We Are Smarter Than Me

infobox Book |
name = We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business
orig title =
translator =


author = Barry Libert Jon Spector and hundreds of other authors
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = Non-fiction
publisher = Wharton School Publishing
release_date = October 5, 2007
media_type = Hardcover
pages = 176 pp (Harcover edition)
isbn = ISBN 978-0132244794
preceded_by =
followed_by =

We Are Smarter Than Me is a collaborative-writing project using wiki software, whose initial goal was producing a book about decision making processes that use large numbers of people. The first book was published as a printed book, late in 2007, by the publishing conglomerate Pearson Education. Along with Pearson, the project's four core sponsors include research institutes of MIT and the Wharton School.

The wiki book was featured in a November 28, 2006 broadcast of NPR's "All Things Considered."

History and Overview of project

The project was started as "a business community formed by business professionals to research and discuss the impact of social networks on traditional business functions" [Gizmag: Initiatives to harness the power of collective intelligence http://www.gizmag.com/go/6310/] .Initiated by illustrious faculty from the Wharton Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management

The people behind this initiative [http://www.experientia.com/blog/2006/10/] [http://designcorner.blinkr.net/Putting_people_first/2006/10/22/We_Are_Smarter_Than_Me] are Barry Libert, CEO of Shared Insights, Jon Spector, vice dean and director of Wharton’s Aresty Institute of Executive Education, Thomas W. Malone, Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and founder and director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, Tim Moore, editor-in-chief of Pearson Education and Yoram Wind, Lauder Professor and Professor of Marketing at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and founding director of the Wharton “think tank,” the SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management.

The project was started in late 2006 [http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=194400708] and a wiki website was established to allow people to contribute text to the book. It was published on October 5, 2007.

Participation

According to the project's website [We Are Smarter: The Concept & The Process http://www.wearesmarter.org/default.aspx?tabid=1580] , "over a million students, faculty and alumni of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as leaders, authors, and experts from the fields of management and technology were invited to contribute in a wiki-based community that coalesced at wearesmarter.org. Members were asked to develop and share their insights about why community approaches work or don't work when it comes to marketing, business development, distribution, and more, and what companies have to do to make them work better."

they had reached the following participation statistics [Q&A with Barry and Jon http://www.wearesmarter.org/Default.aspx?Tabid=1581] by the time the book was ready for publication:
- 4375 Registered Members
- 737 forum posts
- 250 wiki contributors
- 1600 wiki posts
The project's website reports that "In addition to actual community members and contributors, the project was influenced by hundreds of bloggers, Podcasters, and conference attendees at the inaugural Community 2.0 Conference in Las Vegas." [http://www.wearesmarter.org/Default.aspx?Tabid=1581]

Advisory Board

The project's advisory board for phase 1 (the writing of the first book) included:
Chairman:
Thomas W. Malone - the Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, founder and director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
Board Members:
Tim Moore of Wharton School Publishing and FTPress.

Jimmy Wales - founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit corporation that operates the Wikipedia project, and several other wiki projects.

Yoram (Jerry) Wind is The Lauder Professor and Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the founding director of the Wharton "think tank," The SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management.
Philip Evans - a senior vice president in the Boston office of the Boston Consulting Group. author of the best-selling book Blown to Bits.

Content

According to the authors [http://www.wearesmarter.org/default.aspx?tabid=1580] , "the goal of the project was to develop a book that addresses what other best-selling books on community have not. Wikinomics and The Wisdom of Crowds have identified the phenomena of emerging social networks, but they do not confront how businesses can profit from the wisdom of crowds" [http://www.wearesmarter.org/default.aspx?tabid=1580] .

The book contains case studies from several companies, including: Eli Lily, Amazon.com, Dell Computers, Cambrian House, Angie's List, Proctor & Gamble

Media Coverage and Acceptance

The project received wide coverage in US media, including such venues as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, Newsweek and NPR's radio show "All Things Considered" [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15817758] .
The book ranked #6 in Amazon's "Best of 2007", and "Top 10 book to inspire your business for 2008" from TheStreet.com [http://www.mzinga.com/en/Community/We_Are_Smarter_Than_Me/]

Further and Related Reading

*cite book | author=Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams | title=Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything | publisher=Portfolio | year=2006 | id=ISBN 978-1591841937
*cite book | author=Yochai Benkler | title=The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2007 | id=ISBN 978-0300125771
* Surowiecki, James (2004). "The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations" Little, Brown ISBN 0-316-86173-1
* Cass R. Sunstein, "Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge" (2006) Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195189280
* Thomas W. Malone, "The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style and Your Life" Harvard Business School Press (April 2, 2004) ISBN 978-1591391258

References

External links

* [http://www.wearesmarterthanme.org/ Official site]
* [http://cci.mit.edu/ MIT Ceter for Collective Intelligence]
* [http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1855/ Excerpts from chapters 1,2 at Whaton's website]