Collaborative innovation

Here's a nice film promoting Charles Leadbetter's new book "We Think". The book is about collaborative innovation on the net.

From Mr. Leadbetter's site, "Welcome to We-think: mass innovation, not mass production

WeThink explores how the web is changing our world, creating a culture in which more people than ever can participate, share and collaborate, ideas and information.

Ideas take life when they are shared. That is why the web is such a potent platform for creativity and innovation.

It's also at the heart of why the web should be good for : democracy, by giving more people a voice and the ability to organise themselves; freedom, by giving more people the opportunity to be creative and equality, by allowing knowledge to be set free. An example of a simple idea management system.

But sharing also brings with it dilemmas.

It leaves us more open to abus and invasions of privacy.

Participation is not always a good thing: it can just create a cacophony.

Collaboration is sustained and reliable only under conditions which allow for self organisation."

Business managers should be thinking about using social software applications and collaborative tools to engage and support customers. What do you think about social media, social commerce, and applications that make it easy to find, create, and share in conversations? ...Is there any value?