Shirky: Chapters 7-11

There were quite a few things to take away from the last portion of this book.

I found it very interesting when Shirky talked about group networks and how the connections of people within small groups affected larger groups. When Shirky talked about the "Power Law" in terms of these group members "recognizing" each other through certain powerholders within each group, it made things more conceivable in terms people "knowing" each other through affiliation. It also made a great deal of sense when Shirky appropriated these powerholders as critical to connectivity and how the structure of the group dissipates as these powerholders aren't available or leave a group(s). An example of this holds true when dealing with corporate America and professional sports.

When key figures or powerholders within the corporation or professional sports team leave or become disabled the networking or collaboration is affected negatively. This impact comes in various forms, but in a nutshell, the overall degradation of the corporate or professional team is usually obvious.

Before reading Shirky I believed that the Internet, or rather e-mail was a superior method of relaying important political messages. Shirky's seems to foster this idea through much of the book, but conversely displays the downfall of many political messages within chapter 11. It was eye opening to see that many of the messages that I thought would have some effect in the political arena may be nothing more than "useless" as Shirky states.

Overall, what I took away from this book and what I believe to be Shirky's main points center on the cost association with sharing information, the affects of group formation, and how the cost transaction associated with both sharing and group formations has been dramatically cut; altering the way that technologically advanced operate and communicate. Much of what Shirky describes holds relevance in most of our lives and deserves recognition as much more than opinionated rhetoric.