Articles From Social Media Week

8/3/2019 Articles From Social Media Week

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Annals of Innovation

(http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell)

Small Change

Why the revolution will not be tweeted.

by Malcolm Gladwell October 4, 2010

Social media cant provide what social change has always required.

At four-thirty in the afternoon on Monday, February 1, 1960, four college students satdown at the lunch counter at the Woolworths in downtown Greensboro, NorthCarolina. They were freshmen at North Carolina A. & T., a black college a mile or soaway.

Id like a cup of coffee, please, one of the four, Ezell Blair, said to the waitress.

We dont serve Negroes here, she replied.

The Woolworths lunch counter was a long L-shaped bar that could seat sixty-six

people, with a standup snack bar at one end. The seats were for whites. The snack barwas for blacks. Another employee, a black woman who worked at the steam table,approached the students and tried to warn them away. Youre acting stupid, ignorant!she said. They didnt move. Around five-thirty, the front doors to the store were locked.The four still didnt move. Finally, they left by a side door. Outside, a small crowd hadgathered, including a photographer from the GreensboroRecord. Ill be back tomorrowwith A. & T. College, one of the students said.

By next morning, the protest had grown to twenty-seven men and four women, mostfrom the same dormitory as the original four. The men were dressed in suits and ties.The students had brought their schoolwork, and studied as they sat at the counter. OnWednesday, students from Greensboros Negro secondary school, Dudley High,

joined in, and the number of protesters swelled to eighty. By Thursday, the protestersnumbered three hundred, including three white women, from the Greensboro campus ofthe University of North Carolina. By Saturday, the sit-in had reached six hundred.People spilled out onto the street. White teen-agers waved Confederate flags. Someonethrew a firecracker. At noon, the A. & T. football team arrived. Here comes thewrecking crew, one of the white students shouted.

By the following Monday, sit-ins had spread to Winston-Salem, twenty-five milesaway, and Durham, fifty miles away. The day after that, students at Fayetteville StateTeachers College and at Johnson C. Smith College, in Charlotte, joined in, followed onWednesday by students at St. Augustines College and Shaw University, in Raleigh. On

Thursday and Friday, the protest crossed state lines, surfacing in Hampton andPortsmouth, Virginia, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and in Chattanooga, Tennessee. By

the end of the month, there were sit-ins throughout the South, as far west as Texas. Iasked every student I met what the first day of the sitdowns had been like on his

campus, the political theorist Michael Walzer wrote in Dissent. The answer was


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always the same: It was like a fever. Everyone wanted to go. Some seventy thousandstudents eventually took part. Thousands were arrested and untold thousands moreradicalized. These events in the early sixties became a civil-rights war that engulfed theSouth for the rest of the decadeand it happened without e-mail, texting, Facebook, orTwitter.

The world, we are told, is in the midst of a revolution. The new tools of social mediahave reinvented social activism. With Facebook and Twitter and the like, the traditionalrelationship between political authority and popular will has been upended, making it

easier for the powerless to collaborate, cordinate, and give voice to their concerns.When ten thousand protesters took to the streets in Moldova in the spring of 2009 to

protest against their countrys Communist government, the action was dubbed theTwitter Revolution, because of the means by which the demonstrators had been broughttogether. A few months after that, when student protests rocked Tehran, the StateDepartment took the unusual step of asking Twitter to suspend scheduled maintenanceof its Web site, because the Administration didnt want such a critical organizing toolout of service at the height of the demonstrations. Without Twitter the people of Iranwould not have felt empowered and confident to stand up for freedom and democracy,

Mark Pfeifle, a former national-security adviser, later wrote, calling for Twitter to benominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Where activists were once defined by their causes,they are now defined by their tools. Facebook warriors go online to push for change.You are the best hope for us all, James K. Glassman, a former senior StateDepartment official, told a crowd of cyber activists at a recent conference sponsored byFacebook, A. T. & T., Howcast, MTV, and Google. Sites like Facebook, Glassman said,give the U.S. a significant competitive advantage over terrorists. Some time ago, I saidthat Al Qaeda was eating our lunch on the Internet. That is no longer the case. AlQaeda is stuck in Web 1.0. The Internet is now about interactivity and conversation.

