Wikinomics

For the next 4 days, I will be reporting from the Web2.0 Expo in San Francisco, so I thought starting today to lead into the topic. Wikinomics is a book that describes the economic principles that drives the lates Internet revolution, which will have a deep impact on facilitation of change. So, what is Web2.0 and what is Wikinomics?

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a perceived second-generation of Web-based services-such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies-that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O'Reilly Media used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences, and it has since become widely adopted. Though the term suggests a new version of the Web, it does not refer to an update to Internet or World Wide Web technical standards, but to changes in the ways those standards are used. According to Tim O'Reilly, "Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform." (from: Wikipedia)

A collection of hundreds of Web2.0 sites can be found on Go2Web20.

Wikinomics: In the last few years, traditional collaboration—in a meeting room, a conference call, even a convention center—has been superceded by collaborations on an astronomical scale. Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics explains how to prosper in a world where new communications technologies are democratizing the creation of value. (from: Wikinomics).

A good example of what Wikinomics means in practicle terms is the website of Innocentive. This is a place where companies can post their R&D problems and ask for the help of the world-wide community of scientists. What Whole Systems Change has promised for organizations, has now been applied on a global scale. This is just the beginning of a movement that will revolutionize collaboration.