The world where we used to read Britannica encyclopedia series, to learn new things, is no more. With the rapid evolution of technology, access to knowledge is now just one click away. The best example is Wikipedia. [1] which is another masterpiece in the evolution of technology that operates on the simple principle of collaboration. As of September 27, 2011, 90,000 regular contributors contribute to this free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project, which has more than 19.7 million articles and has been viewed by more than 365 million users. People collaborate to share their knowledge for both philanthropic reasons and with the intention of enhancing their own reputations.
With the immense success of Wikipedia, Wiki has become synonymous with collaboration and Wikinomics is an area that contemplates the creation of economies through collaboration. Don Tapscott in his book Wikinomics [2] gives a classic example of how one of the gold mining companies used the Wikinomics concept effectively. The company’s geologists were unsuccessful in finding the locations to mine for gold. Therefore, the CEO of the company used an online model in which he announced that he will reward anyone who accurately locates gold with $ 5 million. 72 participants participated in this competition and the gold mining company was able to generate revenue of $ 3.4 billion.
Another classic example of collaboration is free and open source software (FOSS) such as LINUX OS, which works on the same principle as Wikipedia, where people from all over the world collaborate on the development of the software platform.
Wikinomics operates on four fundamental principles: be open, watch, share and act globally. Don Trapscott identifies the contributor to the wiki as a “person who is willing to contribute to the system that created it.” Therefore, this model harnesses talent around the world, with significant economies in production and leveraging social capital.
Models
Ideagoras: here where people with solutions and people with problems collaborate. Example of collaboration of scientists in problem solving.
Prosumers: this is where the consumer becomes a co-innovator in the construction of the product.
Trapscott presents the classic example of the second life where consumers are part of the development and innovation of the product, as it is the consumers who design the second life.
Open Science: This is where companies collaborate to come up with the best solution.
A classic example in the Sri Lankan context would be mobile service companies collaboratively lobbying regulators to halt the severe price cut by the foreign telco.
Although this concept is evolving rapidly without monetary benefits, it could be argued that the principles of openness, peer exchange, exchange, and global performance could be questioned. Therefore, for this model to evolve as a suitable platform, a suitable methodology must be developed to distribute the rewards among taxpayers.
1.http: //en.wikipedia.org
2.http: //www.amazon.com/Wikinomics-Collaboration-Changes-Everything-ebook/dp/B000QBYEH8