Abstract
’standing on the shoulders of giants’ is a common metaphor for scientific progress. It is depicted on the Google Scholar website as a reminder of the ways in which a scholar must climb the body of the giant, that is, the accumulated knowledge of previous generations, in order to position his or her research contribution. Building on the published work of other scientists is a fundamental activity that we perform as scholars. The evolving character of science also works well as a metaphor for how internet-based products and services evolve. Indeed, the ubiquity of digitalization is one of the primary forces behind innovations across a wide range of product and service categories, and the so-called ‘generativity’ of new products and services — the ways in which they continuously evolve and spur future innovations — is evident throughout society (Zittrain, 2006). Each new innovation must ‘stand on giants’ shoulders’ — stand on a generative platform — in order to build something new.
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© 2013 Jonny Holmström
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Holmström, J. (2013). On the Shoulders of Giants: Understanding Internet-based Generative Platforms. In: Teigland, R., Power, D. (eds) The Immersive Internet. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283023_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283023_18
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