Blog: David Loshin

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Collaboration, Crowds, Ratings, Fraud?

At the recent DAMA International/Meta-Data conference in Boston, one of the keynote speakers, Don Tapscott, spoke about the concept (and topic of his new book) of "Wikinomics," focusing on the value of mass collaboration through the electronic medium to develop more effective and value-added economics to worldwide businesses (ok, I am simplifying a bit, but it was a long talk). One of the points he raised was the value of self-organization, especially when it came to oversight, such as the kind provided when numerous consumers are able to post their opinions of products, services, etc. The upshot was that businesses would be forced to improve their {products, services, support, etc.} because the masses would be able to expose deficiencies to the public, putting competitiveness at risk. (Actually, he said a lot of things, and I am actually paraphrasing, but that's one thing I got out of it.)

Interestingly (and I guess coincidentally), on March 16, the Washington Post presented an article about what appears to be a planned "system gaming" of ebay. A large part of the framework is based on trust, characterized in terms of positive experiences (either in buying or selling). of course, the implication is that the better your ratings, the more trustworthy you are, and therefore the more reliable you can be predicted to be in terms of fulfilling the transaction.

According to the the article, though, what some sellers do is create an image of trustworthiness over time and then transition into fraudsters. The way they do it is by picking a relatively small-scale item to sell - in the article the profiled seller marketed digital camera memory cards. After a time of successful transactions and corresponding positive reports, the seller has created a sterling reputation. At that point, the seller switches to a high-ticket item (e.g., digital video cameras). The high ratings attract many buyers, who purchase the item, only to receive empty camera bags or nothing at all. The seller then disappears - no response to emails or phone calls.

So, going back to Don Tapscott's premise, one might consider the dark side of mass interaction - that the collaborative environment might also be exploited to create the illusion of value, when in fact it delivers the exact opposite. Any reactions?

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