The previous two readings for week 7 were about the power of collaboration, and what makes up a collaborative group. The last reading for the week discusses what actually defines collaboration. This reading is from Adam Hyde and Mike Linksvayer et al,The Social Media Reader (2012).

The one question that really stood out to me was about aggregation constituting collaboration. Israeli musician Kutiman was used as an example for when he compiled footage of different hobbyist musicians from YouTube to create a new music video. In my opinion, no, aggregation does not constitute collaboration. According to Jean Tabaka’s Collaboration explained: Facilitation skills for software project leaders (2006), a collaboration requires four characteristics (DISC), and a final goal to be achieved. While it involved many different members, Kutiman’s project didn’t involve any teamwork, and none of them were aware of the goal that was to be achieved. The final result was more of a clever compilation rather than a collaboration.