When I wrote earlier Will our reputation systems be distributed? Probably not for a long time, a number of people noted that reputation systems will be gamed.
Absolutely. The more valuable a system is, the more people will try to game it. If reputation systems influence who people buy from, who they date, who they read, then massive efforts will be made to game the systems.
However the value of a reliable reputation system is such that it is worth doing anything possible to counter-act the gamers, and it is possible. The energy and money devoted to trying to game Google is extraordinary, yet these efforts have limited success.
In the last chapter of my book Living Networks I made a number of predictions for the future of the living networks, including that Information filtering will be an evolutionary battlefield.
While reputation is a slightly different space from information filtering, both are absolutely evolutionary battlefields where each party’s tactics will evolve in response to the others’, all the while creating valuable outcomes for users. Here is the excerpt from Living Networks.
Information filtering will be an evolutionary battlefield
Bats’ use of echolocation to find their prey is one of the marvels of nature. Bats produce high-frequency sounds, and by picking up and distinguishing the immensely quieter echoes off insects in the air, can instantaneously calculate the location of their next meal. The evolution of this extraordinary capability has led to moths evolving in response. The soft outside of their wings and bodies absorbs the bats’ ultrasound. Moths engage in evasive flying stunts when they hear bats squeaking. Some moths have even evolved the ability to produce ultrasound as well, possibly to startle and throw off bats. In turn, bats have developed complex flying behaviors to confuse moths, and occasionally turn off their echolocation to stop the moths jamming their signals.
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There will be two types of people: content creators and non-content creators
By Ross DawsonIn the future there will be two types of people.
Either you will create content to share with the world, or you will not.
Many of us have already made the choice to share content with the world at large. We will be joined by many more.
The advantages of having a visible presence in a world awash with information will create a substantial economic and social difference between content creators and the rest.
Yet some people will not to want to share. Some won’t want to share anything about themselves beyond family and close friends. Others will be concerned about the privacy implications. They will not share of themselves to the world.
However if you choose to be a content-creator, it’s a slippery slope. Once you are sharing your voice online, be it through blogging, Twitter, social networks, videos, or other channels, the demands are intense just to keep it going. It’s fun, it’s rewarding, but it’s a commitment.
When your reputation and personal potential are driven by sharing, you do more. So as I just wrote, there can be spiralling demands from content creation.
If you choose to create content, content creation will be your life.
Managing the spiralling demands of blogging
By Ross DawsonIt’s all about content. That’s the heart of the universe today. Which is why I blog – to have presence in the universe.
But writing a blog is a continuous commitment. You’re always trying to carve out time from seemingly intractably busy-ness, just to keep the blog alive. Blogging is a priority, but it’s always easy to postpone writing down an idea when it arises, and then it never gets done.
Of course, if you’re a professional blogger/ writer, then the demands are truly intense. Columbia Journalism Review writes how Michael Calderone, just leaving Politico to the Yahoo! News Project, wrote over 4,000 posts while at Politico (averaging over 4 posts for every single day of his 2 ½ years there).
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A belated hooray! iPhone will finally get an external keyboard
By Ross DawsonLast year in intense frustration I wrote It is totally INSANE that you cannot use an external keyboard on an iPhone. It is absolutely crazy that I have to carry around other devices to be able to touchtype on the move.
With the launch of the iPad with external keyboard capabilities (and large on-screen keyboard) I was getting worried that they weren’t going to give the iPhone a keyboard in order to differentiate the devices.
Fortunately Steve Jobs has just announced that iPhone OS4, due out in the Northern summer, will include Bluetooth keyboard capabilities. Again, it is totally insane that it has taken this long – the iPhone has always had Bluetooth, it’s just that Apple deliberately crippled the ability to use it for keyboards.
This means I’m likely to continue with iPhone for a little while. The latest Android phones were beginning to look very tempting.
Of course there are some other nice features in OS4, notably multitasking and enhanced camera and video capabilities. But the keyboard is for me the critical one.
Information filtering and reputation will be evolutionary battlefields
By Ross DawsonWhen I wrote earlier Will our reputation systems be distributed? Probably not for a long time, a number of people noted that reputation systems will be gamed.
Absolutely. The more valuable a system is, the more people will try to game it. If reputation systems influence who people buy from, who they date, who they read, then massive efforts will be made to game the systems.
However the value of a reliable reputation system is such that it is worth doing anything possible to counter-act the gamers, and it is possible. The energy and money devoted to trying to game Google is extraordinary, yet these efforts have limited success.
In the last chapter of my book Living Networks I made a number of predictions for the future of the living networks, including that Information filtering will be an evolutionary battlefield.
