Wikinomics

How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

By: Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

In just the last few years, traditional collaboration in a meeting room, on a conference call, and even in a convention center has been superseded by collaborations on an astronomical scale.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 burgeoning growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.

A brilliant guide to one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand competitiveness in the 21st century.

Based on a $9-million research project led by best-selling author Don Tapscott, Wikinomics shows how masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. They are creating TV news stories, sequencing genomes, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding cures for disease, editing school texts, inventing new cosmetics, and even building motorcycles. You'll read about:

Rob McEwen, the Goldcorp, Inc., CEO who used open-source tactics and an online competition to save his company and breathe new life into an old-fashioned industry.

Flickr, Second Life, YouTube, and other thriving online communities that transcend social networking to pioneer a new form of collaborative production.

Mature companies, like Procter & Gamble, that cultivate nimble, trust-based relationships with external collaborators to form vibrant business ecosystems.

An important look into the future, Wikinomics will be your road map for doing business in the 21st century.

©2006 Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"A clear and exciting preview of how peer innovation will change everything." (Booklist)
"This clear and meticulously researched primer gives business leaders big leg up on mass collaboration possibilities." (Publishers Weekly)

Great, but largely outdated

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Excellent, must-read. However, as of 2015, much of this is old news. It was probably an eye opening read ten years ago, but not anymore.

The key message is in the sub-title

Agreed, some of this content and the examples used are somewhat dated but it still makes very interesting and thought provoking reading.

Mass Collaboration IS changing everything, and understanding this fact has influenced me and my work. If you listen to this, don't dwell on the specific examples but take in the underlying message.

Web 2.0 basics

The book explains the basics behind wiki-based sites and other collaborative Web technologies. For those familiar with how these work already, this book will seem pretty basic.

Recommended

Has aged gracefully. Full of great examples. But a bit repetitive and lacking in examples/insights into when peering doesn't work.

Was probably very informative in 2006...

I listened to this book in 2008 and it sounded dated to me. The general tone is a bit prophetic and pompous (as most books in this category), but unless you spent the last 5 years in a cave, you already know what's in there. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff' Groundswell is a better alternative to this book: more encompassing and, at the same time, more informative and concise.