The Wisdom of Crowd...

Crowd (n) .. A large number of things or people considered together; "a crowd of insects assembled around the flowers"....

Yup yup... that is one of the definitions of crowd, from Webster's Online Dictionary.... This session was quite interesting, I thought we will discuss about technology, technology and always technology.. but this session starts with The Wisdom a Crowd... something that not related at all with technology!!!.. wowww... what a course!!! :D

Basically this Wisdom of Crowd concept means how to make a group(in this case a 'Crowd') performing optimal at their best.. Like what James Surowiecki said,

"Under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, are often smarter than the smartest people in them"

Yup yup.. that's correct, and I was wondering at that time, what the relation of this concept with our course is... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaandddd.. finally I found the relation in the end of the session, when Prof Gilbert explained about Wiki.... yup yup.... Wiki concept will work well under this condition... hey hey.. waaaiit.. do you know about Wiki? yup .. Like Wikipedia... you can refer to my second post about Wiki... When people contribute their knowledge using a Wiki, then resulting Wiki will be a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggeeeeeee source of information, which are bigger than information contained in one person... :D.... so we get more and more information by using The Wisdom of Crowd concept in Wiki technology :D

Besides that, Prof. Gilbert also introduced us with the common problem that may occur in implementation of The Wiki.. They are..

• Cognition Problem, this one is a problem with a definitive solutions/outcomes. For example, "What is the tallest building in Singapore?"
  
• Coordination Problem, we need to figure out how to coordinate the behavior of the "Crowd"
  
• Cooperation Problem, we need to find a way such that people in the "Crowd" willing to work together and overcome self-interest for the common good

Now, let's see from different perspective, what are the ingredients that make a "crowd"(or in another word it's a group) optimal and success?? The answers is PERFORM... and actually it's an acronym from Ken Blanchard's book that I read in the past few days.. the title is High Five!

I put the picture there, if you read this book, you'll be a professional like the person in background :p.. hihihihi.. just kidding.. let's get back to the topic :p



So PERFORM is...

• Purpose and Values
• Empowerment
• Relationships and Communications
• Flexibility
• Optimal Performance
• Recognition and Appreciation
  
• Morale

How to interpret them?? Here is the answer... To get high performance and high morale group (or you can say crowd) required providing clear purpose with shared values and goals, unleashing and developing skills (empowerment and flexibility), creating team power (relationships and communication), and keeping the accent on the positive (recognition and appreciation).

Yup yup, and of the moral of the book is a concise and powerful tag line which is related to James Surowiecki's theory... Here it is...

none of us is as smart as all of us

and this book gives you example how to build a good group or team!! I recommend you to read this book :D

If you don't like reading, don't worry, this book is like a story book... while you enjoy the story, you can get the important point in building a High Five team, as a leader as well as a team member :D

Well, I think that's all for the 3rd session review.. :D..