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Wildcat2030 wildcat

Tangible Knowledge & Social Media : Victor Godot - 7 views

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    Here's an interesting description by D. Roberts about social media as a collection of knowledge assets that have to be organized, in order to achieve what he calls "Tangible Knowledge, the Holy grail of finance".
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    I see the truth of what he is saying...BUT... There is another face to making knowledge tangible. It has been sought by Management to extract knowledge from Labor, so as not to be held hostage by the demands of the Old Master Craftsmen. This is an extension of the beginnings of the Factory Age. My problem is this, my basic value as a human is based in part (the professional or my "way of making a living") on the knowledge and skills I maintain within myself. It is true that I devalue, by some amount, a particular bit of knowledge or skill (call it a "knill") every time I teach or even allow others to observe any of the process by which I produce a tangible result for them. My possible difficulty is this: once my knills have been made tangible, are cataloged and marketed, my means of supporting myself become transplanted into the realm of the physical, similar to the environment my tools live in. Right now someone can steal my screwdriver and I can get another, but my knowledge of how to use a screwdriver remains with me. Once I have sold, or had stolen, or lost my knills, where do I maintain personal value?? Constantly creating new knills?? Finding markets for my old ones?? I know in reality this argument is extreme, but I am always cautious about the boundaries between what we keep in our heads and what we manifest outside the safe confines of the skull. I guess packaging and selling my knills seems somewhat like selling my memories or dreams. I know I don't lose them but finality of making a particular knill tangible leads me to want to ponder valuation carefully and on a case by case basis. Don't get me wrong, I am excited about the concept and interested in implementation, but I am also always seeing the cloud for each silver lining...
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    my buddy and I had a deep conversation about this one evening, if only we had fully intermediated existence I could link to it for you - one of the themes here was if we create a global market for skills you devalue the skills - that said just as you would not give a code job to a guy in india because he is cheaper than a local guy, you would not see a global market for skills become commoditized. Other dimensions of value come into play, most specifically trust. If I know a local coder does adequate work, but know nothing about the guy in india, or anyone who can 'accredit' that skill, I now am at third party accreditors (like Uni. of Delhi) to accredit his skill. Not terribly compelling. Gets into the transitivity of trust as well, had a great conflav with james choate on that one on twine... At the end of the day trust is fundamentally scarce as it is based on another fundamental scarcity, attention, which we all, being finite beings posess a finite amount of - with pharma and fitness one can improve net personal attention but you can generally not affect gross personal atttention terribly much (healthy living I suppose and advanced medical care). As attention is scarce thence trust is scarce and since skills must be accredited by direct or indirect experience there will never be the collapsing of skills into commodity pricing knill's are a little more interesting in that an algorithm can be made into infinite copies, in this case the IPR functions of *net come into play - you publish your knill and everyone who turns that knill into a liquidity event pays through to you.
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    I see a little of what Kurt mentions on a regular basis. Although gainfully employed full-time (for now) I do keep track of freelance activity in my field(s) via several groups. One of them, ELance, always posts some really cool jobs in computer animation and visualization, mostly for architectural renditions, animations, fly-overs, and the occasional gaming environment. One such post this past week was for a firm seeking an on-going relationship with a projected value of $10k to $15k per project. http://www.elance.com/jobs/3d_architectural_visualization/graphic_design_animation/18971350 Within hours, the sealed bid replies to this job were in the hundreds--many from the Far East, and likely for dirt cheap. Now the interesting thing at ELance is that as you win bids, you build up feedback and reputation scores, which add to your profile. You can also take on-line qualifications exams to verify your skills in a particular program or software, so as Kurt says--third party trust is of major importance. I don't like to see this stuff, because I know most jobs go to the cheapest bidder, potentially locking me out of the market.
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    the only reason they can underbid with equivalent (assumed for argument's sake) skills is that their cost base is lower - three options, move to a cheaper local like bali (pretty nice, and until recently relatively terrorist free as the only hindu island in indonesia, dirt cheap living) to reduce your cost base, wait for the third world prices to come up (perhaps takes longer than our lifetime) or do great work that can't be duplicated (rockstars set their own prices). Otherwise focus on local work where face2face is still valued. This world is coming, so owning the medium is not a bad strategy. do post Elance on taanstafl and *net reputation and *net trust- I'll go set up reputation if it isn't already
frank smith

