Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

Amidst all of the admittedly "nit-picky" reviews by folks much more informed on the topics covered in Don Tapscott's book, I find it necessary to take a moment to add my observations. Being only peripherally aware of many of the topics in this book, I found it extremely informative and helpful in trying to understand mass collaboration vehicles on the web and their potential for creating incredible opportunities for individuals and businesses. If you're new to the topics covered, you'll enjoy this book.

This book took me awhile to read, but I learned a lot from it and enjoyed it. It shows in detail how internet-fueled collaboration is changing the business world. The authors use a lot of examples, discussing the changes in every field from the recording industry to drug development, operating systems to airplane manufacturing. They also give a lot of information about the tools available to you, which caused me to have a new business-related idea with each of the ten chapters. I highly recommend this book, especially if you're one of those people who doesn't see a point in blogging and wouldn't call your boss anything other than "Sir"

Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams have written an intriguing, necessary and, in some ways, groundbreaking book, which we recommend to everyone...with some caveats. The authors examine the possibilities of mass collaboration, open-source software and evolutionary business practices. They integrate examples from the arts ("mashups"), scholarship (Wikipedia) and even heavy industry (gold mining) to argue that new forces are reshaping human societies. Some of their examples will be familiar, but others will surprise and educate you. However, the authors are so deeply part of the world they discuss that they may inflate it at times - for instance, making the actions of a few enthusiasts sound as if they already have transformed the Internet - and they sometimes fail to provide definitions or supporting data. Is the "blogosphere," for example, really making members of the younger generation into more critical thinkers? Tapscott and Williams repeatedly dismiss criticisms of their claims or positions without answering them. The result is that the book reads at times like a guidebook, at times like a manifesto and at times like a cheerleading effort for the world the authors desire. It reads, in short, like the Wikipedia they so admire: a valuable, exciting experiment that still contains a few flaws.

Don Tapscott has done it again. He has beheld what we see happening all around us on the Internet and made sense of it from a business perspective. And he's again displayed his rare ability to distill a huge concept into a single word. (Buzzwords are with us for a reason: we need them as shorthand for new and complex ideas.) Wikinomics is mainly about innovation and how web-based collaboration is driving it. Also, the book speaks to organizational dynamics and how the web is eating away at traditional hierarchies. This book should be a warning to companies that still think instant messaging is a nuisance and a threat to security. That's wrongheaded, according to the authors. As the founder of the world's first eBay for knowledge, Knexa, I have a keen interest in what Tapscott calls "idea agoras," web-based exchange systems that facilitate the transfer of knowledge and/or intellectual property for financial consideration. Although such business models have been around for several years (Knexa launched in 1999), the space is still in its infancy and will continue to evolve. Also, as an executive in the mining industry, I was pleased to see the example of Gold Corp used as an example of cutting edge innovation through web-based collaboration. Mining is typically seen as a knowledge economy Neanderthal, the quintessential "old economy" industry. But people in the business know better. It's extremely knowledge centric. But when it comes to sharing knowledge to gain competitive advantage, the mining business is no different than the rest of the business world, where most would rather take their IP to the grave than "collaborate" with a competitor. But as Wikinomics points out, some companies are realizing that there's opportunity where others fear to tread. Brief story. A few years ago when Knexa had offices in Vancouver's trendy Yaletown area, we shared about 10,000 square feet of cool brick and beam space with a bunch of other startups. One little company down the hall was named Ludicorp. They were not into suits and always seemed to work into the wee hours. One day I asked one of the fellows what they do. He said they had a web site called Flickr. They were shortly thereafter bought by Yahoo and are one of the sites reviewed in Wikinomics. David H Brett, CEO, Knexa, CEO, Cusac Gold Mines Ltd.

In mid-2000, while I was still working for Quepasa.com, I wrote an article titled "The rules for the new economy: are they really new?" It was the period of "irrational exuberance" and business that made no business sense whatsoever could get money from investors like there was no tomorrow. So, the conclusion of the article was pretty much that the business rules at the time had not really changed. In 2007, I find myself having finished the fascinating book Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams and I feel it can be said that the rules of the new economy are in the process of changing indeed. It's hard to argue against the principles of wikinomics: being open, peering, sharing and acting globally. Or, otherwise put, opening doors to others, adopting standards and sharing information, so as to take advantage of the power of the networked world, as opposed to depending solely on internal resources. If this sounds all like idealist open source mumbo jumbo, consider Innocentive, a web-based platform that acts as a sort of eBay broker between scientists and companies in need of solving real world R & D problems, a true real-life initiative that embodies the principes laid out in the book. I recommend Wikinomics to those who loved The World is Flat but felt that the book's political bias occasionally got in the way of the delivery of its message. Wikinomics focuses on the impact of recent technologies on the way business need to conduct themselves for the future, if they want to thrive.