the reading room

WIKINOMICS:
How Mass Collaboration
Changes Everything

Jon Linton

Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, Portfolio (Penguin), New York, 2006. ISBN 978-1-59184-138-8.

First, let’s start with the word. “Wiki” is the Hawaiian word for “quick.” It is also the name given to a type of software that has the capability of allowing users to easily create and edit web pages using any type of browser. This feature makes web-based collaboration between users extremely simple. For example, it is the means through which the famous “Wikipedia” on-line encyclopedia has been created and maintained. (Now you know why it’s called that).

In fact, Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia in the world (over 1.6 million articles in English), entirely on-line, in several languages, and maintained for free by over 100,000 volunteers worldwide who create and edit each other’s content. (If you haven’t seen Wikipedia, you owe it to yourself to check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) But, Wikipedia is just one example of what is possible: a host of other Internet applications use wiki or wiki-like software in collaborative ventures with users.

This software has enabled a new type of interaction with the Internet, miles beyond using it merely as a reference source, or a means to send email. Wikis and their ilk have made possible a new form of collaboration where individuals from across the globe can converge and participate in the creation of a product or service. A key characteristic of these collaborations is that they are self-organizing: the users themselves determine the structure and content of what the service is all about. No top-down, hierarchical management style need apply.

The authors of this book, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, have coined a new word for this phenomenon: wikinomics, meaning the “economics of mass collaboration.” According to the authors, wikinomics will fundamentally change the way we interact with providers of products and services (and this of course includes government at all levels).

Tapscott and Williams have identified four characteristics of this new form of mass collaboration. They are:

“Today the Net is evolving from a network of websites that enable firms to present information into a computing platform in its own right. Elements of a computer – and elements of a computer program – can be spread out across the Internet and seamlessly combined as necessary. The Internet is becoming a giant computer that anyone can program, providing a global infrastructure for creativity, participation, sharing and self-organization.” (p. 37)

And, who is participating in these new forms of mass collaboration? To some extent, it is those in the baby boom generation. But, of course, it is the baby boom echo generation, and those even younger, who really “get it.” The authors have coined a term, the ‘Net Generation’ to describe this cohort (actually, this goes back to one of Tapscott’s early books, Growing Up Digital [1997]). These are young people who are used to communicating and collaborating on the Internet, seeing it as a normal way of life, and expecting to interact with each other (and the companies and organizations that they deal with) on this basis. One startling factoid that the authors cite is a recent study of teenagers that showed that 57 percent of them regularly create content for the Internet. (You can bet that this percentage will only increase over time!) So living, working and collaborating on the web is the norm for this generation.

In addition to the aforementioned Wikipedia, the book describes many examples of the mass collaboration phenomenon in work and play, including:

• the on-going development of Linux and other open source software (meaning that anyone can create and/or edit code and contribute to the system);
• “ideagoras” – a word the authors have invented for sites where companies can post problems that they would like to have solved (for example, in the design of a new product), and where individuals can collaborate on *virtual communities such as Second Life, where participants can create unique identities and interact with others (even to the point of exchanging goods and services for money in the real world) – the authors call participants in activities such as this “prosumers” (as they are actively producing the product, as well as consuming it);
• situations where prosumers collaboratively create content, such as the 2006 cult movie Snakes on a Plane, *where the movie script was developed in part with the active on-line contribution from the fan base;
• the YouTube phenomenon, where anybody can post video content to the website, and view and comment upon others’ contributions (the site’s tag line is “Broadcast Yourself”) – another example of prosumption;
• collaborative sites for scientists and professionals, such as OpenWetWare, a wiki-based site maintained by MIT to share information collaboratively among biology researchers;
• companies such as Google and Amazon that open their platforms to anyone who wishes to use them by making available their application programming interface (API) software – this broadens the exposure that they have as well as generating more useful applications for the base data (another example would be housingmaps which marries house sales listings with GoogleMaps);
• manufacturing processes that exploit principles of mass collaboration, such as the design and development of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the creation of new in-car customer services for BMW, and the Chinese motorcycle industry; and
• service groups such as the Geek Squad (recently acquired by Best Buy) where employees collaborate with each other on new ways to provide services to clients.

The book contains a wealth of examples of the exponentially-growing mass collaboration phenomenon.

But, what are the implications of all of this for municipal government (or any level of government, for that matter)? Well, the book itself doesn’t offer very much by way of examples. In fact, the authors note:

"Government agencies are one of the largest sources of public data, and yet most of it goes completely unutilized, when it could provide a platform for countless new public services. Both the private sector and advocacy groups like Greenpeace are much farther ahead in using new technologies to disseminate and leverage information and to empower their operations.” (p. 200)

There are a few best practices. Neighborhood Knowledge California (NKCA) uses public data and citizen input to identify solutions for neighbourhoods in decline. NKCA also features a tracking system so that local residents can see and comment upon what progress has been made (or not been made) on specific problems. Another example of wikinomics at work in the public sector is Scorecard, a site that brings together databases from a number of public sources to enable citizens to identify sources of pollution in their communities (complete with the phone numbers of the plant supervisors in case they want to register complaints).

“NKCA, Scorecard and similar grassroots projects are great examples of how platforms for participation that empower more people to become involved in identifying and resolving problems in their communities can improve public sector governance and enrich democracy ... In fact, the powerful combination of interactive mapping applications and citizen participation could easily be replicated to track information on issues such as employment, public health and migration patterns.” (p. 205)

There are other applications of wikinomics that one could imagine for the municipal sector, including a more effective dialogue between citizens and public officials, and more focused communication between municipalities on a host of public policy issues. The book doesn’t specifically get into these, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to think of myriad possibilities in this regard.

Wikinomics is a very thought-provoking book, and points to new forms of interaction that public and private sector entities will increasingly be developing with their users and stakeholders. Highly recommended! MW

From the June 2007 issue of Municipal World

Check out Jon Linton's bio on the Municipal World website.

Page last modified on September 10, 2007, at 10:47 AM