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More on Groups and Shirky

Can I tell you that I love reading Shirky's book while having this great conversation at the same time? Anyway, Lindy had an interesting comment on my last post. I want to take a piece of it out for you:

We have a great group going and a lot of momentum. We're getting calls and e-mails from big name authors, speakers and potential sponsors. But we don't want to do this stuff in a vacuum. We want the professional arm of our industry to step up and help us out and make the big stuff happen.


I think this goes right along with what Shirky says in Chapter 2. Essentially, with transactions costs dropping so much, activities that couldn't be taken on before are now being taken on by self-forming groups. At the same time, there will still be a need for institutions to handle larger scale projects that require economies of scale and true management.

Therefore, associations should embrace the small, self-forming groups and be there to jump on board when the small group has reached a point that it can't do what it wants to without the help of a larger institution.

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