For our December edition, we bring you a special “12 Days of Collective Intelligence” reading list. From books to papers and podcasts, there should be enough to distract you over the holiday season. Don’t forget to let us know your recommendations in the comments below.

1. The Best That Money Can't Buy (by Jaques Fresco, founder of The Venus Project). This book addresses the transition to a resource-based economy, using illustrations and novel ideas that can help us envision a new future in balance with nature. A non-anarchist version to achieve a sustainable future.
2. Reinventing organisations (by Frederic Laloux). Modern organisations have brought sensational progress for humanity in less than two centuries. None of the recent advances in human history would have been possible without organisations as vehicles for human collaboration. We are always searching for radically better ways to exist as and within organisations. But is that genuinely possible, or merely wishful thinking?
3. A note on data: As the world moves towards increased datafication, we should pause to consider who is benefiting from the process. Data justice scholars such as Linnet Taylor, have been asking these questions for some time, drawing attention to extractive practices of data colonialism and questioning the significance of various data metaphors.
4. Algorithm-in-the-loop decision support: A couple of weeks ago, Ben Green and Yiling Chen won the best paper award at CSCW for their examination of the realities of algorithm-in-the-loop decision making. This paper, alongside our colleague Thea Snow’s guide Decision Making in the Age of the Algorithm speak to the realities of interactions between frontline public sector workers and AI-powered decision support systems, recognising predictive analytics as complex socio-technical tools that need to be evaluated in the context of their practical use.
5. New models for citizen participation: Claudia Chwalisz from OECD discusses why and how to institutionalise participatory processes in public institutions in 'A New Wave of Deliberative Democracy'. Early next year we’ll be publishing a guide to help decision-makers bring citizens into public problem-solving. Read more about this research, carried out in partnership with Govlab.
6. Citizen science: One of the biggest names in citizen science, Chris Lintott recently published his new book on the 'Crowd and Cosmos' exploring lessons from the inspirational work done on Citizen Science platform Zooniverse. This review of the book in Nature tells you all you need to know about the book and why should read it.
7. History as a giant dataset: Is it possible to use data to simulate something as complex as human society? Yes, according to Peter Turchin, the ecologist who has built on his expertise modelling the rise and decline of animal populations to explore whether history has its own laws and cycles. This long-read profiles Turchin and his interdisciplinary, CI-driven work.
8. Eight Fellows of the British Academy respond to climate activism tactics: As the title suggests, eight leading academics present their views on the approaches taken by Extinction Rebellion. In their short responses, they attempt to untangle and examine the interplay between science and emotion, and suggest how a combination of the two may bring about lasting social change and a valid response to the climate crisis.
9. Diversity for a richer knowledge commons: One of the best known collective intelligence projects in the world hopes that re-framing editing as a social action rather than individual contribution will help to tackle Wikipedia's huge gender imbalance in its contributor base.
10. Human-machine diagnostic systems: Researchers from Stanford University and Unanimous Artificial Intelligence (AI), one of our current grantees, have found out that combining the expertise of radiologists and an AI system modelled after natural swarms improves the accuracy of pneumonia diagnoses as compared to diagnoses made by machines or humans alone.
11. Citizen science, satellites and computer vision: Learn about how swimmers, scientists and satellites are collaborating to document coral reef bleaching in real time. Using a new mapping tool that detects changes in hue and pigment, scientists are not only mapping the patterns of destruction but also identifying which properties help reefs to survive when they find more resilient patches.
12. Decentralised, leaderless and agile: What can we learn about designing collective intelligence from the online and offline tactics that are powering collective action in Hong Kong? Protesters have shown endless creativity by repurposing digital social and entertainment tools from Tinder to Pokemon Go to coordinate and documenting events through streaming platforms such as the e-games site Twitch.

For those of you who prefer to learn by listening, here’s a selection of recent podcasts that have piqued our interest:

• Recent Collective Intelligence-themed episodes of Nesta’s own Future Curious podcast include Crowd Predictions & Participatory Futures.
• Ruha Benjamin visits Data & Society to talk about a socially-conscious approach to tech development.
• Nick Couldry discusses data colonialism on the Digital Sociology Podcast.
• An interview with the inimitable Chris Lintott.

Don't forget to check out our Playbook for Collective Intelligence Design for activities and tips on how to design for collective intelligence... which could come in handy during holiday get-togethers.

And for a final treat, here’s the collective emoji intelligence of Twitter mapped in real-time!