Background check
So why do some of us get what Web 2.0 means, and others don't?
I'm a D&D geek from a long, long time ago (If you want, I can hold forth on why the game went downhill after Blackmoor. But not now.). In role-playing games, the idea of teamwork and collaboration come as naturally as breathing. Even if the players can't work together, the GM has to work with the players for everyone to have a good time. And online gaming is picking up from there, with cooperation absolutely neccesary for success.
Musicians, too. You can be a lonesome singer-songwriter, but chances are, be it with management or producers or backup vocals or whatever, you're going to have to learn to share the spotlight. And if you don't, your chances of ever seeing that spotlight dim drastically.
Programmers know how to work together, too.
Ok, GOOD programmers know how to do work together. The absolute best debugging tool I've ever found is to just call out, "Hey, can you look at this for me?" and the solution appears before my eyes before my coworker can get there. It's the act of calling in someone else to help that solves the problem, it seems.
So where does that leave the other 90% of the world? Let's face it, our culture isn't set up to work together. We don't reward team builders, we reward rugged individualists. Sure, we play sports in teams, but all our social groups are built on trust, not random strangers. Relying on a hive mind to find interesting pix on Flickr is one thing. Trusting Wikipedia to provide information for a critical business presentation is another.
The killer Web 2.0 app will be the first one that works as well for 1 person as it does for a group. Until then, the lone wolves will remain outside the pack.
I'm a D&D geek from a long, long time ago (If you want, I can hold forth on why the game went downhill after Blackmoor. But not now.). In role-playing games, the idea of teamwork and collaboration come as naturally as breathing. Even if the players can't work together, the GM has to work with the players for everyone to have a good time. And online gaming is picking up from there, with cooperation absolutely neccesary for success.
Musicians, too. You can be a lonesome singer-songwriter, but chances are, be it with management or producers or backup vocals or whatever, you're going to have to learn to share the spotlight. And if you don't, your chances of ever seeing that spotlight dim drastically.
Programmers know how to work together, too.
Ok, GOOD programmers know how to do work together. The absolute best debugging tool I've ever found is to just call out, "Hey, can you look at this for me?" and the solution appears before my eyes before my coworker can get there. It's the act of calling in someone else to help that solves the problem, it seems.
So where does that leave the other 90% of the world? Let's face it, our culture isn't set up to work together. We don't reward team builders, we reward rugged individualists. Sure, we play sports in teams, but all our social groups are built on trust, not random strangers. Relying on a hive mind to find interesting pix on Flickr is one thing. Trusting Wikipedia to provide information for a critical business presentation is another.
The killer Web 2.0 app will be the first one that works as well for 1 person as it does for a group. Until then, the lone wolves will remain outside the pack.
This entry was posted by Kevin Creighton, on
11.23.2005.
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