Fwd - SENSORICA, an open, decentralized, and self-organizing value network - with comment July 19, 2011

Tiberius Brastaviceanu - Founder at SENSORICA - wrote a great piece about SENSORICA, an open, decentralized, and self-organizing value network

He went into a lot of detail on the organisational structures, decision making, methods of distributed production etc. All the suggestions that he makes are firmly grounded in reality and a genuine product. I appreciate what he has written because what he explains for SENSORICA is also relevant in a far more generalised way. I am sure I will point to what he wrote in future to help people get a vision of how things are going.

Tiberius wrote it for the MIX -  Management Innovation eXchange (MIX) - "an open innovation project aimed at reinventing management for the 21st century. The premise: while "modern" management is one of humankind's most important inventions, it is now a mature technology that must be reinvented for a new age." He was inviting comments - and I decided to write something comment because I thought that to some people his ideas might seem a bit way out, so some supportive comments (plus a little discussion) might not come amiss. As far as I'm concerned what he describes is not utopian, it's straight-forward, 21st century, post-web world, common sense - which he describes well, and in helpful detail.

This is what I wrote:

I like this. The conceptual context in which I like it is this. It seems to me that at present it is as if we are living in two parallel realities. Your model fits well into my perceptions and experiences of "the second (i.e.post-web) reality". I'll explain a bit more about my perception of the realities, then offer some suggestions related to your model.

One reality is the "how it has been" reality - pre-web, 19th and 20th century structures and systems, typically top down, and with an emphasis on competition and material value.

The other reality is post-web, 21st century structures and systems, typically flatter and with an emphasis on collaboration and wider value systems - not just the easily quantifiable material ones. The flatter structure isn't a matter of keeping things more or less as they have been but with minor tweaks (ie top down but with some bottom up added as a gesture towards change - things as they were but with some emailing and web 2.0 things added on). Post web is a complete shift - like a 90 degree rotation, so there is no top or bottom but information is flowing across between people who are at the same level, holding each other in equal respect regarding their contributions. Post web is best seen in organisations or collaborative networks that could not have emerged pre-web. The emphasis on collaboration isn't just idealistic dreaming, It is practical good sense - as is argued elsewhere (in groups related to peer-to-peer, the commons, and so on). With knowledge creation the more you share the richer you get. (Also it's said that in the material world you give away 1% in order to sell 99% but in the digital world you can give away 99% in order to sell 1%)

I see your model as fitting the post-web reality. All that you describe makes sense to me according to my experiences of online communities - but your model is more advanced in its emphasis on production.

The area I would challenge is your use of the idea of a "gift economy", as the alternative to the traditional material payment economy. I believe that in post web world the economy is not a "gift economy" but a win-win economy where people decide for themselves what their win-win is - i.e they contribute according to personally defined (perhaps almost un-defined) non-tangible rewards that they recognise as "making it worth their while" to collaborate even if there in little or no traditional material payment. Materially it may look like a "gift economy" - but it is more subtle and is not to be confused with traditional unpaid work or volunteering.

Other than that "gift economy" detail, and assuming I have understood correctly all I have read, I agree completely with the reality and practicality of your vision for SENSORICA.

You can read all that Tiberius wrote at http://www.managementexchange.com/story/sensorica-open-enterprise-making