Prototyping Social Capital

Telling Your Own Tale

Whenever you can ask people to take a break from the daily distractions of work, to reflect -- not simply on what is, but on what could be -- we move forward collectively ever so slightly. So it is with Tony Diefell's Portrait Project at Harvard Business School. A few years back he began asking students: "What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life," a request first presented by Mary Oliver (and something I wrote about in Ross' blog a few years back). This past year's set is now out. There's even a little one from me there.

Human Wiki

The role of people should be to lead, the role of technology should be to coordinate; all too often organizations get those two backwards.

In the New York Times today Thomas Friedman highlights Andrew Rasiej's many-to-many political platform while running for New York City Public Advocate. Rasiej, who founded MOUSE.org, a non-profit that trains students to run the technology in their schools, understands that inexpensive, simple tools in the hands of many can lead to collaboration at scale:

"'One elected official by himself can't solve the problems of eight million people,' Mr. Rasiej argued, 'but eight million people networked together can solve one city's problems. They can spot and offer solutions better and faster than any bureaucrat.'"

Friedman cites civic photo-blogging as one example -- "having people use their cellphones to take pictures of potholes or crime, and then, using Google maps, e-mailing the pictures and precise locations to City Hall."

The role of Public Advocate is interesting because it is tasked with answering complaints about people's problems with city government -- that is, it is an ombudsman for conversations that are already occurring around the city.

The Public Advocate is a human wiki: s/he provides a home for conversations that are already occurring, a way for many to participate, and build on the inputs of others. The ideal public advocate, like a wiki, creates conditions where any good idea is heard (something Rasiej appears to be doing well by limiting campaign contributions to ~$250 per donor). Both the advocate and the wiki have the responsibility to link related conversations among distinct groups, lending a hand to greater collaboration.

Of course the analogy is not a perfect fit. Wikis can personally host with ease anywhere from a handful up to hundreds of thousands of group activities, something no individual should be asked to do. On the other hand, an Advocate exercises judgment every day in a way wikis simply are not built to do.

Friedman makes the point that in politics the party that most quickly adopts relevant technology has an advantage. The same is true for companies. Yet I think the larger point for organizations is about the relationship between people and their technology. The role of people should be to lead, the role of technology should be to coordinate. All too often organizations get those two backwards.

To their credit, both the social software movement and Mr. Rasiej's campaign are working to set the roles straight.

(Cross-posted over at Socialtext)