Adhocracy

The Mi Primer PC, Pero de Verdad campaign (“My First PC, For Real”) is an example of what Howard Rheingold calls adhocracy: a spontaneous organization of the internet community to fight for a specific goal. This organization will probably disappear as soon as the problem is solved (when the government receives the letter, for example).

The concept of Smart Mobs applies fully here:

Smart mobs emerge when communication and computing technologies amplify human talents for cooperation. The impacts of smart mob technology already appear to be both beneficial and destructive.

Still, we should keep in mind that even though MPPCPDV is turning into a smart mob, its effectiveness probably won’t reach beyond the medium itself, as GODO rightly observes in his article criticizing the real impact of this “movement”.

Showing up in person is probably necessary. Adhocracy from the comfort of our computers, or on the net, doesn’t make much of an impression on politicians, and it turns this movement into something for the elites who have access to technology, which contradicts the goal.

We need to rethink what we’re doing, because by the time we reach 25,000 signatures, the number of PCs sold may well be larger than the signatures collected.

Somebody has to act in the real world too.…