Websapien 2.0

On Collective Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Web Sapien 2.0) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 07:59:00 +0000

I was just thinking of writing my new blog on social communities but then I came across this site and it was too compelling to be left without mentioning. A friend send me a link to this plain looking but interesting site AVANOO. But before I get all excited and start talking about the site, lets spend a few lines on Collective Wisdom.

The book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, first published in 2004, is a book written by Ja mes Surowiecki about the aggregation of information in groups, resulting in decisions that, he argues, are often better than could have been made by any single member of the group. The whole concept of 'crowd intelligence' can not only solve numerous research problems but also help find innovative solutions to many a stubborn questions.

Four elements required to form a wise crowd

Not all crowds (groups) are wise crowds. According to Surowiecki, these key criteria separate wise crowds from irrational ones:

Diversity of opinion. Each person should have private information even if it's just an eccentric interpretation of the known facts.
Independence.People's opinions aren't determined by the opinions of those around them.
Decentralization. People are able to specialize and draw on local knowledge.
Aggregation. Some mechanism exists for turning private judgments into a collective decision.

But that's not what this blog is about. The interesting bit is how web 2.0 is harnessing and utilising this collective wisdom. And one good example I found was AVANOO. It works on the principle that if people can access the perspectives of different communities when asking questions, getting recommendations, or trying to understand anything about the world, they will be able to make better decisions than if they were to consult experts or rely on majority crowd opinions.

Avanoo is a community of people who care about issues ranging from politics to relationships, and who feel that global issues must be understood in terms of smaller communities. Avanoo also claims to be the first application of the Wisdom of Communities on the Internet.What is more interesting is that they are also working on creating a web community and as the website states, "... they think they can change the world".

I don't know about the world but this will definitely change how marketeers look and interact with consumers. A new channel of reach or a a new discipline of market research. But whatever it will grow out to be, it definitely should not be ignored across industries.

On a lighter note, how bout collective wisdom on ' What Women Want?' :)

All About Wikis

noreply@blogger.com (Web Sapien 2.0) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:52:00 +0000

What is a Wiki?

A wiki is a Web page that can be viewed and modified by anybody with a Web browser and access to the Internet. This means that any visitor to the wiki can change its content if they desire. While the potential for mischief exists, wikis can be surprisingly robust, open ended, collaborative group sites. Wikis permit asynchronous communication and group collaboration across the Internet.

The first wikis appeared in the mid-1990s. Scientists and engineers used them to create dynamic knowledge bases. Wiki content could be immediately (and widely) viewed and commented on. Today, in addition to compiling information, faculty and staff in higher education use wikis as repositories for meeting notes/ agendas and other information.

What Is Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is one of most popular Wikis and a free online encyclopedia. The name is a portmanteau of the Hawaiian word for quick, "wiki", and "encyclopedia". Actively updated in over 100 languages, including constructed languages such as Esperanto, the English language Wikipedia covers millions articles. Wikipedia, founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization and supported mainly by donations, allows anyone with Internet access to edit its articles. The premise is that collective knowledge, which some call "open source" content, is every bit as valuable as professionally edited content. As a result, Wikipedia has become a hybrid encyclopedia.

The lack of language barriers, and the fact that anybody with an Internet connection and a web browser can access and edit its contents, has Wikipedia termed as a "sum of public human knowledge."

Can you Trust the User Edited Content?

A very common criticism of Wikipedia is its inconsistent and unauthoritative submission model. The encyclopedia allows anybody to edit its pages, even anonymously. To address this issue, and to ensure quality, accurate content, all submissions and edits are moderated and regulated by a staff of regular volunteers. However, all information learned from Wikipedia should be independently verified by interested parties, and citing Wikipedia as a reference work is usually frowned upon in most academic circles. It should be noted that in 2005 the scientific publication Nature performed a comparison of the accuracy of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica, the leading print encyclopedia. It found that while the amount of errors per article in Wikipedia and Britannica were the same, the severity of errors in Wikipedia were worse.

“Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”. And this is at the heart of how Wikipedia works. Because it has so many people swarming over it all the time errors and abuses of the system are all quickly picked up.
Indeed, research by IBM showed that acts of "vandalism" (i.e. people deliberately writing either rubbish or abusive comments) were normally cleared from the site within five minutes.
For example, at 23.23 on September 27 last year, a user under the name Hitler edited the entry on Judaism by proposing that it be put forward for a "Vote For Deletion" (i.e. it should be removed entirely from Wikipedia). He summarized his edit as "HOLOCAUST LOL" (Laughing Out Loud). At 23.29 another user removed this from the page. And at 23.44, "Hitler" was been banned indefinitely from using the site

Why is Wikipedia a success?

