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Book Review: Wikinomics August 15, 2008
Note: This is #36 in my 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge for 2008.
The full title of this book by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, and it sets out to describe how the Internet and other information technology are creating new business models that capitalize on collaboration, sharing, the wisdom of crowds (so to speak) and distributed work. It's a fascinating topic that anyone who has ventured onto the Internet can see is huge, yet the authors of this particular work seem so caught up in their own breathless hyperbole and big ideas that I had to check a calendar to make sure it wasn't the year 2000 again. As critical as their wikinomics is to commerce and culture, they still manage to oversell it.
Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of interest in Wikinomics. The book is at its best when it's telling you stories about companies that exemplify the collaborative models the authors introduce. For example, there's Goldcorp, a gold mining company that dumped the entirety of its geological database onto the Internet and said "Okay, there you go. Cash monies for whoever can tell us the best place to dig for gold." And it worked. Really worked. There were also several chapters of interest on computer culture legends like Linux, Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Second Life, and Amazon.com. The authors tell you how these endeavors came to be and how they they used the wikinomics principles to succeeded where their competitors (when they had them) failed. They even throw in a few examples from places you might not expect them, such as in more aged companies like Proctor and Gamble or the aforementioned Goldcorp.
And all this wikinomics stuff makes sense. I've seen first-hand what can come of providing your fans with the ability to create content, collaborate, and share specialized knowledge. When I worked at GameSpy, a startup company built on videogame fandom, the company built itself on the backs of people running fan sites and organizing online (and real life) communities around their favorite videogames. And the book makes good cases for how even companies whose products are NOT 1s and 0s can benefit from principles like outsourcing difficult research problems, using and developing open source software, or drawing on Creative Commons licenses.
The problem, however, is that the authors of Wikinomics are too busy chugging their own Kool-Aid to take a step back and get some perspective. They literally say things like how these principles --not the Internet or the computer, but just these principles of collaboration through them-- is as big a deal as the printing press or the Enlightenment-with-a-capital-E. No, really, I'm not putting words in their mouths, they really say this. Throughout all the discussions, the implication and sometimes even the flatly stated proclamation is that companies who aren't doing these things are going to die --quickly and spectacularly. Keep in mind that we're not talking about whether companies use e-mail or have a web site. The authors are saying that there is no business that won't rely on these specific collaborative techniques to prosper. Tell me if that doesn't seem like a bit of an overstatement.
Relatedly, it kind of irked me that the authors gave so little --some, but ultimately little-- consideration to the dark side of all this. They seemed to underplay the effect of everything from annoying trolls to saboteurs to corporate espionage, all of which are made possible or exacerbated by the kinds of business practices they discuss. This isn't a huge point, but it's something that I don't feel like they honestly or completely addressed.
Still, Wikinomics is worth a read for the parts that give examples and mini-bios on many of the Internet companies that you probably not only have heard of, but use. You'll just need a pinch or two of salt for the rest.
Others who did the 52-in-52 thing this week:
- Jeremy reviews Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones
- Heliologue reviews The Bellmaker by Brian Jacques
- Nick reviews Considering Genius: Writings on Jazzby Stanley Crouch
Do you like these book reviews? Check out my profile on goodreads.com.
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Tags: Book Review, Nonfiction, Wikinomics
Comments
Posted by Daniel J. Pritchett on August 15, 2008 10:45 AM:
Nice to see you taking Wikinomics with a grain of salt, Jamie. I choose to read it as a wilfully visionary book. I'm sure the authors realize not everything they've predicted will come true, but it's always good for society to have thinkers trying to find the way to the next big thing.
I'm still trying to finish this one for a writeup on my own blog. Maybe this weekend I can polish it off!
Oh, and I recommend you read the official wikinomics blog if you aren't there already. I read it and it's got a good crowd of contributors.
Posted by Jamie on August 15, 2008 2:54 PM:
Hi Daniel,
I'm not sure. If the authors realize the limitations on their own predictions, why didn't they note them? Saying one thing and meaning another gives rise to a lack of credibility, which is equally bad.
And yeah, I've checked out the companion blog to the book. Some neat stuff there!
Looking forward to your review.