Essay by Charlie Leadbeater, a response to Tacit Governance by David Weinberger. One of the outstanding features of David Weinberger’s writing about the web is his unwillingness to fall into the trap of making all or nothing, simple dichotomies. More than anyone writing about the web he understands and enjoys its miscellaneous messiness. So I […]
essay by Esther Dyson, a response to David Weinberger. The whole point of the net is that it is decentralized and heterogeneous: One size need not fit all. Thus there is no need to resolve the question of whether tacit or explicit rules are better for online communities. But you can ask when to use […]
Excerpt:
Since governance is, like speaking, co-extensive with the rise of civilization, it’s curious that it has such a bad name. Or perhaps it’s not so curious. Governance, as an explicit social structure, codified and implemented, arises when tacit governance fails. At its best, explicit governance is a response to a breakdown. It rarely restores a society to its prior, unbroken state…