Even by the admission of its founder, the 38-year-old technology entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, it was a "completely insane idea": a free online encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to and anyone can edit. There is no editor, no army of proof readers and fact checkers; in fact, no full-time staff at all. It is, in other words, about as far from the traditional idea of an encyclopedia as you can get.

There are dozens of reasons why it shouldn't work, and it is still far from perfect, but in less than four years, it has grown to have more than 1 million entries written in 100 languages from Albanian to Zulu.

To its fans, it is a fantastic research resource - albeit one that you should use with caution; and an incredible example of what can be achieved by collaboration and cooperation over the internet. To its detractors - mostly those from the traditional world of encyclopedias and librarianship, it is barely worthy of the label "encyclopedia".

To put Wikipedia's achievements in numerical context, at the same time it was celebrating the publishing of its one millionth entry (a Hebrew article on the Kazakhstan flag) in less than four years, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography launched its latest edition. It had taken 12 years to complete, yet contained a comparatively tiddly 55,000 biographies. It also cost some £25m to create. Wikipedia has so far been bankrolled by Wales, but the total cost so far is still around £300,000.

The current Encyclopedia Britannica has 44m words of text. Wikipedia already has more than 250m words in it. Britannica's most recent edition has 65,000 entries in print and 75,000 entries online. Wikipedia's English site has some 360,000 entries and is growing every day.

The truth is that Wikipedia is continuously evolving. There are now around 3,000 new entries being added each day (about 700-800 of which are in English); and as the site has got bigger, so has the amount of editing that takes place on it. This year, there was an average of 11 edits per article. The entry on the Israel-Palestinian conflict has been edited more than 250 times this year alone.
The most contested entry, though, is that of George Bush, which has caused so much controversy that it has been frozen from editing. It had had more than 500 edits in three months, and there are more than 13 pages of discussion about the entry.

Wikis is really a Conversation

To me, Wikis are conversations. It is a new step in real time online discussion. Or let me call it a ‘smart’ conversation in Web 2.0 where the correct information out numbers the users who want to manipulate communication. And till the time there are internet users who care about sharing accurate knowledge, wikis on various topics will continue to grow.

Some Interesting Wikis you can visit are:

WikiHow is a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual.

Scholarpedia is an online wiki-based encyclopedia in which articles are written by invited experts.

MeatballWiki is a wiki dedicated to online communities, culture and hypermedia.

Wikitravel is a Web-based project "to create an open content, complete, up-to-date, and reliable world-wide travel guide."

OpenWetWare is a wiki created on April 20, 2005. The mission of the site is "to support open research, education, publication, and discussion in biological sciences and engineering."

Sources: Wikipedia!! and news articles debating the same

While I was Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Web Sapien 2.0) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:49:00 +0000

Sorry for a bit of delay on posting. I was Travelling for a fortnight and then somehow got locked out of my blog. Apparently, Blogger has some Robots that can lock the blogs till the time a human verification happens:(

Now that I'm Back, I promise you a steady stream of articles and few guest write ups coming soon as well

Marketing with Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Web Sapien 2.0) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:58:00 +0000

Marketing though Social Media is perhaps the most talked about topic doing rounds of the Marketers round tables these days. So what is the hype all about?

Since years now traditional marketing tools have been used for conversations that are ‘one to many’. Today, these methods are rapidly giving way to a new generation of Internet-based tools that allow for far greater levels of two-way interaction, discussion and conversation. Indeed, so fundamental has been the shift from 'static', 'information only' websites to the new 'conversational' internet that many pundits are calling the 'old' internet "Web1.0" and this new web world "Web2.0", reflecting dramatic improvement based in large part on in far better software coding and functionality.

Markets are Conversations

The other day, I was reading this concept called Clue Train Manifesto.

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

– Clue Train Manifesto

The tools that allow companies to join in and create these conversations happening in their industries and marketplaces have been called 'social media' tools, because of the new 'social' nature of the internet medium. Social media allows all stakeholders like company, consumer, influencers, experts and publics to interact, engage, and build rapport more easily than ever before. As more people walk around with net-enabled camera phones, and install webcams and microphones at home, user-generated content will keep giving a parallel dimension to the markets.

