Wiki Wiki Wikinomics

By now you've probably all heard of Wikipedia, but what about Wikinomics? Sure the names sound similar, but do they actually have anything in common? Well, yes. They both have the similar notion of a mass amount of people collaborating together. But how are they different?

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia of sorts where people can contribute to adding knowledge of someone or something. Wikinomics is more of a term that describes the effects that this mass collaboration has on the corporate world and marketplace. Basically, if you've ever visited a website that has an online community or forum, you've seen the beginning stages of Wikinomics.

In the book Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, authors Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams want their readers to know that there are four principles behind the central concepts of wikinomics.

The first concept they describe is openness. This means having open standards and also allowing open content; but it also means being open to outside ideas and resources. The second concept on Tapscott's list is peering. Peering, a term they derived from Linux, is defined as voluntary interconnection of separate networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the customers of each network.
 

 The final two concepts go hand-in-hand. Sharing and acting globally. The sharing aspect not only means sharing information, but also sharing bandwidth and products. Acting globally means embracing outside cultures and ignoring the boundaries that would typically divide society, such as physical, geographical, individual and corporate levels.

According to Don Tapscott, Wikinomics is changing the way corporations operate. The term that many corporations are embracing is saving money by allowing these companies to find outside resources using the new Internet, Web 2.0. Wikinomics changes the way companies innovate new products and how they communicate with the world. Companies that use this theory, or practice, are becoming more successful.

According to Tapscott and Williams, this is the way of the future and companies that do not follow this practice will lag behind the rest of the world. They explain that Wikinomics is an exciting concept for individuals and small businesses because they can now contribute to the production of society and add more value to the large-scale economic system; whereas before, this would be nearly impossible.

I was able to find a ten minute video of author Don Tapscott discussing the basis behind Wikinomics and how it will change the future. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did.