Nice start on this topic frank! thanks! - 6 views

Oh...and YOUR WELCOME KURT!!! teehee

Jack Logan

Video; You Can't Make a Bet Without Odds | The Ingenesist Project - 4 views

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    Don't make a bet without odds.
Wildcat2030 wildcat

The lesson of gaming: Why do we have to pay people to work? | VentureBeat - 7 views

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    great article, off to mine the links. game theory was one of the twines in the *net group and I continue to find this a promising avenue of exploration. good games have rules and constraints and provide 'stretch objectives', may challenge perspectives, and encourage the dropping of facades or taking on roles. anyhow, very relevant. thanks. now we need to figure out how to keep score :-)
frank smith

Tanstaafl - 1 views

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    Excerpt from Heinlein's book "the moon is a harsh mistress" where the term was popularized.
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    one of my all-time favorites. 'specially the part about flying in the air circulator.
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    yeah me too. kind of a retelling of the American Revolution mixed with the Australian Experience.
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    That reminds me, I used to be a REAL SciFi fan, in grad. school, and I'd like to get back to reading Heinlein's, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress!"
frank smith

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game theory in Everyday Life - 0 views

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    Len Fisher's book on game theory, published 2008
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    check page 120-121 plus the list starting on pg 196
François Dongier

Flattr: new micropayments system from Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde Boing Boing - 4 views

  • Peter Sunde, whom you may know as one of the guys who created The Pirate Bay, is launching a new micropayment system called Flattr. Above, a video explaining how it works. "Many large streams will form a river."
frank smith

SomaFM: Listener Supported, Commercial Free Internet Radio - 4 views

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    "SomaFM is independent, commercial-free internet radio, with 18 unique channels featuring underground electronica, chillout, ambient, downtempo, lounge, space music, indie rock and alt.country/americana. All hand-picked by SomaFM's award-winning DJs and music directors."
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    Very cool, Frank - http://somafm.com/articles/ - very nice demo of Joan LaBarbara's music. Nice articulation (t-shirts, free, but paid for some attention (a la Kurt and FishMan!) Cool Find, Frank.
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    NO worries Jack, I love these guys. I have been free riding them since '98, with a large amount of guilt and a plan to compensate them strongly when I am able. They are really mature as a station, so they are doing something right.
Kurt Laitner

NSF earmarks $30M for game-changing Internet research | NetworkWorld.com Community - 4 views

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    giggle
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    This might have been approved by Al Gore, (surely, it had to have his consent) the creator of the Internet. lol
fishead ...*∞º˙

Outsource to freelancers, professionals, experts, and consultants - Get work done on El... - 3 views

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    per Kurt's request...
frank smith

Wiki entry for TANSTAAFL - 2 views

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    Nice overview of the concept...
François Dongier

CONFIRMED: New York Times to Start Charging for Website in 2011 - 2 views

  • The idea is to balance between free and paid, between being open and closed, and earn revenue from both advertising and charging for content.
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    They've tried this in various ways before and not succeeded. I'll be interested to see if this one does work. I have my doubts.
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    Yes, pretty tricky...
fishead ...*∞º˙

Official Google Blog: Collaborative bookmarking with lists - 2 views

  • Today we’re debuting lists in Google Bookmarks, an experimental new feature that helps you easily share those sites with friends.Bookmarks are a great way to keep track of your favorite content across the web and we want to help you share them with your friends. To use lists, visit Google Bookmarks at google.com/bookmarks or by clicking “Manage all” in your Google Toolbar. From there, select the links you want to share and click “Copy to list.” Lists are private by default, but once you’ve created one you can share it with specific friends or even publish it to the web. For example, if a friend of yours is visiting Seattle for the first time and you have some local attractions bookmarked, you might want to create a new list for “Seattle attractions” and share it with your friend.
  • Google will algorithmically analyze your list to identify other potentially relevant links, such as the Seattle Aquarium. Similarly, when we detect that a list is relevant to a specific region, we provide a map of those places and relevant info for each place, such as addresses, hours and reviews.
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    And look--algorithmical analyzation...
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    what a great idea ;-)
Kurt Laitner

