"Wiki technology" changes everything.

[SouthAmerica]

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April 5, 2007

SouthAmerica: I am always reading one book after another, but there is one book in particular that I like to recommend to the members of this forum because of the impact that this new innovation will have in changing everything.

It is called “Wiki – technology”.


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“Wikinomics” – How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.
By: Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
Published: March 2007

Today, thanks largely to the Internet, the kind of creativity and innovation that used to take place primarily within corporate walls, increasingly takes place over large amorphous networks of peers. Millions of people already join forces in self-organized collaborations such as Linux and Wikipedia that produce dynamic new goods and services that rival those of the world's largest and best-financed enterprises.

The Old Hierarchy is Dead

And if the masses can peer-produce an operating system, an encyclopedia, the media, a mutual fund, and even physical things like a motorcycle, one should carefully consider what might come next. You could argue that we're becoming an economy unto ourselves—a vast global network of specialized producers that swap and exchange services for entertainment, sustenance, and learning.

The lesson for business leaders is that the old monolithic multinational that creates value in a closed hierarchical fashion is dead. Winning companies today have open and porous boundaries and compete by reaching outside their walls to harness external knowledge, resources, and capabilities.

Rather than do everything internally, these companies set a context for innovation and then invite their customers, partners, and other third parties to co-create their products and services.

A new breed of 21st-century enterprise is emerging—one that opens its doors to the world; co-innovates with everyone, especially customers; shares resources that were previously closely guarded; harnesses the power of mass collaboration; and behaves not as a multi-national, but as something new: a truly global business. These new modus operandi revolve around four powerful new ideas: openness, "peering," sharing, and acting globally.

…Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, to show how leaders are harnessing these new principles to drive important changes in their industries and even rewrite the rules of competition.


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[thriftybob]

Good luck.

By the way, that was a cynical remark.

Linux is the only example I can think of. Its the passionate hatred of Microsoft and Apple mentalities that drove it. That is also what it will take to reproduce it.

 

[SouthAmerica]

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April 5, 2007

SouthAmerica: Why this thread has been moved to chit chat?

Whoever did that is “completely clueless” regarding what “Wikinomics” is all about.

This book is about a fundamental change in business models resulting on a major economic impact on the global economy.

Quoting from the book:

Age of participation

…The upheaval occurring right now in media and entertainment provides an early example of how mass collaboration is turning the economy upside down.

“The Principles of Wikinomics”

The mass collaboration is changing how companies and societies harness knowledge and capability to innovate and create value. This affects just about every sector of society and every aspect of management. A new kind of business is emerging – one that opens its doors to the world, co-innovates with everyone (especially customers), shares resources that were previously closely guarded, harnesses the power of mass collaboration, and behaves not as a multinational but something new: a truly global firm. These companies are driving important changes in their industries and rewriting many rules of competition.

Now compare this to traditional business thinking. Conventional wisdom says companies innovate, differentiate, and compete by doing certain things right: by having superior human capital; protecting their intellectual property fiercely; focusing on customers; thinking globally but acting locally; and by executing well (i.e., having good management and controls). But the new business world is rendering each of these principles insufficient, and in some cases, completely inappropriate.

The new art and science of wikinomics is based on four powerful new ideas: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally. These new principles are replacing some of the old tenets of business. Our objective throughout this book is to provide vivid examples of how people and organizations are harnessing these principles to drive innovation in their workplace, communities, and industries.

Thriving in a world of wikinomics

…In an age where mass collaboration can reshape an industry overnight, the old hierarchical ways of organizing work and innovation do not afford the level of agility, creativity, and connectivity that companies require to remain competitive in today’s environment. Every individual now has a role to play in the economy, and every company has a choice – commoditize or get connected.

…Previous technology-driven revolutions, like the electrification of industry, took the better part of a century to unfold. Today the escalating scope and scale of the resources applied to innovation means that change will unfold more quickly. Though we are still just beginning a profound economic and institutional adjustment, incumbents should not expect a grace period. The old, hardwired “plan and push” mentality is rapidly giving way to a new, dynamic “engage and cocreate” economy. A hypercompetitive global economy is reshaping enterprises, and political and legal shifts loom.

In chapter 2, we explain how a perfect storm is gathering force and shipwrecking the old corporation in wave after wave of change…

…Born between 1977 and 1996 inclusive, this generation is bigger than the baby boom itself, and through sheer demographic muscle they will dominate the twenty-first century.

…internationally the Net Generation is huge, numbering over two billion people. This is the first generation to grow up in the digital age, and that makes them a force for collaboration. They are growing up bathed in bits. …This is the collaboration generation for one main reason: Unlike their parents in the United States, who watched twenty-four hours of television per week, these youngsters are growing up interacting.

Rather than being passive recipients of mass consumer culture, the Net Gen spend time searching, reading, scrutinizing, authenticating, collaborating, and organizing (everything from their MP3 files to protest demonstrations). The Internet makes life an ongoing, massive collaboration, and this generation loves it. They typically can’t imagine a life where citizens didn’t have the tools to constantly think critically, exchange views, challenge, authenticate, verify, or debunk. While their parents were passive consumers of media, youth today are active creators of media content and hungry for interaction.

They are also a generation of scrutinizers. They are more skeptical of authority as they sift through information at the speed of light by themselves or with their network of peers.

…Further, this is the first time in human history when children are authorities on something really important. An Net Gen’s father may have been an authority on model trains. Today young people are authorities on the digital revolution that is changing every institution in society.

…As workers, this generation will transform the workplace and the way business is conducted to an extent not witnessed since the “organization man” of the 1950’s.

The old corporation was strongly hierarchical, with the boss being an authority on every part of the business. As eighty million young Americans enter the workforce and marketplace they will be a powerful force for all kinds of unorthodox collaborations.


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