November 8th, 2006
Wikinomics and mass collaboration
During a presentation at the Web 2.0 Summit, author and consultant Don Tapscott previewed some the highlights from his forthcoming book, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.
He views the next phase of the Web as about mass collaboration and harnessing the power of self organization. It will have a profound change in way companies innovate, orchestrate to create value and compete in marketplace, he said. With billions of smart devices on the Net and billions of people on it, for those users it will be like programming a giant computer. “Social networking is becoming the new mode of production,� Tapscott said. He gave an example of Procter & Gamble, which has developed an productive ecosystem of external collaborators that he said creates value more effectively than a hierarchically organized business.
I caught up with Tapscott after his presentation and asked how he thinks the move to mass collaboration will impact the enterprises, which will be slow to adapt to new work paradigms. I also posted on his research on the effect of the Net generation in the workplace.
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
