Wikinomics

Infobox Book
name = Wikinomics
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image_caption = Front cover of "Wikinomics"
author = Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams
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language = English
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publisher = Portfolio
pub_date = December 2006
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"Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything" is a book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams first published in December 2006. It explores how some companies in the early 21st century have used mass collaboration (also called peer production) and open-source technology such as wikis to be successful.

Concepts

According to Tapscott, Wikinomics is based on four ideas: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally. The use of mass collaboration in a business environment, in recent history, can be seen as an extension of the trend in business to outsource: externalize formerly internal business functions to other business entities. The difference however is that instead of an organized business body brought into being specifically for a unique function, mass collaboration relies on free individual agents to come together and cooperate to improve a given operation or solve a problem. This kind of outsourcing is also referred to as crowdsourcing, to reflect this difference. This can be incentivized by a reward system, though it is not required.

The book also discusses the seven new models of mass collaboration:
*peer pioneers
*ideagoras
*prosumers
*new Alexandrians
*platforms for participation
*global plant floor
*wiki workplace

The last chapter is written by viewers, and was opened for editing on February 5, 2007.

Coase's Law

In the chapter "The Perfect Storm", the authors give an overview of the economic effects of the kind of transactions Web 2.0 permits. According to the authors, Coase's Law (see Ronald Coase) governs the expansion of a business:

A firm will tend to expand until the cost of organizing an extra transaction within the firm become equal to the costs of carrying out the same transaction on the open market.Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, 56]

However, because of the changing usage patterns of internet technologies, the cost of transactions has dropped so significantly that the authors assert that market is better described by an inversion of Coase's Law. That is:

A firm will tend to expand until the cost of carrying out an extra transaction on the open market become equal to the costs of organizing the same transaction within the firm.

Thus, the authors think that with the costs of communicating dramatically dropping, firms who do not change their current structures will perish. Companies who utilize mass collaboration will dominate their respective markets.

Summary of Academic Reviews

A review of this book in the "Harvard Business Review" states "like its title, the book's prose can fall into breathless hype." [Harvard Business Review, March 2007 v85 i3 p34(1)] A review of this book in "Choice" recommends the book for "general readers and practitioners," but cautions that the authors "present an optimistic overview of successful collaborations and business ventures", "use unique terms (e.g., marketocracy, prosumption, knowledge commons)", should have given "more consideration [to] the darker sides of human motivation as well as groupthink and mass mediocrity", and "primarily draw on their own observations of businesses and trends for the ideas presented." [CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries August 2007 v44 i12 p2147]

Notes

ee also

*Demand-side learning
*Cory Doctorow
*Entrenched Player's Dilemma
*File sharing
*Human-based computation
*Participatory organization
*Business Intelligence 2.0 (BI 2.0)
*Coase theorem
*Linux

External links

*http://wikinomics.com
* [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kevinmaney/2006-12-26-wikinomics_x.htm "Mass collaboration could change way companies operate"] , article in "USA Today"
* [http://www.socialtext.net/wikinomics/ Website for the public to create the "unwritten chapter"]
* [http://www.dresdner-zukunftsforum.de/blog/don-tapscott-abstract/ Abstract: Don Tapscott - Wikinomics: Winning with the enterprise 2.0]
* [http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1663 Make Room, Wikipedia: Internet-based Collaboration Could Change the Way We Do Business, February 21, 2007]
* [http://www.pcworld.ca//news/column/ebbb3af20a01040800470a37413dba21/pg0.htm "Up is down and black is white as Wikinomics changes the business world"] , article on " [http://pcworld.ca PCWorld.ca] "
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/books/29book.html?bl&ex=1183348800&en=854f8e2a84e9cef0&ei=5087%0A The Cult of the Amateur] , New York Times' Book Review on Andrew Keen's criticism of Web 2.0 philosophy
* [http://www.wiglafjournal.com/Articles/2007/07-03-Wikinomics.htm A Book Review of Wikinomics]
* [http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/search/article/674489/books-wacky-world-wiki/ Review by Roger Parry in "Management Today" August 2007]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2162394,00.html The Guardian: "The wiki way", 5 September 2007]

Videos:

* [http://www.cambrianhouse.com/blog/buzz/don-tapscott-author-of-wikinomics-hosted-by-cambrian-house/ 2007-02-26 Don Tapscott 82 minute presentation on Wikinomics] , hosted on [http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5065262745272895737 Google Video] and [http://www.archive.org/details/20070226-CambrianHouse-DonTapscott-Wikinomics-Presentation Internet Archive] (mpeg4 and Windows Media Player)
* [http://www.vvc1.ca/client/canclub/01152007/ 2007-01-25 Don Tapscott 45 minute presentation on Wikinomics] , hosted by [http://www.canadianclub.org/ The Canadian Club] . (Windows Media Player only)
* [http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3912 2006-11-08 Don Tapscott 3 minute preview of Wikinomics] to ZDNet.