[Wikipedia-l] The Wisdom of Crowds

Wed Jul 7 01:58:27 UTC 2004

FYI, this book has been getting attention lately, so you may want to
take a look:

The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How
Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations
by James Surowiecki 

To Wikipedians, this merely reinforces what we've all know and have
experienced firsthand.  But it is interesting that the theme of the
"power of many" is being picked up by the mainstream and it may prove
a useful reference for folks who just "don't get wiki."  It's a more
general book than Rheingold's "Smart Mobs," which could be dismissed
as too technocentric and focusing on mobile devices

Instead, Surowiecki's "Wise crowds" are described as having (1)
diversity of opinion; (2) independence of members from one another;
(3) decentralization; and (4) a good method for aggregating opinions. 
(four points quoted from Amazon.com's review).

I'm sure Wikipedians will find these concepts quite familiar.
-- 
Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado)
andrew.lih at gmail.com