DMS BLOG 2

Can I make millions off Collective Intelligence?

Football is played in well over two hundred countries throughout the world, and is classified as the world game. If a player from one of these many countries is good enough, they are chosen to play for some of the biggest clubs throughout the world. This small group of players, who are only a few of the vast footballing fraternity, that is the beautiful game, are payed copious yet ridiculous amounts of money to play the game that they, along with  millions around the world, love.

Wayne Rooney has been in the media recently, with growing speculation over his future with current football club, Manchester United. Contract talks were in process, but as of late last week he signed a new contract, worth two-hundred and fifty thousand pounds ($395,000) a week, which equates to a measly figure of twelve and half million pounds ($20,540,000) a year. Is this lifestyle he has chosen, and the amount of money he gets paid pure luck, or could it possibly be the kind work of collective intelligence?

Collective Intelligence is professionally described as “the capacity of networked information communication technologies to exponentially enhance the collective pool of social knowledge by simultaneously expanding the extent of human interactions enabled by communications networks that can generate new knowledge, and the greatly enhanced capacity to codify, store, and retrieve such knowledge through collective access to networked databases”(Flew, 2008)

However Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams described collective intelligence as, “mass collaboration” and in order for this concept to transpire, four principles derived by them, must exist. (2008)

·      Openness: The sharing of ideas and intellectual property allows for greater benefit through experience and knowledge.

·      Peering: Allows for consumer modification. Gives the customer the chance to put fourth ideas and develop personalised products, along with generating further and future ideas for businesses.

·      Sharing: applies more to the producer of products in the way that companies must share some of their ideas in order to expand markets and produce products faster. Whereas, the withholding of ideas only limits opportunities.

·      Acting Globally: with worldwide communication and interaction so easily accessible these days, geographic location is no longer a boundary, and can produce new market existence. (Tapscott & Williams, 2008)

However, it is the fast-paced development of the digital media world that has allowed for this concept of collective intelligence of individuals, groups and businesses to really take off.   

New media has the capabilities to store media and retrieve information with far greater ease than ever before. Coinciding with the development of the Internet and worldwide databases, information and media, or better known as intelligence, now has the ability to be shared without difficulty. Interactive new media is the way of the future, tapping into the many wonderful aspects of the Internet allows for online participation and distinctive distribution channels for knowledge. As the following video shows, collective intelligence should not only be internally amongst groups and businesses; external intelligence sharing should also be used as it generates ideas, opens new windows and exposes untouched markets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQe8dWTbE2U

“Collective intelligence is not merely a quantitative contribution of information from all cultures, it is also qualitative.” (Flew,2008)People can put fourth their information for others to see (quantitative), but the opportunities that could be generated from that small bit of information by someone else, is priceless (qualitative).

The following video displays the uses of collective intelligence in the real world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cw6tchzm_w

There are many different ways in which this concept of collective intelligence can be interpreted. Many theorists have attempted to shape it around their particular professions and ideals, however one main concept derives around them all. The idea of communication and teamwork, the ability of individuals, groups and businesses to share knowledge amongst each other to generate new and fresh ideas.

So in what possible way, could my ambition of taking my professional career down the path of becoming an international football phenomenon, be related to this in-depth concept of collective intelligence.

All great players have to start somewhere; they have to begin their career at some stage in their life. All players are influenced by collective intelligence from the moment they step out onto the field, in football, collective intelligence is an on-going process. Knowledge is passed on from coach to coach, player to player, player to coach, coach to player, parent to player and sometimes even parent to coach, doesn’t matter how, collective intelligence is taking place. New tactics, skills, playing methods, medical treatments and accessory enhancements i.e knowledge or collective intelligence are developed daily by people all around the world and passed on to others. In football, an original set of tactics were developed, then gradually expanded upon until the set of tactics and ideas that teams embrace today. Tomorrow, a new idea will be generated on how to play the game in a different and potentially more successful way. Without the sharing of these ideas amongst individuals, groups and even football clubs, the game that is loved by so many worldwide, could never have developed or expanded into the enormity it is today. As for our example earlier, collective intelligence has made Wayne Rooney twelve and a half million pounds a year for the next five years. I’d like to think that we as a population continue to endorse the idea of collective intelligence, as maybe in the near future, lets say when I’m 24 (Wayne Rooney’s age) I’ll be making a quarter of what he is annually.

