciation of the value of a Bespoke. He's adding a lot of value from my perspective. All of this disintermediation is making me giddy, and scared as hell. I hope I'm up to the task. I've got my own pet project, documented over at http://bitgrid.blogspot.com, and I'm attempting to add value because I think its an exciting, fun and powerful concept. I've made it a life goal to see this idea implemented and widespread. Some whuffie would, of course, be nice to have as well. Sorry if I'm long winded... I just wanted to make sure I got the ideas out there. --Mike--
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