The readings thus far provide a look at how the digital world is changing our world.  From John Battelle’s book The Search, where we learned how Google has impacted everything we do, to the concept of public journalism and the influence of blogs on all forms of communication as described by Dan Gillmor and Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, there has been a clear evolution showing how digital technologies are changing how we work, communicate and live.   

Wikinomics took all of these concepts, tied them up in a nice bow, and demonstrated how these technologies are leading to a world that fosters mass collaboration. Virtual worlds, as described by Julian Dibbell in Play Money, have the potential of taking mass collaboration to a whole new level, one that could possibly have a viable and sustainable economy that maybe one day is looked at as a good investment option.    

This week’s reading, Play Money, looks at how gamers are making money in virtual worlds such as Ultima Online and Second Life.  The book is narrated by Julian Dibbell and describes in detail how he moved from freelance writer to viral loot broker.  Not being much of a gamer, I had a hard time fathoming how someone sets out to make money buying and selling fake goods. Additionally, I was floored that someone would even think of creating an offshore sweatshop employing people as professional gamers.  

I was intrigued at how these gamers got so into the virtual world.  Buying, selling and stealing to get whatever they needed. The world played much like the real word.  People wanted to do whatever they could to be the best and have the best.  This is demonstrated when Dibbell talks about the status symbols of the different houses saying “I remembered John Dugger looking at the biggest houses in the game, the towers and castles, and wondering about the people who lived in them—who are they? How do they live? How do they get their money?,” ( p. 69).  I also found it interesting how they took it upon themselves to start selling fake money for real money.  But when you think about it is the money fake after all if you are buying something with it maybe it is real. 

Dibbell takes his readers through a first hand account of what it is like to be living in two worlds at the same time.  In reality Dibbell is a writer trying a little experiment, while his alter ego is looking to become a millionaire selling items that in reality do not exist.  I found myself glued to certain chapters of the book almost believing the world he played in was real.  

In a time when more and more people are communicating via social networking sites and through text messages I wonder if there will come a day when virtual worlds are where and how we communicate.  Take for instance a person who works at home.  He or she could participate in meet-ups via a virtual world, really taking part in the world of mass collaboration as described in Wikinomics.  Companies can create virtual stores with virtual sales associates that can answer questions in real time, people can invest there savings in virtual economies with the expectation of making money.  

I wonder what economic implications virtual worlds will have on the real economy. Will the future be one of businesses operating in both the real world and Second Life, a virtual world created by those who live there?  Will financial analysts be reporting on how the Linden dollar, Second Life’s currency, is doing in comparison to the U.S. dollar?  The thought is somewhat weird but is it that off from reality?  I guess only time will tell.  In the meantime, a lot can be learned from those paying online games.  While the idea of being walled up in a small room doing nothing but playing on a computer may seem strange to some these gamers, with their business instincts, could one day be the next Donald Trumps of the world.

Throughout the semester we have been examining the different collaboration tools available as a result of the Web 2.0 revolution.  Blogs, as described by Dan Gillmor, are opening doors helping to make everyone a journalist.  Additionally, Robert Scoble and Shel Israel demonstrate how blogs can be used a marketing tool and an internal communication tool; fostering collaboration among audience members.  In addition to blogs, texting and social networking allows us to both communicate and form virtual communities with people who have similar interests.  Smart Mobs looks at the texting revolution extensively and how the technology can allow us to communicate to virtually anyone without a computer or LAN line.  All of these technologies provide us the ability to communicate with anyone regardless of geographic location. 

The World of Mass Collaboration 

According to Wikinomics’ authors Tapscott and Williams, there are four principals to Wikinomics: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally (p. 215).  These principals contribute to innovation through an open and collaborative environment. 

 Tapscott and Williams, in Chapter 6 of Wikinomics, demonstrate how information sharing has been around since the time of the Alexandrian Greeks who shared knowledge by storing works of literature in a centralized location. They go on to explain how scientists today, much like the Alexandrian Greeks, are sharing information not by storing documents in a building but by digitally collaborating.  This open collaboration according to Tapscott and Williams, will “forever change the way scientists publish, manage data, and collaborate across institutional boundaries,” (p.157).  In addition to creating scientific wonders, collaboration also lends itself to profitability.  By collaborating with other corporations or outside venders, companies can significantly increase their profits.  

The concept of profit making through global collaboration is explored by Tapscott and Williams in chapter 7. I found this chapter fascinating especially the information on Amazon.com. Amazon has a revenue-sharing business model, which allows people to become co-developers of the Amazon platform. The way Tapscott and Williams describe the Amazon business model, made me think of the Google business model as described by John Battelle in The Search.  Basically I am wondering; is Amazon the Google of the retail world? Or will Amazon’s willingness to be so open eventually hurt them in the end? In my opinion, Amazon’s acceptance of applications created by numerous developers will only help them.  The way links transform a static Web site into a virtual conversation or blog is the way these applications transform Amazon into a global marketplace.  Collaboration is at the heart of Amazon’s success. 