Traditional Media Vs Social Media

The ‘traditional’ media is static and therefore can’t be changed. For example, newspaper can’t change its stories, even if readers decide that something in them is incorrect. Whereas news on blogs and online forums can change and be corrected if required. The interactivity with the social media is much more. Archiving and searching becomes extremely easy. It’s free and it’s of the people, by the people, for the people. Imagine walking into newspaper office few years back and saying, “I want my voice to be heard- publish my article!”. Today, I don’t need to convince an editor to write on any topic.

Social media is great example of forest on fire. The way it can get linked and back linked creates an infinite amount of information. Imagine Economic Times writing 500 articles on one topic with varied opinions- but its possible with Social Mediums

Blogging

The biggest and most widely-used social media tool is blogging. Blogs are the new medium to these markets through 'conversations' and that unless companies are willing to enter into these 'conversation' they will be left behind.

Basically, blogs are very easy-to-manage websites. They are no harder to set-up and maintain than sending an email or using Microsoft Word. This ease of use allows you to post your ideas and opinions often and without using up too much time. That keeps your blog 'fresh' and is more 'immediate' than the staleness of a 'traditional' corporate site. Blogs are very search engine friendly. Every post has a separate URL and the linking behaviour of bloggers also promotes them up the search engine rankings. No wonder, today customers and investors are more likely to find your blog than your website.

There are now more than 60 million blogs, a new blog site is created every second of the day, and 50,000 blogposts (think of a blogpost as an article published by someone on their own website) are published every hour, day and night. The total number of blogs in the world doubles every five months. The interesting bit is that these conversations are happening irrespective of company’s action.

For example, even if your company takes a stand that it is not going to be active online, it still doesn’t guarantee that your stakeholders will not talk about you online. I think that its better to 'join in' than risk having lies and distortions go unchallenged in the conversations that are happening every day — around the proverbial 'water cooler', over coffee, in phone calls and emails.

Few Other Social Media Forms that I will talk about in upcoming posts are:

Wikis: Wikipedia
Social networking: Orkut and Facebook
Video sharing: YouTube
Virtual Reality: Second Life
News aggregation: Digg and Reddit
Photo sharing: Flickr
Broadcasting: Podcasts
Social Bookmarking: del.icio.us
Online gaming: Zapak.com

You Tube- A PR Nightmare?

noreply@blogger.com (Web Sapien 2.0) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:23:00 +0000

Here is the Video Posted by Unitech City Residents depicting the plight of their affairs at one of the residential complexes. After a number of complaints, the residents decided to post a home video on You Tube and also number of pictures on Flickr.

Amazingly, with only 1700 views , this video was broadcasted on NDTV tonight!! Another example of Web 2.0 as a democracy. Imagine! a simple online Video becomes a PR nightmare for a company as big as Unitech.

The evolution of online media in India is almost like infant on steriods.Suddenly, the consumer is not just the King but also the voice that will be heard across multiple channels. As a marketer, I do feel bad for Unitech as well. Type Unitech Group on google and this Video ranks among the top searches!! If only Unitech was able to act quicker and get the video off air, the reputation would not have been at stake on National Media.

The big one I am thinking about right now is "how do you manage this if things go really wrong."In a way it's not really different from traditional media mayhem, yet the speed of distribution and the fact that the internet "remembers" makes it a bit more tricky. Responsible participation by companies is significant and can sometimes slow the damage. It also reinforces the need for blog monitoring to detect early word of mouth events. In times when we are investing hugely in PR agencies, it becomes critical to monitor ' online' reputation proactively and take corrective measures before its too late.

Web 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Web Sapien 2.0) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:37:00 +0000

Open any discussion forum or blog on the internet today and everyone is talking about Web2.0.

Wikipedia defines it as - A social phenomenon referring to an approach to creating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and "the market as a conversation”

In 2004, many thinkers realized that the Web was on the cusp of a new era, one that would finally let loose the power of network effects, setting off a surge of innovation and
opportunity. To help usher in this new era, O’Reilly Media and CMP launched a
Conference that showcased the innovators who were driving it. The conference was called Web 2.0. But no one in that conference realized that industry would embrace the Web 2.0 term and that it would come to represent the new Web.

To me, "Web 2.0" is a weird phrase. It began as the name of a conference, but the people organizing the conference didn't really know what they meant by it. Mostly they thought it sounded catchy. However, "Web 2.0" has since taken on a meaning. There are some interesting new trends on the Web, and it's the nature of a phrase like that to adhere to them.

