One of the interesting things about the major current web platforms – eBay, Amazon, Google, Yahoo! – is that they involve, in different ways, some element of co-creation by their users. We are also seeing an explosion in tools and services for social networking, information sharing and disclosure, and commentary.
In this context, it is interesting to read Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz discuss Sun in the context of a move to the Participation Age:
It was also a perfect opportunity to discuss Sun’s new branding. As you’ve probably seen, we’ve been talking up the Participation Age. The Participation Age leaves behind the network as a tool for the uninformed to access great databases in the sky (known as the Information Age), and drives toward a network in which individuals can participate. They can drive the dialog, drive economic opportunity, for themselves and their communities. They can educate, not simply be educated. Individuals can participate – leveraging a growing world of free services and technologies, from blogs to Java, wikis to a world of wonderful new services. [Jonathan Schwartz’s Weblog]
