Here Comes Everybody

Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (New York: Penguin Press, 2008) provides a readable account of the impact of IT on supporting new ways for people to work together. Shirkey, a faculty member at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, considers how Flickr, blogs, MySpace, Wikis, flash mobs, and open source software enable groups to form, organizations to manage differently, amateurs to challenge professionals, and actions to be carried out collectively. Shirky blends case studies (a mass movement to retrieve a stolen cell phone, reactions to off-hand comments made by a politician, and public scrutiny of cover-ups) with research studies and classic writings. Shirky also considers both the positive and negative implications of the new and emerging technologies.