Mike's Blog

In today’s connected world, ideas move faster than ever.  The rapid exchange of ideas fuels innovation. Ideas are combined and built on each other.  I recently read a great article by Chris Anderson, the curator of the TED Conferences, discussing “crowd accelerated innovation.” He suggests that the web, and specifically online video, is advancing ideas in “internet time.”

“Video is the killer app. Don’t write me. Tell me. Show me.”

We know that the web allows good ideas to spread quickly to a wide audience. The impact of video makes the evolution of ideas even more pronounced. Anderson uses the example of street dancers: “Dancers have created a whole global laboratory for dance. Kids in Japan are taking moves from a YouTube video created in Detroit, building on it within days and releasing a new video… So in both street dance and TED talks, an upward spiral of improvement was taking place, prompted by the use of online video.”

My first experience with YouTube was underwhelming.  I saw it as a collection of really bad, really boring videos.  But YouTube was able to harness the power of the crowd to uncover the few diamonds in the rough. The crowd will bring the noteworthy videos to our attention.

Anderson presents an interesting look at the history of innovation and the way the internet is accelerating the flow of ideas.

“Crowd Accelerated Innovation isn’t new. In one sense, it’s the only kind of innovation there’s ever been. What is new is that the Internet—and specifically online video—has cranked it up to a spectacular degree.

I believe that the arrival of free online video may turn out to be just as significant a media development as the arrival of print. It is creating new global communities, granting their members both the means and the motivation to step up their skills and broaden their imaginations. It is unleashing an unprecedented wave of innovation in thousands of different disciplines: some trivial, some niche in the extreme, some central to solving humanity’s problems. In short, it is boosting the net sum of global talent. It is helping the world get smarter.”

See the full article here: TED Curator Chris Anderson on Crowd Accelerated Innovation