These are strong, and puzzling, claims. Why does it matter who is eating whose lunchon the Internet? Are people who log on to their Facebook page really the best hope forus all? As for Moldovas so-called Twitter Revolution, Evgeny Morozov, a scholar atStanford who has been the most persistent of digital evangelisms critics, points out thatTwitter had scant internal significance in Moldova, a country where very few Twitteraccounts exist. Nor does it seem to have been a revolution, not least because the

protestsas Anne Applebaum suggested in the Washington Postmay well have beena bit of stagecraft cooked up by the government. (In a country paranoid about Romanianrevanchism, the protesters flew a Romanian flag over the Parliament building.) In theIranian case, meanwhile, the people tweeting about the demonstrations were almost allin the West. It is time to get Twitters role in the events in Iran right, GolnazEsfandiari wrote, this past summer, in Foreign Policy. Simply put: There was noTwitter Revolution inside Iran. The cadre of prominent bloggers, like Andrew

Sullivan, who championed the role of social media in Iran, Esfandiari continued,misunderstood the situation. Western journalists who couldnt reachor didnt botherreaching?people on the ground in Iran simply scrolled through the English-languagetweets post with tag #iranelection, she wrote. Through it all, no one seemed to wonderwhy people trying to coordinate protests in Iran would be writing in any language otherthan Farsi.Read morehttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell#ixzz1ii17M1XR


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Empowering Change Through Collaboration

http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2011/10/26/empowering-change-through-collaboration/?utm_source=Master+Contacts&utm_campaign=b1f021f4cc-Global_email_from_Toby12_9_2011&utm_medium=email&ct=tGlobal_email_from_Toby12_9_2011_2

October 26th, 2011 by Don Tapscott

Im enthusiastic about taking on the role of Curator for Social Media Week. Betweennow and my kickoff speech Feb 13 to cities around the world, Ill be writing a series ofarticles to stimulate thinking and discussion in our global community.

The debate on the role of social media and change is over. Over the last year, manyhave questioned just how important social media are in helping activists achieve socialchange. Writer Malcolm Gladwell wrote a thoughtful essay in The New Yorker entitledSmall Change: Why the Revolution Wont be Tweeted. He argued that social

networks only create weak ties between people, but that its strong ties and closerelationships that bring about real social change.

It was a good debate and then reality stepped in Tunisia. It turns out that the

revolution was tweeted. The Tunisian revolution wasnt caused by social media; it wascaused by injustice. It wasnt created by social media; it was created by a new

generation of young people who didnt want to be treated as subjects anymore. But themedia dropped the costs of transactions and collaboration and it empowered change.

The movement for change has like a prairie fire across the Arab world and has nowextended around the world from the demonstrations of millions in Spain againstunemployment, to Wall Street to the global #Occupy movement. Leonard Cohen was

looking prophetic when he wrote First well take Manhattan and then well takeBerlin.

The Social Media Week theme of Empowering Change Through Collaboration is anapt one. But evidence is mounting that the current global slump is not just cyclical, but

rather symptomatic of a deeper secular change. There is growing evidence that we needto rethink and rebuild many of the organizations and institutions that have served us

well for decades, but now have come to the end of their life cycle. The global economiccrisis should be a wakeup call to the world. We are at a turning point in history.

Lets face it. The world is broken and the industrial economy and many of its industriesand organizations have finally run out of gas, from newspapers and old models of

financial services to our energy grid, transportation systems and institutions for globalcooperation and problem solving.

At the same time the contours of a new kind of civilization are becoming clear asmillions of connected citizens begin to forge alternative institutions using the Web as a

platform for innovation and value creation. Social media is enabling social business.From education and science and to new approaches to citizen engagement anddemocracy, powerful new initiatives are underway, embracing a new set of principlesfor the 21st century collaboration, openness, sharing, interdependence and integrity.


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Indeed, with the proliferation of social media and social networks, society has at itsdisposal the most powerful platform ever for bringing together the people, skills andknowledge we need to ensure growth, prosperity, social development and a just andsustainable world.

But dont count on governments or most of our current business and institutional leaders

to be the architects of change. Leaders of old paradigms have the greatest difficultyembracing the new. And vested interests will fight against change. Its up to us.

The stakes are very high. As Anthony D. Williams and I describe in Macrowikinomics,people everywhere have nothing less than an historic choice: empower ourselves toachieve change and collaborate to find new solutions for our connected planet; or riskeconomic and social paralysis or even collapse. Its a question of stagnation versusrenewal. Atrophy versus renaissance. Peril versus promise.

Fortunately, for the first time in history, people everywhere can participate fully increating a sustainable future. We are now building the collective intelligence to rethinkmany industries and sectors of society around the principles of collaboration.