While reputation is a slightly different space from information filtering, both are absolutely evolutionary battlefields where each party’s tactics will evolve in response to the others’, all the while creating valuable outcomes for users. Here is the excerpt from Living Networks.
Information filtering will be an evolutionary battlefield
Bats’ use of echolocation to find their prey is one of the marvels of nature. Bats produce high-frequency sounds, and by picking up and distinguishing the immensely quieter echoes off insects in the air, can instantaneously calculate the location of their next meal. The evolution of this extraordinary capability has led to moths evolving in response. The soft outside of their wings and bodies absorbs the bats’ ultrasound. Moths engage in evasive flying stunts when they hear bats squeaking. Some moths have even evolved the ability to produce ultrasound as well, possibly to startle and throw off bats. In turn, bats have developed complex flying behaviors to confuse moths, and occasionally turn off their echolocation to stop the moths jamming their signals.
Read more →
Will our reputation systems be distributed? Probably not for a long time
By Ross DawsonThe development of reputation systems will be a central aspect of the economy and society this decade. While we are still early in the overall process of building robust systems that are themselves trustworthy, the pace of development is accelerating.
Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist) is putting a lot of thought into the issue. His recent post Trust and reputation systems: redistributing power and influence, begins:
The ultimate issue for Craig is how these systems are developed:
Craig expanded on these ideas in an interview for GigaOm, below.
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Creating competitive differentiation with Enterprise 2.0
By Ross DawsonImplementing Enterprise 2.0 effectively is extremely challenging, as many organizations have discovered. However that is precisely why succeeding can create real and lasting competitive differentiation. In fact I believe that the ability to use collaborative technologies to enhance organizational performance will be one of the most critical competences for companies in years to come. This is not least because this ability reflects on the culture and implicit organizational structure far more than it does on technology.
Here is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of my book Implementing Enterprise 2.0, providing some of the basic arguments as to why Enterprise 2.0 is a key management issue.
CREATING DIFFERENTIATION
Nicholas Carr’s 2003 Harvard Business Review article IT Doesn’t Matter created massive controversy and debate by affirming that information technology was now a commodity and no longer provided competitive advantage to companies.
Since then, numerous articles and research studies have shown that the degree and effectiveness of investment in information technology does drive competitive differentiation within industries.
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The power of Juicystar07 demonstrates two key trends in influence
By Ross DawsonWhile we were working on the Future of Influence Summit last year I encapsulated the essence of what I was seeing in the space in Five key trends in how influence is transforming society, complementing our Influence Landscape.
If you’ve managed to avoid Juicystar07 and Allthatglitters21 so far, your time is up. They provide a fantastic example of two of the key trends in influence. Blair Fowler (Juicystar07) and Elle Fowler (Allthatglitters21) are sisters who review beauty and fashion products on their YouTube channels, with a total of 50 million and 31 million video views respectively. The video below is a “haul” review of a sponsor’s products which was also being filmed by Good Morning America.
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Yes, internet bandwidth IS a key driver of economic growth
By Ross DawsonA commenter on my last blog post The latest country comparisons in that key economic driver: broadband speed questioned whether bandwidth does drive economic growth.
While it is easy to take that for granted, there are in fact many studies that have demonstrated this fact. One of the more interesting is a Booz & Co study that compared labor productivity growth over 5 years with bandwidth, titled Digital Highways: The Role of Government in 21st-Century Infrastructure.
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The latest country comparisons in that key economic driver: broadband speed
By Ross DawsonSpeedtest.net is my go-to resource for Internet speed testing, whether it’s checking whether there are service problems, or making sure that event venues where we have video over IP links to speakers around the world have sufficient bandwidth.
One of the great additions to the service is a compilation of all their data to show bandwidth speeds around the world. While it is not necessarily fully accurate data, it is definitely current. The most thoroughly researched source for broadband comparisons is the OECD, but unfortunately the latest data from them is a couple of years old now, during which there have been significant changes in the landscape.
South Korea is the winner, with an average speed of 22.47Mbps, but it is closely followed by Japan, and countries in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia (including the #2 on the list, Aland Islands, part of Finland).
USA is #30 and Australia #43, well down in the rankings, though both are very large and economically distributed. Countries like China and Malaysia do respectably, in the 2-3Mbps range, though the problem is China in particularly still has substantial dial-up access.
As pretty much all governments have recognized, there is no question that broadband access will be a key economic driver. It will be interesting to map quite how much.
Full list of broadband speeds in 181 countries below the fold.
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Ad networks increase their domination of the online ad market
By Ross DawsonI’m in the process of preparing for an internal webinar to a global network of media specialists of a leading agency. I looked back at and updated one of the charts from my Seven Driving Forces Shaping Media framework, illustrating the shift in revenue and advertising models.
Source: comScore media metrix
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