Reference:

Tapscott, D., & Williams, A. D.(2008). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, USA: Penguin Group

Flew, Terry (2008). New Media: an introduction. Melbourne: Oxford University Press

DMS Blog #1

You Have to Cover all Bases to Reach Your Dream

The dream of becoming a professional football player has been with me for as long as I can remember. Forgetting the fact that I shared that dream with probably one in every three children in England, growing up it was a realistic dream for me, and I let everybody know. I grew up playing FIFA 98 on the PC at my dad’s work, and I could probably recite every line of my childhood favourite movie, “Bend it like Beckham”. I had a collection of what were called Tazo’s’, and they featured all of my favourite football players and could be found in packets of crisps. When Christmas rolled around I tuned my vocal chords into the yearly recording of a Christmas carol by the England Football team, but what I didn’t know was that this was the way of the future. Or as Henry Jenkins says in his review of Transmedia Story Telling, “Transmedia, multiplatform, or enhanced storytelling as it is sometimes called represents the future of entertainment.” (Jenkins,2003)

“Let's face it: we have entered an era of media convergence that makes the flow of content across multiple media channels almost inevitable.” (Jenkins,2003)Does this mean that we, as a society, as consumers, have developed a situation where it is inconceivable for a movie to be profitable all by itself, does it need to have the accompanying game, soundtrack, toys and accessories? This idea of globalizing and commercialising products has soon become reality, due to the ease of accessibility and high demand. Transmedia Storytelling practices are described as the notion of designing different points of access for a particular product, and hence opening the potential consumer market to incorporate a larger population.(2007) It creates a sense of belonging, and the content becomes ever-present and addictive, generating lifestyles adapted too, by the consumer, for the product.

A classic example of these practices in place, incorporates the film trilogy The Matrix. After the release of the first chapter in a series of three films, the proceeding two films were preceded by ‘Enter the Matrix’ – the game- ‘The Animatrix’ – Series of animated cartoons- along with a small range of comics, possessing critical information, key interactions and the introduction of minor characters. Fans were bemused as to wether or not they were required to purchase every single product to understand the remaining two parts to the trilogy. As Ivan Askwith explains in his blog related to Advertising and Transmedia Storytelling, this was just one perception of the sudden delving into cross media promotion. Ivan claims that the vast majority of people see it in one of two ways: an enormous, yet sudden enhancement in digital storytelling – whereby the viewer/listener/reader can decide how highly involved they would like to be-. (2009) Although it could also be a major advance in the way in which to exploit consumers, “You mean I have to buy the game, four comics and watch an animated series, just to understand what is going on in the second film?” (Askwith,2009)

So, how does Transmedia Storytelling affect our everyday lives or our individual aims and goals? It may seem as though after what I have said so far, this idea that Transmedia Storytelling is the only possible in the commercialisation of a product, for a example a movie or a game. However, that is not the case, with these supposed worlds also being created and ever-present in the news, advertising and public relations professions.

My desired and planned profession is to become a professional athlete in the sport of football, and in today’s modern society these athletes are sometimes seen and treated as products. As stated earlier, although the idea of Transmedia Storytelling is relatively modern, I believe it has been around at least since I was young. Football, in itself has become part of the Transmedia Storytelling arena. Crazed fans adapt and change their lifestyle based around their favourite club or player, fans constantly want to be updated on the latest football news; either through the television updates, newspapers or even the internet and social networking sites such as Twitter. Weekly events include magazines dedicated to the sport, specific football newspapers and even fantasy leagues where you can manage your own football team. There seems to be a new football movie out every year to accompany the annual FIFA football game. When we talk about creating further access points to broaden the market along with the above, we have football players posing for calendars, enticing the female market, along with celebrity endorsed cosmetics and further products.

It is safe to say, that the sport of football at any level has created opportunities to incorporate a larger consumer or participatory market, by creating further entry points for a wider audience to incorporate the sport within their lives.

 If it wasn’t already, in the past few years Football has quickly become part of the rapidly growing Transmedia Storytelling era. Question is, have you got the latest version of the FIFA football game to accompany your weekly ‘Football International’ magazine? If not, you may just be missing out on that one piece of information.

Reference:

Jenkins,H.(2007).Transmedia Storytelling 101. Retrieved October 18,2010, from http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html.

Jenkins,H.(2003). Transmedia Storytelling. Retrieved October 18,2010, from http://www.technologyreview.com/biotech/13052/.

Askwith,I.(2009). Further Reading on Advertising and Transmedia. Retrieved October 18,2010, from http://www.bigspaceship.com/blog/think/further-reading-on-advertising-transmedia/.