COMM 386: 'Wisdom of Crowds' / ASSIGNED READING

Following up on Monday's discussion of "wisdom of crowds" theory as it applies to elections, I found out where the theory comes from (maybe you already knew this), a book called (what else?) "The Wisdom of Crowds" (2004) by James Surowiecki, who covers financial markets for The New Yorker magazine. The Wisdom of Crowds Website defines it as a a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications:

... large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

The website has all the bells and whistles we'd expect from a good website -- blurb quotes (disgused as quotes from a "Press Room"), the author's schedule (this weekend he'll be in Washington, D.C.), FAQs, an excerpt and a link to the Random House catalog so we can buy the book. You're not assigned to buy the book (although I think I may want to from what I've seen of it), but you are assigned to read the Q&A with Surowiecki and the excerpt in which he explains some of the basic theory behind the book.