about *net, a beginning

*net in a nutshell is an entirely new way to work.  It is to current work infrastructure what the blog is to the manually transcribed book.  It is my premise that sufficient technologies exist to enable a fully mediated working relationship where value can be tracked at an unprecedented level of detail, in real time, and reward can be assigned automatically based on outcomes.

Mediated (web based for example) interactions may be very roughly mapped as follows:
1) group knowledge sharing
2) group decision making
3) group action

In increasing order they represent more difficult and rarer interactions.

In order for group action to be possible it must be sustainable, in order for it to be sustainable it must allow the participants to engage fully and be economically self sufficient as a result of this participation.  Otherwise it is a hobby, is not sustainable, and is in fact parasitic on other economic activity that participant maintains outside the system of group action.   Dr. Gualtiero Fantoni and Dr Roberto Santori suggest that a 'Professional Virtual Community' must include social dimension, knowledge dimension, and business dimension if it is to be succeed.

An example may help.

I wake up in the morning with an idea, but it is an idea about some established industry.  Perhaps I have thought of a new product based on tires, perhaps a slogan for a watch company.  Bottom line is I cannot do anything with that idea currently.  If I post it somewhere, it may simply be taken.  If I post it on a companies suggestion site, it by legal definition is taken.  If I take that idea to a funding source (angel, VC) they will laugh me out of their office.  Assuming the idea has merit for argument's sake, society has lost something based on this inability to capture, filter, surface, develop, and ultimately sell this idea into the marketplace.

Another example;
A group gets together to discuss a new business idea, they talk for eight hours, at the end of the discussion what is the equity split in the newly formed entity?

Re Valuation:
I believe:
- It is possible to model value in a fine grained manner, all contributions of any nature that contribute to a 'valuable result' (definition complicated)  
- It is possible through computer intermediation to track attribution of contributions
- It is possible to trace the accretion of value from inputs to outputs, from origin to ultimate expression.
- Value is often indeterminate at the time the effort is expended.
- Value is determined at events I will call Liquidity Events
- At a Liquidity Event it is possible to flow Reward through to those who have contributed the value in proportion to the value contributed to the whole as calculated by the Economic Model.

Economic Model:
I believe:
A parameterized economic model can be built which relates (through possibly complex composite functions) dimensions of value to dimensions of reward
This model can be made to be more attractive contract to work against than the current system of person to person custom contracts, random meetings, counter-party negotiation, and happy accidents.
This model will be an umbrella contract , with local instances posted in advance by the founder of a context with differing parameter values to accommodate the desires of founders, differing project types, and other local variations.
The model needs to be made 'good enough' not perfect, and it will be iterated and improved through the competition between versions of the model.
There are a finite set of dimensions of value which can adequately express value created by human beings.
That which motivates human beings to create value can be captured in a finite set of dimensions of reward
Some dimensions of value will also be dimensions of reward
Some dimensions of value will be functions of other dimensions of value (and similarly for reward)
Multiple pairs of subsets of Dimensions of value mapped to subset of dimensions of reward will exist (patronage may convert to intimacy, work to a deliverable agreed to in advance with clear requirements may convert to cash, participation may lead to reputation)
Ultimately every dimension of reward must be convertible to cash through some process (the dimension of reward may itself be a dimension of value leading to a liquidity event hence cash).
Cash is in this usage simply an intermediary liquidity affordance, and may be the 'normal' cash we know (while both systems exist side by side) or ultimately if *net becomes a complete solution may still reside within *net.

IP Rights
The current system of IP is fundamentally broken, in that it can be used to stifle progress, rather than simply to assert creator's rights to Reward.
With ubiquitous capture and intermediation of all value accretions, it will be possible to determine at a liquidity event what each contributor should be Rewarded.
The current system of IP Registration will be replaced by a fluid capture system, along with a system to afford the full spectrum of value addition with traceability and attribution.  Every item captured will be captured in the context of an economic model agreed to in advance.  Fluid creativity can then process all value into more complex compositions of value which eventually will variably survive and reach Liquidity Events, at which point all participants will be rewarded according to their value contribution.

There is an outstanding issue of rights other than ownership, which take form currently as permissions to use work under certain conditions (which protect the creator from their work being used in ways they don't approve of, even if they were to be paid - ie a christian artists paints a crucifix, which ends up in a porn photo that makes millions - that artist should be able to refuse that use, regardless if it is a value added use - this will require some mechanism to auto negotiate these rights so that a friction filled process of custom rights negotiated contracts does not stymie productive capacity.