I know, it’s rather late to give you a comprehensive summary of San Francisco‘s Supernova that already ended three days ago. However, I’m just flipping through my digital notes and going through all the positive experiences and insights („decompressing“ as my buddy BJ from suggestionbox.com would say).

For all of you who have already used the virtual space for some collaboration efforts, the very first opening speech by Clay Shirky contained two very interesting statements on collective action.

1) Up to this day, (bottom-up) collective action has merely been used for collective protest and stop-movements; because it’s easier to stop something than to create something new. I agree.

2) Without social density (everybody tracks everybody else) and continuity (people remain in place for a certain time) there is no fertile ground for social collaboration. This “I owe you a favour, you owe me a favour” culture has evolved from inconveniences that could only be solved in collective action; these inconveniences are fading away. I agree, at least when it comes to the needs represented in the lower floors of Maslow's hierarchy.

But what's to come?

As a matter of fact there are less people that consider what could be done than people who think to know what should not be done. The modest quote of visionary maniacs that take risks and kick-start new projects will remain the same as long as there is no genetic overhaul conducted by some entrepreneurial aliens! So that reason for Clay's first statement is here to stay.

However, society is slowly but surely overcoming the second reason: shortage of simple collaboration tools and missing mass collaboration expertise and comfortability. Social collaboration tools (wikis, forums, IM, etc) are becoming user friendlier every day. And our new generations are in no way afraid to use them and get involved with people they haven’t physically met before (cp. wikipedia, open source projects like Linux etc.). 

So here my outlook on Clay's first point: Collective action will more and more focus on innovation and less and less on stop movements. I think that Amazee’s evolving projects are a great example!

With regard to Clay’s second statement [= social collaboration and collective action will require a high social density (everybody tracks everybody else) and density (people remain in place for a certain time)] I’m quite confident that micro blogging services like jaiku and twitter will do their part to the solution :)

Dania and I just arrived in San Francisco and we are already aglow with happiness!! Want to know why? Kevin Werbach was giving away free registrations to 3 startups for San Francisco’s Supernova 2008 (one ticket costs $1695!!). Amazee snapped at the chance  - and won two entries!! (compare our current feeling with your favorite team winning Euro 2008 - just better...) 

What did we do to win? Kevin asked for a 5-minute video explaining what we would add to Supernova (“Be creative; be provocative. Tell a compelling story about what you’re building. I’ll pick the best submissions…”) – This is what we submitted :)