Clay Shirky [1] on online…

Clay Shirky on online community.  Clay’s contrasting of “audiences” versus “communities” is also relevant in the enterprise environment.  “Employees”, like “audiences”, are intentionally gathered sets of individuals, linked by organizational affiliation and by the business processes within which they need to participate.  The bonds that hold communities together, however, are edge-based forces – the same forces that bring people together to solve problems, to innovate.


Center vs. edge.  Orchestrated organization vs. self-organization.  Business process vs. business practice.  Fragility vs. resiliency.  Complexity vs. chaos.  Control vs. empowerment. [Ray Ozzie’s Weblog]