The MegaTrend of Distributed Attention is driving everything

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Yesterday I ran Getting Results From Crowds and Crowd Business Models workshops in Sydney, the first in a global series of crowdsourcing workshops.

In opening the Crowd Business Models workshop, I ran through some of the driving forces that are shifting business models to crowds. I had quickly drawn up the list the evening before the workshop, with the first coming to mind Distributed Attention.

During the workshop we had an awesome panel of three of Sydney’s top entrepreneurs: Rebekah Campbell of Posse, Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin of BlueChilli and Phil Morle of Pollenizer.

Each one of them spoke about how much harder it is to get people’s attention than even a year or two ago. For each of them, one of the fundamental reasons that business models need to start with crowds is that individual attention is increasingly fleeting. You can’t bolt on crowds to a business model as an afterthought – it must be at the center.
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Infographic: Timeline of the acceleration of crowdsourcing

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In Chapter 2 of Getting Results From Crowds on The Rise of Crowdsourcing we included a Crowdsourcing Timeline, showing a selection of some of the important events in the world of crowds over the last couple of hundred years.

Tapping crowds has a long and illustrious past, with of course an acceleration over the last 15 years as humanity has becoming connected, vastly broadening the scope of crowd participation.

The image below is taken straight from a two-page spread in the book. Click on the image for the full-size version.

Insights and real-life case studies in effective crowdfunding for change

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This evening I spoke at the Crowdfunding for Change event run by Avis Mulhall‘s Think Act Change. The event kicked off with a presentations by Adam Chapnick, head of business development at seminal creative crowdfunding platform IndieGogo, and award-winning film director Gillian Leahy, followed by a panel consisting of myself together with Alan Crabbe, co-founder of leading Australian crowdfunding site Pozible, and Ryan Wardell, founder of ProjectPowerUp.

Below are live notes from the event, capturing what I could of the presentations and conversation. I wasn’t able to take notes when I was speaking, so will write more about my thoughts on effective crowdfunding and where it is heading another time.
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Ten years from now: What we will do, have, and not have

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This morning I appeared on Channel 7’s The Morning Show talking about the world 10 years from now.

A few of the things I mentioned in the interview include:
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In the future libraries may die, but they will be reborn

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The future of libraries is a rich and fascinating topic. It’s over 10 years now since I first gave a keynote on the topic, to an an audience of over 1,200 members of the Australian Libraries and Information Association conference. In 2007 I gained notoriety on the topic when Richard Watson and I put libraries at 2019 in our Extinction Timeline, and have been drawn into strategy sessions with a number of major libraries since then.

Last week The Times (of Ottawa, Illinois) published a piece titled ‘They’ll be reborn’ What does the future hold for libraries?, sparked by discussion of the need for big new library projects in the region.

In the article I am quoted:
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Using network perspectives to visualize changing culture and meaning

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I’m a big fan of Tim Stock‘s work, which weaves together a deep network perspective with a rich view of how culture is changing informed by semiotic analysis. I earlier shared one of his presentations in a post on how the culture of luxury is changing.

The slides to his presentation at SXSW today on Culture Networks and the codes that drive them are available below. As usual, they provide a lesson in beautiful slide presentations to accompany the rich content.

Culture Networks (SXSW 2012)

View more presentations from Tim Stock

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The inexorable rise of work markets

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The role and prominence of online markets for work have soared dramatically over the last few years, but this is just the beginning.

I have been following the rise of online markets for work since Elance was founded in 1999, writing about them in my 2002 book Living Networks and dedicating a large chunk of Getting Results From Crowds to how to effectively manage work markets.

Prominent VC Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures has just written a post The Nature Of The Firm and Work Markets, referencing, as I did in both of these books, the seminal work of Ronald Coase. Wilson writes:
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Is Manifesto the right word for our times?

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It strikes me that in these these confused and confusing times we should lay down clear thoughts about what we believe in. I am mustering my thoughts across a number domains to express what I think is important.

However one of the questions is what to call these statements. On the face of it ‘Manifesto’ is an admirable description.

From the political domain the Communist Manifesto (1848) and Anarchist Manifesto (1850) flowed through into artistic domain, with notably the Futurist Manifesto (1909) and Surrealist Manifesto (1924), and on into the social domain, with the SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) Manifesto (1968) among the many marking the cultural revolution of the 1960s. Since then the technological domain has been rife with statements from the GNU Manifesto (1985) and Hackers Manifesto (1986) through to the bestselling Cluetrain Manifesto (1999).


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Will technology harm or help young people’s brains? A highly nuanced debate

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Pew Internet & American Life Project’s latest study on the future of the internet examines how young people will be affected by technology.

The study selected 1,021 “experts” and asked them to choose between one of the following statements, with no other choices, with these results:
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The 14 ExaTrends of the Decade

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We released our Map of the ExaTrends of the Decade a while ago now. However the decade is still young, and all of these ExaTrends (which is a MegaTrend cubed) have a long way yet to play out.

We have created a set of slides to make the 14 ExaTrends easier to read and understand. The slides are better viewed in large size, so either view full screen or go to the slides on Slideshare.

14 ExaTrends of the Decade

View more presentations from Ross Dawsn

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