Release 2.0: Issue 2

Web 2.0 and financial markets have a lot in common. Both are highly networked information markets driven by collective intelligence. Both have a lot of money at stake. But financial markets have been around a lot longer and are much bigger and more mature, so they might give us insight into possible futures for the Web 2.0 economy. And when you look closer, you can see that Wall Street is learning from Web 2.0, too.We've barely begun studying the implications of this analogy and the crosstalk between these two marketplaces, but we've already uncovered so much of value that we decided to share what we've learned so far in order to start a broader conversation.Other topics in the 2nd issue of Release 2.0:Channeling Crowds: Why the merger of social networking and prediction markets will launch a new category of tech startups.Open Data: From the Webcam to the Brokerage - Exhibitionism and Wall Street, it turns out, have a lot in common.Counting on Second Life - Behind the hype and argument there are real numbers to tell us who's in the virtual world and what they're doing.The Canon: We take a look at Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, by Scott McCloud, HarperPerennial Publishers.