Working in Groups

Working together is how we accomplish things in life.  When we work in groups, we bring together our own ideas and experiences.  Sharing this information allows us to use other people's knowledge and experiences to build on what we already know.  Collaboration is important in learning, work, and every day life.

Rheingold (2005) talks about how the collaborative efforts of Wikipedia shows that people can work together to produce something good.  This is true.  Every day people work together to build buildings, pave roadways, and run businesses.  This is not to say that all people are able to work in groups to produce something.  Not everyone is good at working in groups and providing an equal contribution. 

The advances in technology have allowed us to collaborate with others more efficiently.  It has allowed for the construction of sites like Wikipedia and participation by those who wish to contribute.  "I simply want you to keep in mind, that if in the past, new forms of cooperation, enabled by new technology, create new forms of wealth, we maybe moving into yet another economic form that is significantly different from previous ones" (Rheingold, 2005)  Collaboration in business is nothing new, it has been going on for centuries.  The way that we communicate has simply changed over the years due to the advances in technology.  We saw changes when the telephone was invented, the fax machine was introduced and now the Internet.  This does not change the fact that people have worked together to accomplish tasks, it only provides a more efficient way of completing the tasks.


“Howard Rheingold: Way-New Collaboration” http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html