Wikinomics

August 14, 2009

One of our assignments this past week was to read the book Wikinomics by Don Tapscott. I found this book quite interesting. I also viewed a video of Tapscott on YouTube. As a teacher, it was interesting to see how wikis and social networking can influence a company.

On story that I found intriguing was the story of Rob McEwen, the CEO of Goldcorp, Inc. from chapter one of the book Wikinomics. His company went outside the norms and rules of the gold-mining industry. They held a “contest” and gave otherwise sealed information out the public and asked for their help finding gold. This was unprecedented but it worked. They made billions.

Although this was seen as a risky move, it worked. I’m surprised there aren’t other companies in that industry that have tried something similar. I realize that it’s hard for people to accept change and new ideas but things change and sometimes change isn’t all bad. This idea potentially could have been molded to work for other companies.

There was an idea that was shared that I think could be truly world changing. The idea of governments using wikis. It is definitely an “out of the box” idea. We elect officials to make decisions for us. By using wikis they can see and hear what the public truly feels. Former President Clinton was planning on using wikis (circumstances prohibited this). Canada is now working with Tapscott to implement wikis. I am excited to see how this works out.

The Wii now has a feature where you can watch the same movie with a friend who is at a different location. You can create a character of yourself and you can talk to one another. This could be useful to families and friends that are across the county or across the world.

It is amazing what technology can do for our world. In just a few short years things have changed drastically. We feel connected online, we have friends, take classes, communicate, watch movies, post pictures, find directions, etc..

All of this makes me excited for the future. Will we continue along this path of invention and innovation? Will more good than bad happen as a result of our technology usage and ideas?