We Think: On Mass Creativity

Charles Leadbeater, who is an authority on innovation and creativity, writing in the Guardian states that:

"...the motto of the generation growing up with the collaborative logic of the web is not the solitary 'I think, therefore I am', it is be the social 'We think, therefore we are" and that this idea is so powerful that it has the possibility to radically transform “... how we can be organized without the hierarchy of top-down organizations [and] there is also huge potential to create new stores of knowledge to the benefit of all, innovate more effectively, strengthen democracy and give more people the opportunity to make the most of their creativity."

He has an interesting book out titled We-think where he examines the growing collaborative culture of the internet and its opportunities and challenges. Leadbeater says we’re at a crossroads involving mass creativity, crowdsourcing and the new world of shared and free content and questions whether or not all this collective creativity is a good thing. The first three chapters and the entire original draft of the book are available on his site.

Given this identified trend, how then can publishers harness and engage the power of a motivated community, in a quid pro quo manner, to contribute to the publishing workspace, especially in areas where there is a low incentive for traditional publishing houses to work in either because of small market sizes or because or low margins.

Leadbeater, has an interesting presentation on how libraries can
become centres for open innovation and focal points of the creative economy.

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These are some of the areas, please read our introductory post, that Pratham Books works in and some of the areas we are exploring and we'd be interested in hearing from you.