Toronto Technology News

Malloch chose the title for his book quite deliberately. In 1995 MIT Media Lab’s Nicholas Negroponte wrote a best selling book with the title, Being Digital. It was a non-fiction science and technology forecast, describing a future world free of wires. It became an instant classic and in many ways came to define the Internet era. Malloch explains that Being Digital provided a general history of several digital media technologies; many that Negroponte himself was directly involved in developing in the labs.

Negroponte argued that humanity is inevitably headed towards a future where everything that can be digitalized, will be digitalized and he was very soon proved right. Negroponte's book was as much about change as it was about the future. We can no longer describe the future or the process of change without mentioning digital technology.

Malloch’s book is about being generous: but generosity exists only because of people and what they feel and do. It is a virtue, a habit that governs the way of life and the expectations of generous people and causes them to look on the world as though others, and not themselves, are the principal reason for the world’s existence.

Malloch cites Jeff Skoll as an example of generosity in today’s Web 2.0 world. As eBay’s first President, Skoll prospered early in life. He retired at age 34 and used $34 million from the proceeds of the company’s IPO to set up his own foundation. A $7.5 million gift to Oxford University to integrate social entrepreneurship into business skills is indicative of his visionary interests. He is now financing and producing films on social responsibility. His foundation, set-up in 1999, pursues his vision of a world: “where all people, regardless of geography, background, or economic status enjoy and employ the full range of their talents and abilities.”

Malloch describes how Skoll is looking to lead lasting social change. He invests in social entrepreneurship through his flagship Awards program. He connects people through the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Said Business School. He sponsors forums with thought leaders; and has built Social Edge, as an on-line community where like-minded people can network, learn and inspire one another.

Like Negroponte, Malloch’s sees the overthrow of the paradigms of the past and how this is creating new potential for being generous in a Web 2.0 world. Malloch explains that, “We are beginning to share our traditions, religions and moral philosophies. And we appear to be ready to forge something new—a global civilization. At the core of that new way of being is the virtue of generosity. It too can become ubiquitous.” Malloch’s book is a valuable attempt to see what being generous means and might entail for everyone in our interconnected, digital future. The Web 2.0 world will expedite the process of being generous.