The final chapters of Wikinomics, reinforces the importance and highlights numerous successes of collaboration.  From the manufacturing plants of BMW and Boeing, who collaborate with other companies, to the employees of Best Buy’s Geek Squad who use Wikis and other technologies to collaborate in the workplace; collaboration continuously fosters innovation and success.  Additionally, collaboration has allowed the workplace to transform from being one of having a centralized corporate headquarters to one of employees working from home and other locations using collaboration tools, such as wikis, as a means of communication.  The true future of the workplace is yet to be seen.  Will offices exist or will the majority of employees work from home and if so, will this foster innovation or will creativeness be stifled because employees are isolated with only computerized interaction?  Additionally, as companies become more open will their competitive edge diminish, eventually leading to a decrease in profits due to the openness of their product?  

While Wikinomics demonstrates how Web 2.0 has turned our society into one without geographic limitations, it also shows the world is really not as big as one may have thought.  The world is actually one of many small groups looking for particular niche goods, which the Internet has now made available.  This concept is addressed by Chris Anderson in The Long Tail.

Moving From Selling Many Hits to Targeting Niche Markets 

Throughout the semester we have moved from studying the broad history of communication and technology to examining finite details of communicating and how technology has allowed us increased choices.  In the Long Tail, Anderson describes how many small purchases can be more lucrative than selling millions of one item. Web sites such as Netflix, Amazon and iTunes are able to carry a lot more inventory attracting small niche markets, where as their retail counterparts don’t have the space to carry anything other than what they know will sell to the masses. Therefore, these online retailers are able to tap into a market that traditional retailers can not afford to target, simply because their brick and mortar spaces drives up their cost of doing business and provides limitations as to how much inventory can be stored; where as online retailers are able to carry a lot more with lower overhead costs and storage is generally not an issue.   

The concept of the Long Tail provides a visualization of how the Web has created a marketplace for those seeking specialized goods.  From personalized items and old songs, to rare books, users are given many more choices and they are making these choices.  I was amazed by Anderson’s statistic of how all of Rhapsody’s songs are streamed at least once a month. Additionally, the fastest-growing part of businesses, such as Rhapsody and Amazon, “is sales of products that aren’t available in traditional retail stores,” (p. 24).  While, online retailers have been the leaders in targeting niche markets traditional retailers are starting to create virtual Web spaces in addition to their retail stores.  Many of these sites offer sales not available in the stores.  Examples of companies that have created online stores are Barns and Noble and Borders.   The Long Tail is not going away. As the Web becomes larger more niche markets are created.   

Search provides us with a means to find what we want, and online retailers and auction Web sites provide us with the goods we seek.  I wonder if in the future if stores will eventually move the majority of their business to the Web.  Also, will small niche businesses start opening stores targeting those who seek their products?  I think for certain goods such as books, movies and music, the Web is going to remain the leader in providing unique goods but for items such as apparel and furniture, a store will remain the sales leader because those are the types of items people want to see and touch before buying.   

The need and want for customization is not going away.  From creating our donuts at the local Fractured Prune to designing T shirts and shoes consumers are demanding products that are different from what the masses have.  Personalization makes customers happy and these niche markets allow the Long Tail to continually grow.

As I said in last week’s post, all of the readings thus far focus on the importance of online interaction.  Dan Gillmor gave a history lesson on the evolution of media and also looks at how the new media of today is influencing journalism. Both Gillmor and Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, address the importance of blogging and its influence on the way we communicate. Smart Mobs really looks at where technology is going and how through, almost any device, we will be able to communicate and survey within our communities and beyond… it was actually quite scary in my opinion. Wikinomics really is a culmination of the technologies we have discussed thus far; looking at how we are using them both socially and in business.  From social networking, to blogging and texting Wikinomics demonstrates how everything is connected to create a big interactive Web of many-to-many communications.

Peer Production

An important concept threaded throughout the first half of Wikinomics is that of peer production.  According to Tapscott and Williams, peer production or peering, as they sometimes refer to it as, is “what happens when masses of people and firms collaborate openly to drive innovation and growth in their industries,” (p. 11). Examples of sites where peers contribute are Wikipedia, Myspace, Facebook, Flicker, and the numerous blogs out there on the Web.  Additionally, Open Source software is also created through peer production. 

According to Tapscott and Williams, peer production is done through online collaboration or in the case of those highlighted in Smart Mobs, mobile collaboration. These peer production communities, many of which consist of volunteers, work together to create something of value. 

