Making Web 2.0 Work: Embracing Complexity

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dave Pollard Making Web 2.0 Work: Embracing Complexity, How to Save the World How To Save The World How To Save the World May 9, 2006
Readers may be familiar with this line of argument, but it bears repeating: what web 2.0 is capturing, and where its greatest strength lies, is the complexity of knowledge. "The problem-solving methods used in most large organizations, taught in most universities, and proffered by most experts and consultants are designed for complicated problems, those that, with enough information, energy and expenditure can be run to the ground and 'solved'. Complex problems are 'wicked', and complicated problem-solving techniques are largely ineffectual in dealing with them." (I really don't like the term wicked - oh well). More...