elearnspace

The Economic and Social Foundations of Collaborative Innovation

I'm in Victoria for the last several weeks. One of the first things I did on arrival is get in touch with Scott Leslie. We had an enjoyable conversation last night - largely focused on the social implications of the changing dynamics of education. Most notably is the view that higher education's main task is to serve the needs of corporations. Largely ignored in many colleges/universities today is the notion that "education makes better people, society and quality of life". The Economic and Social Foundations of Collaborative Innovation addresses this indirectly: "Professor Benkler is essentially saying that collaborative innovation is a serious mode of economic production that has arisen because the Internet and related technologies and standards now permit large numbers of individuals to organize themselves for productive work, in a decentralized, non-market way...Professors Benkler and Weber address the questions of what motivates people to work together as a community for the common good with no direct fiscal gain, as well as how such communities organize and manage themselves."