Trends affecting politics and civic life

Hi. Has been a while since my last post - I've been working round the clock on finishing up the book. As part of the effort, I've  compiled a list of economic, technical, and social trends that have helped me to think through the evolving state of internet tech. Thought I'd share...

Economic

• Over the past 100 years, the economies of modern complex democracies have become centered on information and cultural production (financial services, accounting, software, science, film, music).
• The price of computational technology has fallen rapidly over the last 20 years, such that common people now own the means of producing information. Acting independently, an individual can      create so called “units” of economic value.
• A pervasive interconnected network (the Internet)      enables people to inexpensively distribute these units.
• The Long Tail: this massive network enables targeted distribution. Business and organizations can earn a return on investment by offering software, products, services, and information that may be of interest only to a limited number of people.

Technical

A new breed of software is emerging both as a result of and an enabler to these economic trends. These technical trends can be characterized by the following list:[1]

• The web as platform: the new breed of software doesn’t run on your desktop computer. It runs on the web. To access the software, you can use your web browser, mobile phone, or any other Internet enabled device.
• Remixability: software developers assemble new software by using pre-existing data and other software. These new creations are typically called “mash-ups.”
• Open: open standards, code, data, and      APIs enable easy remixability.
• Massively connected: over 1 billion people have access to the Internet. Over 50% of U.S. citizens have broadband access. Most Web2.0 software relies on this extensive network to enhance its features.
• Users are co-creators: users are no longer simply readers online; they are also writers and creators. Their contributions enhance the value of the software they use.
• The network effect: a product or service becomes more valuable as more people use it. Software is oriented to harness the “collective intelligence” enabled by the network effect.
• Decentralized: creating software is no longer the exclusive domain of a few corporations. It’s being created, distributed, and modified by a decentralized group of people and organizations.
• Emergent: instead of pre-defining patterns of usage, Web2.0 software offers looser structures, onto which users can apply their own structure. Usage patterns are said to “emerge.”
• Rich user experiences: software features and display capabilities are more closely approximating qualities of “real-life.” Using web software is becoming a more vivid experience.

Social

The convergence of these economic and technical factors – the removal of constraints on producing and distributing units of societal value – is causing dramatic shifts in the fabric of our daily lives.

Individuals are taking a leading role in the      production of information, knowledge, and culture.

• They are creating units of societal value that don’t require large investments in capital, legal protection, proprietary methods, or that adhere to the market pricing system in general. In other words, people are creating and giving away the products of their labor.
• As people distribute their own units of value, traditional producers, such as consumer mass-media are declining in influence.
• With so many new creators, the       range of information available is dramatically increasing.
• As potential creators, there is a trend towards viewing the world from the perspective of a participant rather than an observer.

Large-scale distributed collective efforts are      practical and effective.

• Massive groups of loosely connected       people are creating tremendously valuable properties such as Wikipedia
• They are doing so without the need for stable long-term structures such as formal organizations, membership, or hierarchical working environments.
• The aggregation of these distributed actions can create a massively coordinated action, such as in the case of the immigration rallies. This coordination can be achieved even if the individual actors are not expressly coordinating with one another.

Social bonds are strengthening.

• Networked connections are making it easier to communicate with close friends on a frequent basis. These strong relational bonds are strengthening.
• Weak connections are also strengthened by this same effect. Communication among distant relations requires low effort.

This list compiled from the smart work of many others - Yochai Benkler in particular: http://www.benkler.org/, Orielly Radar’s Web2.0 report. And here's a great review of Web2.0 trends: http://www.squidoo.com/introtoweb20/ 

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