Social CRM & Community Solutions - Lithium - 1 views

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    I think these guys have the money making down - that said, they earn on the basis of free labour - this is not sustainable
Kurt Laitner

Lithium scores money to grow corporate social networks | VentureBeat - 1 views

  • Lithium Technologies, which builds and operates social networks for enterprises, has raised $12 million in venture capital today.
  • Stenski’s answers have been viewed more than a million times, saving Dell more than $1 million, according to Lithium.
  • But Lithium has attempted to set itself apart by using game-like motivators such as leaderboards, rewards, reputations and profiles.
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  • Dell IdeaStorm voting, the most-frequent contributors can get “iSquared powers,” meaning they get ten times the voting power of other community members when it comes to selecting which of the IdeaStorm product ideas are the best.
frank smith

Welcome to FAIR OUTCOMES, INC. - 1 views

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    Welcome to the Home Page of the Fair Buy-Sell System. This system is used by joint owners of property-such as business partners, joint venturers, shareholders, and married couples-who wish to bring their joint ownership to an end on terms that are mutually acceptable and legally enforceable. This page allows you to access a simplified version of the system that we are offering to the public free of charge. If you are a joint owner of property and wish to use the system, or if you simply wish to run a free test to see how it works, you can do so by clicking on Issue an Invitation. To respond to another party's initiation of the System, click on Respond to an Invitation. A summary of the system and the involved process appears below.
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    A free version of Fair Outcomes bargaining system. I am going to take a deeper look latetr today/tonight
frank smith

Fair Outcomes, Inc. - 1 views

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    Fair Outcomes, Inc. provides parties involved in disputes or difficult negotiations with access to newly developed proprietary systems that allow fair and equitable outcomes to be achieved with remarkable efficiency. Each of these systems is grounded in mathematical theories of fair division and of games. Our founders and staff include game theorists, computer scientists, and practicing attorneys with extensive experience in designing, administering, utilizing, and providing consulting and online services with respect to such systems. Further information about our company and our services may be obtained by using the contact information appearing on this page. Additional information about four of our systems can be obtained by clicking on the links appearing below:
frank smith

Wiki definition for Gift Economy" - 1 views

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    In the social sciences, a gift economy (or gift culture) is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards (i.e. no formal quid pro quo exists).[1] Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community. The organization of a gift economy stands in contrast to a barter economy or a market economy. Informal custom governs exchanges, rather than an explicit exchange of goods or services for money or some other commodity. Various social theories concerning gift economies exist. Some consider the gifts to be a form of reciprocal altruism. Another interpretation is that social status is awarded in return for the gifts.[2] Consider for example, the sharing of food in some hunter-gatherer societies, where food-sharing is a safeguard against the failure of any individual's daily foraging. This custom may reflect concern for the well-being of others, it may be a form of informal insurance, or may bring with it social status or other benefits.
fishead ...*∞º˙

Ning's Bubble Bursts: No More Free Networks, Cuts 40% Of Staff - 1 views

  • One month after long-time Ning CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by COO Jason Rosenthal, the company is making some major changes: It has just announced that it is killing off its free product, forcing existing free networks to either make the change to premium accounts or migrate their networks elsewhere. Rosenthal has also just announced that the company has cut nearly 70 people — over 40% of its staff.
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    Nothing for free ever stays free...buh-bye Maldives... :(
Jack Logan

Free lunch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views

shared by Jack Logan on 19 Jan 10 - Cached
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    Interestingly, Wiki is, for the moment, a free lunch. LOL
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