People in business and government often regard new social technology and networked culture as a dangerous 'new' thing and fall back on their experience of technology and organisational culture in the late Twentieth Century. In fact the reverse is true. The Twentieth century took the ideas of the industrial revolution and applied them to people. Mass production. Mass marketing. Mass slaughter. Our new cultural ecosystem is more traditional, and continues age old traditions of trade, business and socialisation. The Twentieth Century was wrong. And I will prove it. Using wild exaggeration and over-simplification, plus probably some pictures from Flickr... ;-) Next time somebody tells you they don't like this "new" stuff, which is riskier than "traditional" approaches, you will know what to do: tell them they have it the wrong way round. But don't blame me if you get fired.

1. THE 20TH CENTURY WAS WRONG
... in one very important respect, namely the concept of people as mass

2. What really bugs me...
Some people see social technology and
networked culture as dangerous and “new”
They prefer the “proven” technology and
“safe” organisational culture of the
Twentieth Century.
I disagree

3. What did the C20th get Wrong?
The Twentieth century took the ideas of the
industrial revolution & applied them to people.
Mass production. Mass marketing. Massacre.
A century of extremes.

4. Progress, but inequality

5. Progress, but inequality

6. Progress, but inequality

7. The Age of Nations and ‘ISMs’
Number of States in the World
200
150
100
50
1900
0
2000
Source: http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=252023

8. Nationalism

9. Communism

10. Fascism

11. Capitalism

12. = PEOPLE AS OBJECTS / MASS

13. Mass(acre)
Abstract ideas and identities valued over human life
Processing people as objects - the logic of the camps
Two acts of genocide in the final 8 years of the century

14. 1900: Kroonstad

15. 1940: Auschwitz

16. 1992: Omarska

17. FROM TRENCHES TO CUBICLES

18. Mass Mobilisation

19. Mass Production

20. Mass Marketing

21. The Corporation

22. The ‘IT’ Department

23. IT WAS NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS

24. Traditional Trading Networks

25. Guilds, Professions, Networks

26. Management vs Co-ordination
Millennium Challenge ’02 - biggest combined US military
exercise in the Gulf - took years to plan
Retired Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper defeated
the US military with a low-tech, traditional strategy

27. BACK TO THE FUTURE ?

28. LET’S PLAY IT SAFE

29. Trust is cheaper than control

30. Traditional Mode of Organisation?

31. Network-based models are proven
Aggregation & links beat coercion
Let’s stick to what works

32. Next time...
Next time somebody tells you social networks
or network-centric business are new and
risky, tell them to read a history book
“Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it” - George Santayana

33. Picture Credits
• www.gapminder.org
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/1242771346/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodrigogalindez/2993101142/sizes/l/
• http://www.worldalmanac.com/blog/ww_ustroops_rest_01.jpg
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/cirque-du-pablo/2991939174/
• http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2008/05/15-virtual-painting-at-ford/1914-Ford-Model-T-Painting-lg.jpg
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/irene2005/2761697172/sizes/l/
• http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uYeCdeWUudM/RquSSy_X2oI/AAAAAAAAADU/OuYTkaNKa3w/flyover.jpg
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/wills/119744777/sizes/l/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_irish/2379958609/sizes/l/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/305410323/sizes/l/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamoker/349341149/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/cote/54408562/sizes/l/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/52581560/sizes/l/
• http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?q=boer+camps&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dboer%2Bcamps%26imgsz
%3Dxxlarge%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa
%3DN&imgurl=1bd538634793cfa0