Review of Here Comes Everybody

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky

Review for Newbury LIbrary’s ‘Bookworm’ newsletter by Andrew Cooper

Arguably, the strongest evolutionary advantage our species derives from our big brains is the ability to form groups and work together to do more than we could individually.   During the 200,000 years or so since we first walked the plains of  East Africa, groups of humans have worked together to achieve some astonishing things.  Some of our most significant achievements have dramatically extended our ability to think,  learn and innovate.   Writing, printing, libraries and the Internet are all examples of innovations which have enabled us to leverage, as the Americans would say, our innate brain-power.

Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everbody” is a very well written, jargon-free and, for me, inspirational book about the ways in which a collection of internet based technologies known as “social media” are enabling us to form groups in new and, potentially, revolutionary ways.

The idea of using networked computers to enable people to think and work together is not particularly new.  Thirty years ago my late father, a telecommunications engineer with the RAF, worked with the technology on which the Internet is based.  I have been using different kinds of ‘social media’ – including online discussion boards – since the late 80s.  I occasionally remind my 19 year old daughter that I sent my first email some 5 years before she was born.

But the development of the World Wide Web, particularly something which has come to be known as ‘Web 2′ over recent years, has made it much easier for people to communicate with one another.  Web 2 essentially refers to web based applications which allow users to add and change content: weblogs and wikis are just two examples.

The subtitle of Shirky’s book is ‘The Power of Organizing without Organizations’ (As you will have guessed, Shirky is American).  It is structured around a series of stories about ways in which computer based networks have been used to form groups to achieve a wide range of things.  One of Shirky’s central points is that social media have reduced significantly the costs – in terms of both time and money – of forming groups.  For example, one of his stories is about Meetup.com enables all kinds of groups to form and meet in the ‘real world’.  The site is simply a tool… just a second: I’m going to stop this review right here.

I’m a big fan of paper and books, but they have their limitations.  There’s so much in “Here Comes Everybody” that I’d like to reflect on that I’m going to use the web to say a little more than I can here – and to enable you to join in the conversation, if you wish..  I’ve set up a blog (you’re looking at it now, of course, whether or not you’ve read the paper review in Bookworm) which you can reach via www.cognitivesurplus.co.uk so hopefully I’ll see you there.  The blog includes thisslightly longer version of the original review, some background information, definitions and links to the various social media applications discussed in the book.  You can also see a video of the author explaining what he means by ‘cognitive surplus’ and find links to a number of websites I’ve set-up which use blogs and wikis in various ways.

If you don’t have web access at home the excellent staff at Newbury Library will be very happy to reserve an hour or two on one of their web-connected computers.

One last thought – I’d be very happy to organise a discussion (in the real world as well as online) of Here Comes Everybody.   If you would be interested in this and I’ll say a little more about this idea at the blog or you can contact me via andrew@mindworksonline.com, Andrew_mindworks (Skype) or mindworkslondon@hotmail.com (Microsoft Messenger ID).