Collaboration Internet Technology
Book Review: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (2006)
Have you ever caught yourself wishing you were a little more savvy about the newest internet technology but realized that the interest didn't quite meet the threshold to conquer the curiosity? I have found myself in that position often enough, but this time, I actually got a nudge to step up and put my learning cap on. It just so happened that I was going to an event where co-author, Anthony Williams, was making a presentation on his book Wikinomics. Since I hadn't heard of Williams or Wikinomics before, I made a mad dash to the library to brush up on the subject and was excited to find the unabridged audiobook on the shelf.
However, after popping the first of eleven CDs in the player, I began having serious doubts as to whether I would be able to make it to round eleven. The narrator, Alan Sklar, has a deep voice but alas, very monotone.
Once I got to the event and heard Williams speak on Wikinomics, it all started coming alive. He spoke non-stop on internet developments and the global implications born in that space. He reeled off statistics from his GOV2.0 slideshow, which bits and pieces can be found on slideshow.com
The authors introduce us to an extensive range of terminology and technology, ranging from Alexa (1996), an internet site, to yet2.com (1999), a website that links patent holders with like-minded investors. And of course,there is wikinomics: wiki, which sprang up in 1995 is Hawaiian for quick. Wikinomics is the economy that is evolving from this new generation of internet entrepreneurship. Wiki has morphed into almost a language of its own - just think of how often you hear wiki this and wiki that, most popular being wikipedia. If there were only four terms in this book that you should investigate, I would say peer production, prosumer communities, open sourcing, and ideagoras are among the most compelling.
Whether you pick up the book or the audiobook, the jacket suggests a global puzzle, implying that the world is linked by collaborations resulting in famous products, such as flickr, MySpace, Wikipedia, YouTube, Linux, Second Life, InnoCentive, and Human Genome Project. Of course I immediately recognized a few of these technologies, but then the extent of my knowledge of the World Wide Web took a serious nosedive.
Global collaboration is taking place in every domain of life, from biotechnology to anime music videos to insurance companies and financial institutions, to name only those at the tip of the iceberg. The authors introduce us to an explosion in knowledge and change in business practices around the world that have no boundaries, encompassing all ages, races, religions, and philosophies. They tell us that over half of all online teens (approximately 12 million) are content creators, meaning that they are themselves the source of input to online data. And in case you weren't aware, they also say that instant messaging and text messaging are becoming more popular than email. The authors invite us to jump on the band wagon by posting our own stories, blogs, inventions, photos, or whatever our hearts desire. This is, after all, the wave of the future and like any good surfer; you must become one with the wave.
Businesses and companies as we know them today are destined to be transformed into global entities that most of us cannot even begin to imagine. The collaboration of great ideas and great thinkers will launch us into a new global era of social, scientific, political, and economic potential as never experienced by humankind. Future leaders will need to throw off the shackles of outdated business models, or risk burying themselves in outgrown rules and strategies. Their success will be measured by their ability to harness the wealth of information they have access to and channel it into products that their customers will co-creating with them.
So whether you are a hobby reader or a tycoon business person, this book is a must for staying connected to the future! This has been one of the richest experiences I have had with a publication, given that I have read the book, listened to the audio-book, spoken with one of the authors, and visited the website. Now, I just need to go online and add my input to Chapter 11 since it is a peer produced playbook! Won't you join me?
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