What Good Is Collective Intelligence?

The Fall, 2008, edition of my IDST 2215 class will read James Surowiecki's book The Wisdom of Crowds. In general, he tries to demonstrate that, under certain conditions, the collective wisdom of the crowd can exceed that of most any individual in the crowd. This is one of the core principles of the new Web 2.0 technology, and Surowiecki's idea has captured the imagination of lots of people, and lots of criticism. We'll try to determine if the wisdom of crowds means anything for the university.

In a recent post to the blog Radar, Tim O'Reilly asks, "What good is collective intelligence if it doesn't make us smarter?" It's a valid question that will help kick off the class, I think. First, O'Reilly is often credited with developing the concept of Web 2.0, so he's at the heart of the discussion. Then, the question gives us a practical approach to looking at Web 2.0 and the wisdom of crowds, as if O'Reilly is saying, "Okay, this new Web 2.0 technology is cool, but will it help us solve real-world problems such as poverty and global warming, and if it can't, then what good is it?"

So here are the starting questions for the class:

1. What does it take to make a crowd wise or smart?
2. What does crowd wisdom have to do with Web 2.0?
3. If crowds really can be smarter, then can that intelligence be applied to real-world problems? For instance, can collective intelligence help each of you make better grades in your classes?
4. What kinds of collective intelligence can you implement in your classes that will help you learn more, learn quicker, and make better grades?
5. What kinds of collective intelligence can you implement to help you find a job after graduation? or now?
   

That should do it for a starter. Welcome to the class.

gTools

Okay, so I took a summer break. I didn't mean to, but that is how it turned out. I couldn't even finish working my way through The Wealth of Networks, though I still intend to, but now I must turn my attention to class. Here's my first official post for the new class.

This class requires a Google account for each student, starting with Google Mail, or gMail. The students must ramp up to speed quickly with gMail, so check out these handy tools for the gMail power user.

Also, check out the templates for Google Docs. Those certainly may be useful for the class. I, for instance, will use the syllabus template for this class.