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Now thats what I call collective intelligence

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A while ago Gavin Heaton and Drew Mc Lellan asked a bunch of us bloggers to contribute to an e-book about the Age of Conversation. We were each to contribute a chapter of 400 words about our take on the subject. As more people got excited about the project and spurred on by the idea that the profits would go to a children's charity more bloggers got involved, with just over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators finally co-authoring the book.

Not only is this likely to be a bit of a ground breaking read (I certainly liked my 1/100th of it) but its also a fascinating experiment in the wisdom of the crowd and and ferocious speed of collective self publishing. A book that is about half the length of an average novel has been conceived, the authors found, written, edited and published in hardback, softback and e-book formats in about 3 months.

And if it is all nonsense (which I would really suggest quite strongly it is not) then Variety gets stacks of dosh out of it.

Buy a copy now.

No really buy a copy now!

You can get the link to buy and all full list of the authors by continuing to read below.

Comments

Just browsing the internet, very interesting blog.

Posted by: Freddie Sirmans at July 17, 2007 01:37 AM

Hi Richard

in the interests of utter mischief shouldn't that read "with just over 99 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators..." ;-)

Otherwise I think I'll go read the book, whether for charity or not. Good work

Posted by: jemster at July 17, 2007 10:37 AM

your chapter surprised me.

Posted by: Marcus at July 17, 2007 11:05 AM

There were many chapters that surprised me and it was certainly a joy being one of the first to read through the chapters, end-to-end. There is plenty to think about, digest and act upon within the 118 pages ... and we all hope it is the very beginning of an ongoing and robust conversation.
So pleased that you were part of it, Richard!

Posted by: Gavin Heaton at July 17, 2007 01:21 PM

'tis indeed a good read, and for a belter of a cause. like the written chapters... what is it with the diagrams though??

Posted by: jemster at July 19, 2007 03:47 PM

"A point of view is worth 80 IQ points" - Alan Kay

I must say, I loved your paper, Richard.

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one who routinely risks getting their head shot off just speaking my mind and bothering to care.

What exactly is the alternative, anyway?

Who cares wins. Right?

Great work.

Also really enjoyed:

Roger von Oech - How to Think Like A Fool
Jessica Hagy - Sharing
Mike Sansone - Do You Talk Write?

Posted by: Adam at August 12, 2007 01:37 PM