ETHER

Networked Individualism, eTrade, and Prediction Markets

Thanks to EA Griffith for alerting me to the Pew Internet Study "The Strength of Internet Ties". Indeed EA it is reassuring to see more than a decade later what we observed in the day-to-day of managing PRODIGY bulletin boards, and as the Pew report states:

"The Internet and email aid users in maintaining their social networks and provide pathways to help when people face big decisions".

While the Pew study is persuasive that "the Internet helps build social capital" and Barry Wellman's concept of "networked individualism" prevails, more interesting to me these days is watching these forces transform business processes and organizations.  eWeek, January 30, 2006 carries an intriguing interview with eTrade CIO Greg Framke about:

"Getting rid of its Sun Solaris infrastructure and moving open source up the stack saved eTrade millions of dollars and changed how the company approaches development. "

What we learn is that moving to an open source platform also caused eTrade to change the way it develops software to the modular, collaborative approach that Linux pioneered.

Friday, February 3, I attended the KMCluster Prediction Markets Summit in New York city. Hats off to John Maloney for an extraordinary showcase of the ways organizations are capitalizing on "networked individualism" and using Prediction Markets technology in applications ranging from predicting LCD TV futures, to the spread of the Avian flu, or global risk (at the 2006 World Economic Forum). A sample of Prediction Markets applications is available at NewsFutures ( a platform provider), including the Yahoo TechBuzz Game and news story outcomes.

While the Pew Study helps us understand a decade of "the strength of Internet ties", it's clear from the experience of people like the eTrade IT group and the pioneers of "Prediction Markets" gathered at the KMCluster event, that the Internet's impact on social and organizational change is just beginning.

~ja

Podcasting, Advertising & Social Architecture

If there was any doubt podcasting has arrived as a new publishing medium listening to veteran public radio broadcaster Tony Kahn at the Corante Berkman Center Social Architecture Symposium in November 2005 was persuasive.  It was no surprize then to recently discover Podtrac billing itself as the "Podcaster-Advertiser Connection".  Their widely reported December study on podcasting demographics is interesting in labelling podcasting as "a year old" and pointing to podcast listener demographics moving from male early adopters to a "more even balance between the genders" (CNET). (I note Tony Kahn's excellent "Morning Stories" podcasts are sponsored.)

I was reminded of the value of podcasting listening to Jenny Attiyeh's Thoughtcast.org interview with David Weinberger, Stowe Boyd and Chris Nolan. Jenny's experienced interviewing for me provided better answers to the question: "What is social architecture?", than did attending the Corante Berkman Center Symposium where the podcast was recorded.

In the Thoughtcast David Weinberger talks about the Internet's potential for architecting social change.  I thought about his observations listening to a FamilyTechTalk newscast by Larry Magid and Anne Collier. These two very dedicated and experienced old and new media journalists are working together 'stand alone" (Chris Nolan's term), using the latest in new media self publishing tools, podcasts and blogs, to educate families about safe use of the Internet. Small evidence of the positive social impact of the Internet organizers of the Social Architecture Symposium imagine and discuss in Jenny Attiyeh's Thoughtcast?

Lunch with Melissa

Last week I had the pleasure of lunching after too many missed years with a wonderful colleague from PRODIGY editorial.  Melissa’s industry experience is blue chip including an unaccepted Amazon job offer because it required leaving New York.  I'm enjoying reading the stories recognizing Amazon's tenth birthday and looking back at the evolution of this industry. 

Over lunch we actually stepped back two decades to our separate but early experiences with Teletext ventures at Time and the New York Times, and Prestel standard Videotex in Australia. While I marveled at my first encounters with online collaboration in 1985 I admit not forseeing the extent to which it would transform and create businesses through "The Power of Us" as the June 20, 2005 Business Week article argues.