Tapscott and Williams in chapter 1, highlights how businesses such as Proctor and Gamble, use peer production and open source methodology in their research and development process.  Through the InnoCentive network, Proctor and Gamble challenges scientists from around the world help the company to drive innovation. Some may say this idea of engaging people from outside the workforce to help develop future products is innovative in itself, but others may view it as a potential hazard to the scientific profession… after all, can scientists live off of incentives alone?  I wonder if more companies move to this model will scientific jobs start to decline and as a result will scientists revolt the way the music industry did when companies like Napster caused their profits to dwindle.  Will scientists let big business get richer by outsourcing work to communities of volunteers or low cost workers?  Or will scientists prefer working in Ideagoras, or global marketplaces as Tapscott and Williams describe them in chapter 4, where they can participate in multiple science programs and not be tied to one employer.  In a sense it is freelancing for scientists.

Collaborating…Here, There, and Everywhere

Wikinomics in chapter 2 explains how Web 2.0 technology creates a worldwide “coffeehouse” where people can share, obtain and organize information.  Using tools such as tagging and RSS (really simple syndication), users can both organize and collect information that is important to them.  I really liked how Tapscott and Williams likened RSS to TiVo saying “RSS turns the Web into something like TiVo—a flowing stream of entertainment and news choices that individual users have asked for, perhaps stripped of commercial messages,” (p. 40). When I read this I instantly thought of Smart Mobs.

Howard Rheingold in chapter 7 of Smart Mobs, talks about a service called Upoc.  Upoc allows users, regardless of cell service provider, to join social networking communities that communicate using text messaging.  Members join the groups they want to communicate with; if you think about this it is sort of RSS for your phone, after all the member is receiving a flowing stream of information he or she selected.  I still wonder if text messaging communities will skyrocket the way Web social networking and blogs did in the United States.  As a user, I am still skeptical of communicating via text message to anyone other than my trusted network of friends.  My skepticism comes from reading news stories that address text spam and the cost of receiving numerous text messages.  In my opinion, I think text costs will have to come down, before Americans chose mobile phones over personal commuters as their primary way to socially communicate.

In addition to collaborating among social networks, Rheingold addresses in both chapters 7 and 8 this idea of citizen telejournalists.  These are everyday people, who through the help of mobile phones and wearable computers are able to capture and publish news instantly.  I got chills when I first read this and instantly thought of my right to privacy and journalist ethics.  If a journalist, no matter where he or she is, is constantly recording and publishing how are we as a public protected?  After all, an image could be interpreted wrongly by the viewer and in an instant a person’s reputation is tarnished forever.  Additionally, when I was an undergrad I was taught in my journalism class the importance of having multiple sources; I am somewhat perplexed about how in the environment described by Rheingold there are creditable sources.  I also wonder if we move to this type of journalism if the concept of hard factual news will be something of the past and if our newscasts will be more like a reality show with commentary than reliable news.

Collaboration is everywhere from the Ideagoras as described by Tapscott and Williams in chapter 4 to the virtual world of Second life, which they address in Chapter 5.  These communities foster conversation and innovation. Take for instance Second Life, some may view this as an online fantasy game where users can create parallel lives that are either like the ones they have or build a life that is far from the ones they live in reality.  According to Tapscott and Williams, there are a select group of Second Life participants who make a decent amount of money in this online marketplace. Second Life is really an open source game where users create everything from stores, to homes, to the cloths they wear.  It really is quite fascinating.

What will the Future Hold?

From Second Life and home grown news to computers physically becoming a part of us, as described in the final chapter of Smart Mobs, the possibilities are endless.  I am having a really hard time getting my arms around what the future will look like.  I wonder if when the radio was developed if our grandparents and great-grandparents were as  nervous about TV as I am about surveillance and cyborg and nanobots.  I have to say reading Smart Mobs was like reading a really scary sci-fi novel except the possibility of this book becoming a reality is hitting too close to home for comfort. 

As for Second Life, blogs, and social networking I think, when not used for evil, they are great.  Given that NetGen is starting to become an intergral part of the workplace think about the posiabilites.  Marketers can start attending virtual tradeshows in Second Life, Global companies can cut costs by particpating in online collaboriation rather than face-to-face meettings…the possiabilites are really exciting.  While most people will use these innovations for good, there are always a few that are not so nice.  Take for instance an MSNBC article that talks about Web radicalization.  The article addresses how terrorist groups use the Web to create virtual communities that promote terrorism.  The article also talks about Internet censorship.  I leave you with this thought: If governments feel threatened by people using the Web as a way to promote terrorism and other criminal acts should the Web be censored and if so, will honest business people and those seeking social interaction be punished by not being able to use the technology to its fullest potential?