Web 2.0 is a way of thinking, a new perspective on the entire business of internet.
From concept through delivery, from marketing through support, Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social, and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the Internet—a more mature, distinctive medium characterized by user participation, openness, and network effects.

Here is an interesting look at how Web 1.0 became Web 2.0

Web 1.0 -->Web 2.0

DoubleClick-->Google AdSense
Ofoto-->FlickrKazaa-->BitTorrent
Britannica Online-->Wikipedia
personal websites-->blogging
domain name speculation-->search engine optimization
page views-->cost per click
screen scraping-->web services
publishing-->participation
content management systems/ webmaster oriented sites-->wikis
directories (taxonomy)-->tagging ("folksonomy")

What’s causing this change?

Consider the following raw demographic and technological drivers:

One billion people around the globe now have access to the Internet
Mobile devices outnumber desktop computers by a factor of two
Nearly 50 percent of all U.S. Internet access is now via always-on broadband connections

In the first quarter of 2006,

MySpace.com signed up 280,000 new users each day and had the second most Internet traffic
By the second quarter of 2006, 50 million blogs were created—new ones were added at a rate of two per second

These trends manifest themselves under a variety of guises, names, and technologies. You can call it Social computing, user-generated content, software as a service, pod casting, blogs, and the ‘read–write’ web. Taken together, they are Web 2.0, the next-generation, user driven, intelligent web.

Web 2.0 is Democracy

A big element of Web 2.0 is democracy. We now have several examples to prove that amateurs can surpass professionals, when they have the right kind of system to channel their efforts. Wikipedia may be the most famous. Experts have given Wikipedia middling reviews, but they miss the critical point: it's good enough. And it's free, which means people actually read it. On the web, articles you have to pay for might as well not exist. Even if you were willing to pay to read them yourself, you can't link to them. They're not part of the conversation.

The most dramatic example of Web 2.0 democracy is not in the selection of ideas, but their production. I've noticed for a while that the stuff I read on individual people's sites is as good as or better than the stuff I read in newspapers and magazines.
There has been a lot of debate on Web 2.0 which will be a part of my future blogs but as of now, I’m glad that a writer doesn’t need a publisher to write his column. She/He can blog! Thousands of talented artists can create their work and put it on you tube for the world to see it without struggling in front of production artists. I wont say that it’s a boon of Web 2.0 but this is what internet was always supposed to be.

Sources: News and internet papers on Web 2.0 and a hell lot of opinions of like minded people

Web Sapien- A New Evolution

noreply@blogger.com (Web Sapien 2.0) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 06:40:00 +0000

Hello! Welcome to my new Blog.

Here is the story of a WebSapien 2.0

Well! After starting with a brand new 486 processor and learning GW basic language in mid nineties, I sort of got hooked on to the machine. Shifting through upgraded version of Windows and Pentiums (and longing for a Mac Notebook), I landed in the Vista world. Let’s say that ‘My Computer’ became another dimension of me.
I’m one of those people who grew up on a healthy dose of Hotmail, ICQ and Yahoo chatting in my growing years. A complete new world was forming as I was growing up ‘teen by teen’. From Doordarshan and its Sunday movie treats, I was suddenly happy to welcome MTV and Star TV into my life. It’s a different story that Star TV used to air JAG and Ally McBeal sitcoms and not the ‘K’ series in those days.

And then Google happened

So let me take a bit of poetic license (and thus sound a bit absurd) ….
Once there was a ‘Big Bang’ that changed the world and then there was ‘Google’.

Now without losing focus on ‘why’ of writing this new blog, let me continue. Web or Internet is like a perfect partner that keeps updating itself and never fails to surprise you. Its keeps upgrading itself and as you think you’ve had enough of one thing, a better version comes!!!(Ahh! What life!)

Now it’s been a while since I’m out of college. And it’s also been a while since I’m working full time. I have been writing on variety of topics since last two years but most of it have been on evolving media. And like everything else, I got bored of the ‘now evolved’ media and the newest fascination is online trends.

So that explains how I became a WebSapien and that too an upgraded version 2.0

In the upcoming pages of this blog, we will talk about new technologies, innovations and Crazy Ideas that are rapidly changing the world. I will also share interesting articles and news on Web from around the Internet.

Welcome aboard the new version of me- Web Sapien 2.0