Learning to act like baboons!" -- Cultural norms transfer

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Open innovation communities are characterized by cultural norms that vary greatly from the hierarchical structures common to firm-based employment (and sometimes university study).

Governance processes rest on a foundation of norms and behaviors, some explicit and others implicit. As open communities grow, the transfer of these norms and behaviors to new community members is important to preserve stable governance mechanisms.

Readings look at community norms in baboons to highlight the mechanisms of norm transfer. The task for this week is to find examples for norm transfer in open communities and discuss them in the group, using references from the readings to highlight your analysis.

• WNYX Radiolab, The New Normal, Part 1 "New Baboon", http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2009/10/02
• RM Sapolsky, A Natural History of Peace, http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~sok/papers/s/sapolsky-foreignaffairs-2006.pdf
• Short summary of Sapolsky's thesis and work, http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/04/05/peace-among-primates-by-robert-sapolsky/