This is not just a theory its happening.

What do you think? What is to be done?

Over the next three months Ill be introducing bi-weekly discussions on a number oftopics where we can empower change through collaboration: Education & Learning,Health & Wellness, Energy & Environment, Politics & Government, Media &Entertainment, Science & Technology, Banking & Finance, Transportation & Mobility,

Art & Culture and Marketing & Advertising.

Please join in the discussion!


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Collaborating for Change in Healthcare

http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2011/11/10/collaborating-for-change-in-healthcare/?utm_source=Master+Contacts&utm_campaign=b1f021f4cc-Global_email_from_Toby12_9_2011&utm_medium=email&ct=tGlobal_email_from_Toby12_9_2011_2

November 10th, 2011 by Don Tapscott

Im enthusiastic about taking on the role of Curator for Social Media Week. In therun-up to my kickoff speech on Feb 13 to cities around the world, Im writing a seriesof articles to stimulate thinking and discussion in our global community. The topic ofthis post is healthcare.

Despite the advancements of modern medicine, our basic approach to healthcare hasremained unchanged for centuries. It assumes that physicians are smart and patientsarent. Doctors wait in their office or hospital for sick people to come to them in order

to be told what to do. Traditionally, patients have been passive and ill-informed, playinglittle or no role in deciding their own treatment. As one physician puts it: Todayshealthcare institutions are like the old media: centralized, one-way, immutable andcontrolled by the people who created and delivered it. Patients are passive recipients.In other words, the health system is broken.

Now, courtesy of the Internet, there are tools that allow us to take more responsibilityfor our own health, and for patients to collaborate with their doctors and, equally

important, other patients.

All of us, including newborns, should have our own online Personal Health Page. Justas Facebook keeps you updated on your friends activities, your Health Page would

keep you up to date on issues affecting your health. You could have links toorganizations such as Weight Watchers or a local diabetes support group. You couldcreate a community or join medical causes. And low-cost or free applications couldhelp you measure your own health, prediagnose a sick child or test for possible druginteractions.

By moving the heart of our healthcare system online, and making each of us more

informed and involved in our health, we would get a lot more bang for our healthcarebuck. Knowing whats happening in your body motivates you to change your behavior.

If you weigh yourself daily, for instance, youll be more successful at shedding poundsand keeping them off than if you weigh in weekly.

When we are better informed about our health, we make fewer trips to the emergencydepartment, we dont make unnecessary doctors appointments and we require fewercostly home-nurse visits.

Some early examples of this kind of thinking can already be seen online. Users ofMedHelp.com, a popular online health community, are able to track more than 1,500symptoms and treatments on a daily basis using iPhone apps that cover both generalhealth conditions, such as weight loss and allergies, and very specific disorders, such as


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infertility and diabetes. If they want, patients can share this information on a continuingbasis with their doctors or caregivers.

Doctors should do much more to encourage patients to take advantage of the resourcesavailable in online health care communities. A good example is PatientsLikeMe.com, a

vibrant health care community whose members suffer from debilitating chronic

conditions such as ALS, Parkinsons and bipolar disorder. Members use the site to trackthe evolution and management of their diseases. But rather than keep all their data

private, many members share it with the patient community and the medical research

community.

This openness ultimately benefits everyone. Patients can learn whats working and, inconsultation with their doctors, adjust their own treatment plans. Drug companies canuse anonymous patient data to evaluate new treatments and thus bring them to marketmore quickly. People think we are a social networking site, says PatientsLikeMe co-founder Ben Heywood. But were an open medical framework. This is a large-scaleresearch project.

Earlier this week (Nov. 5, 2011), PatientsLikeMe and R.A.R.E Project, a non-profitadvocacy and support group for patients with all rare diseases, announced a new

partnership to find and connect 1 million rare disease patients to share and learneverything possible about their conditions. The organizations are launching aninternational rare disease awareness campaign in 2012.

There are 35 million patients in the U.S. with 7,000+ rare diseases and we want to findthem, connect them and support them in sharing and learning by their specific diseaseand across all rare diseases, says Dean Suhr, Chief Innovation and CommunityDevelopment Officer at R.A.R.E. Were excited to work with PatientsLikeMe becausetheir open patient registry allows patients to contribute to research, while gettingimmediate benefits, like improved quality of life, from sharing this information withothers.

