This is a deep, complex and fascinating read.

…#ows is effective not just because it is an idea whose time has come, but it is also an organizational system best suited for today’s sociopolitical environment. It needs to be robust enough to work in all kinds of communities, and it must survive the kinds of dramatic changes it seeks to enact.

…#ows prefigures the kinds of sociopolitical and technical systems its members envision. It is decentralized, self-organizing, and nonhierarchical. I do not think anyone is in a position to predict what #ows will ultimately accomplish.  But if larger segments of society become self-organizing systems, we will certainly be living in a radically new kind of society.

icancstructures:

Marc Smith of the Social Media Research Foundation analyzed twitter associations of Occupy Wall Street tweets and found a viral, highly decentralized network of individuals. They…