After a decade of research "Inventing the Organizations of the 21^st Century", MIT researchers, and futurist thinkers, have written about the CHOICE we have now to organize work in new "decentralized" ways. Information technologies have so dramatically lowered communication costs that a new world of networked enterprise, built upon the second generation architecture of the World Wide Web provides the opportunity to gain the economic benefits of large organizations—cost efficiencies and market intelligence—while retaining the human benefits of small-scale--freedom, creativity, and flexibility. 

The documentary project builds upon the research of MIT (and other schools of business) by making these new "decentralized" ways of working visible and exciting for individuals and organizations.  This is a profoundly human story where the potential of technology depends ultimately upon human values, leadership, organizational design, and business acumen.

The story takes us across continents and industries. We visit a fast growing 'call center' that has no center, and an 'electronic' emergency department that provides consultation via connective technology linked to ER units scattered across the country.  We see the 'distributed' teamwork and 'peering' practiced by people inside and outside one of the world's largest manufacturers. We revisit origins of this new world of work in the "internal freelancing" and project-based organization of one of Silicon Valley's most successful companies.

In Europe, Scandinavia, and in Mainland China and Taiwan, we see examples of people from diverse nationalities, working across the borders of their organizations in uniquely collaborative 'value chains'.  These are "creation nets" and "virtual organizations" that perform the behind-the-scenes work in an economy of constant and rapid innovation—'the world in the iPod'.

Embedded in this story are challenges and opportunities of 'work-life balance' and distance collaboration for individuals, new models of management for leaders, and implications for corporate and telecommunications infrastructure. However, the future we see in this age of the "learning economy", where over half of today's economic growth derives from better use of ideas or intellectual property, is that the new "decentralized" ways of working will become an increasingly desirable CHOICE, for business as well as for people.

The format of this story will be a documentary and a series of short films, distributed initially via public broadcast, and longer-term, via Internet access for customized use by individuals, companies, colleges, and business schools.

This project is currently in development, with a budget of anticipated overall investment in the range of $250-$400,000, depending upon project design.  To assist institutional funding, the project sponsor is an organization with charitable, tax-exempt status. 

The project producer is Modern Times Productions, most recently, the 2006 Silver Screen Award winner at the International Film and Video Festival, Los Angeles CA.

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