false 173774 2 The rise of the "information society" offers not only considerable peril but also great promise. Beset from all sides by a never-ending barrage of media, how can we ensure that the most accurate information emerges and is heeded? In this book, Cass R. Sunstein develops a deeply optimistic understanding of the human potential to pool information, and to use that knowledge to improve our lives. In an age of information overload, it is easy to fall back on our own prejudices and insulate ourselves with comforting opinions that reaffirm our core beliefs. Crowds quickly become mobs. The justification for the Iraq war, the collapse of Enron, the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia--all of these resulted from decisions made by leaders and groups trapped in "information cocoons," shielded from information at odds with their preconceptions. How can leaders and ordinary people challenge insular decision making and gain access to the sum of human knowledge? Stunning new ways to share and aggregate information, many Internet-based, are helping companies, schools, governments, and individuals not only to acquire, but also to create, ever-growing bodies of accurate knowledge. Through a ceaseless flurry of self-correcting exchanges, wikis, covering everything from politics and business plans to sports and science fiction subcultures, amass--and refine--information. Open-source software enables large numbers of people to participate in technological development. Prediction markets aggregate information in a way that allows companies, ranging from computer manufacturers to Hollywood studios, to make better decisions about product launches and office openings. Sunstein shows how people can assimilate aggregated information without succumbing to the dangers of the herd mentality--and when and why the new aggregation techniques are so astoundingly accurate. In a world where opinion and anecdote increasingly compete on equal footing with hard evidence, the on-line effort of many minds coming together might well provide the best path to infotopia. 167852 2006 Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge total:51|5:7|4:19|3:19|2:6|1:0| 51 180 139 13 5 0 false false Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 01:47:58 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 01:48:16 -0700 2009
In this delightful book, Cass R. Sunstein offers a cogent, compact and gently witty discussion of information sharing. His explanations of how different knowledge-aggregation processes work are extremely useful. They range from the ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Dec 11 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 19:00:25 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 19:21:31 -0800 2008 Wired spirit bloviating about five different models of decision-making or intelligence (as in fact-finding and analysis): statistical treatment of poll data, deliberation (your basic committee), wikis, blogs, and prediction markets. He offers a variety of examples of e...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 12:01:11 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 11 13:42:31 -0800 2007
The cons of such collaboration being groupthink, polarization, hidden profiles, and information ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 14 18:49:46 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 13:53:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 22 00:32:03 -0800 2008 Sun Apr 13 22:04:20 -0700 2008 http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2...

Have you had your tonsils removed? Did you ever eat an order of freedom fries? Has your government ever invaded a country on the mistaken impression that it had weapons of mass destruction? If you answered yes, you may have fallen victim to one o...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Feb 23 13:58:01 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 23 14:03:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 19 07:14:06 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 19 07:20:02 -0800 2008 Infotopia dealt with how groups make decisions and have a collective knowledge. It spoke to a collection of recent changes that in this field: wikis, blogs, predictive markets, and the open source movement. While I am already fairly well versed on these changes I still found this section to be a g...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 21:25:30 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 14:25:45 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jan 03 10:44:26 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 03 10:49:50 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Nov 28 13:06:11 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 13:06:26 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Sat Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 08:34:20 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 09:31:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 07:56:46 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 09:11:39 -0700 2008 1 0 0 false false Sat Dec 22 16:08:18 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 22 16:08:18 -0800 2007 3 0 false false Mon Nov 09 03:39:44 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 09 03:39:50 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Nov 01 19:30:55 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 19:30:55 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Tue Nov 03 10:29:38 -0800 2009 Sat Oct 31 15:33:05 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 15:33:08 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 30 15:26:25 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 15:26:25 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 29 08:24:21 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 08:24:21 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 28 16:42:28 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 16:42:28 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 09:57:43 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 09:57:43 -0700 2009