The Wealth of Networks

If the networked information economy is indeed a significant inflection point for modern societies (...), it is so because it upsets the dominance of proprietary, market-based production in the sphere of the production of knowledge, information, and culture. This upset is hardly uncontroversial. It will likely result in significant redistribution of wealth, and no less importantly, power, from previously dominant firms and business models to a mixture of individuals and social groups on the one hand, and on the other hand businesses that reshape their business models to take advantage of, and build tools and platforms for, the newly productive social relations.

This is from Yochai Benkler's "The Wealth of Networks", a much-awaited book on how social production changes economic structures and sociopolitical freedoms, which has just been published. Two years ago Yochai, an intense and illuminating Yale law professor, published a seminal paper in the Yale Law Journal called "Sharing Nicely". In it, he explored the emergence of sharing and collaboration as modalities of economic production. He spoke at TEDGLOBAL last summer, and his book (500 pages) builds on the ideas he put forth there. The book has a wiki for readers to discuss, access research materials and more, and can be fully downloaded in PDF format (3.6 Mb or chapter-by-chapter) - and it's on Amazon of course (US/UK). For everyone interested in how social networks are changing our understanding of the world and the way we think of our place in it, this is a must-read.

[tags: Yochai Benkler Wealth of Networks social networks social production]

Comments

[Geneviève Morand]

Merci Bruno d'attirer notre attention sur ce livre.
En français, vient de sortir "Le peuple des conecteurs" de Thierry Crouzet chez Bourin Editeur, qui retrace sur le ton du Reality Club de John Brockman, toute l'histoire des découvertes scientifiques et techniques qui sous-tendent l'esprit réseau !
A lire d'une traite ... Thierry Crouzet participera en juin à un First Tuesday à Genève sur ce thème, cf www.rezonance.ch !
A ne pas manquer le FT du 26 avril avec René Berger, un veilleur attentif des novuelles émergences, un jeune homme de 91 ans !
Nous vivons dans un monde en pleine mutation, et c'est formidable !