Of course, we need the buy-in of the biggest players namely government and insurers to help maximize these opportunities and help people from becoming needlessly sick.

I encourage readers to join the discussion on how healthcare can be more collaborativeand effective.


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A New Energy Revolution

http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2011/11/29/a-new-energy-

revolution/?utm_source=Master+Contacts&utm_campaign=b1f021f4cc-

Global_email_from_Toby12_9_2011&utm_medium=email&ct=tGlobal_email_from_Toby12_9

_2011_2

November 29th, 2011 by Don Tapscott

Humanitys ability to transform raw materials into energy powered the rise of modern

civilization and shaped the fortunes of nations throughout history. James Watts steamengine triggered the industrial revolution in Britain and ushered in a period of enormoustechnological, social and economic transformation. Roughly a century later, theinvention of electricity and the eventual electrification of factories brought large-scale

business enterprises and double-digit increases in productivity that transformed theUnited States into the modern economic powerhouse.

Today, the world stands at the brink of a new energy revolution one that willfundamentally transform the ubiquitous but largely invisible infrastructure that powersevery home appliance, every medical device, every light source, and virtually everyindustrial process, from agriculture to construction. The fossil-fuel-based economy iscoming to an end, and a new green-energy economy is emerging in its place. Like pastenergy revolutions, there will be great payoffs for the countries and companies thatmaster the new technologies early. The opportunity for new product and serviceinnovation is huge, as is the potential for smart firms to create hundreds of thousands ofnew high-skill jobs in fields ranging from solar engineering to software.

But are we positioned to take advantage? To really tip the scale in favor of greenenergy, we need an infusion ofWikinomics principles. The need for cross-sectorcollaboration in developing and scaling new technologies is paramount. But we can-and should- go further. Truly opening up our energy infrastructure could catalyze newsources of supply, provide a platform for new energy services, and help foster a cultureof energy prosumption whereby household and business users become active

producers and managers of energy, not just passive consumers and ratepayers.

Its not as far-fetched as it sounds. There is already increasingly broad agreement thatour electrical systems should do more than carry electricity. They should carryinformation. And once the grid carries information, it stands to benefit from the samekinds of innovation, collaboration, and wealth creation that the Internet has enabled inother sectors of the economy.

In many ways, the argument for a smart grid based on open standards parallels theargument for an open Internet. The old power grid is analogous to broadcast media withits bias towards centralized, one-way, one-to-many, one-size-fits-all communication. Asmart grid, if it can be built, will leverage the Internet to weave millions, and eventually

billions, of household appliances, substations and power generators around the planetinto an intelligent and programmable network. And, just as open standards and edgeintelligence brought forth creativity on the Internet, openness in the new energy grid


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will ensure it goes beyond being just a computerized pipeline for delivering cleanerelectricity, and becomes a platform for a vast array of new energy services.

Building a smart grid on open standards would, for example, allow software developersto build applications just as developers build apps for the iPhone. The most

straightforward application might analyze a households electricity usage data, identify

inefficient appliances or practices in the home, offer tips on how to reduce energy, andprovide special discounts on efficient appliances or electronics. Armed with moreinformation about tariffs, for example, the dishwasher would wait for the price to fall

below a certain level before switching on, and the air-conditioner would turn itselfdown when the price goes up.

Innovations like these are especially exciting for the behavior changes they will bringabout. Studies have found that when people are made aware of how much power theyare using, they reduce their use by about 7%. With added incentives, people curtail theirelectricity use during peaks in demand by 15% or more. The Climate Group estimatesthat the application of digital technologies to enable smart grids and smart buildings hasthe potential to avert 3.71 gigatons of CO2 equivalent global emissions by 2020,

delivering some $464 billion in global energy cost savings to businesses, taxpayers andconsumers.

These savings pale, moreover, in comparison to the impact we could have on futuregenerations by transforming the way we produce and consume energy. In the face ofclimate change and diminishing stocks of fossil fuels, we can take one of two routes.One path leads to escalating prices, energy shortages, and economic backwardness in aworld facing environmental catastrophe and increasing geopolitical conflict. The other

path leads to growth, global cooperation, and an abundant supply of clean powerdelivered through a smart energy grid that enables consumers to become active andinformed managers of their energy consumption.

The choice is ours to make, but how can we accelerate the process? How can the SocialMedia Week community cultivate new ideas to help this process? Can we innovateideas that encourage a reduction in energy consumption or generate energy alternatives?

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Articles From Social Media Week