Archive for clay shirky
How newspapers wrecked some of their most popular content
Writing about securing media coverage for one of the chapters in 101 Ways To Win An Election, I was reminded of the old research finding about British newspapers: that the letters pages are consistently one of the best read parts of (the printed version of) newspapers. Letters pages used to face all sorts of practical [...]
The Arab Spring, social media and lessons for future revolutionaries
“The longer you can look back, the further you can look forward”. So said Winston Churchill, explaining the practical application of history to forecasting. That is why those seeking to understand the causes as well as possible implications of the Arab Spring and Egyptian revolution of 2011 can learn much from the previous Egyptian revolution [...]
Did the Internet make any substantial difference?
This post expands on my earlier What sort of internet election was it then? piece. Particular thanks to Nick Anstead for the idea I’ve expanded on and to Mick Fealty for offering me the guest post slot on Slugger O’Toole which made me sit down and write this piece. You can read it in its [...]
The Saturday debate: it’s no longer about market versus state
Here’s your starter for ten as we experiment with a Saturday slot posing a view for debate:
For the last hundred years the big organizational question has been whether any given task was best taken on by the state, directing the effort in a planned way, or by businesses competing in a market. This debate was [...]
