Wikinomics

I'm presently reading a book recommended by Ian Jukes called "Wikinomics." I love how it builds upon global collaboration, but not in the sense of everyone being face to face - but through the blososphere. The authors, Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams refer to this as "peer sharing" of just "peering." One example cited was how Rob McEwen, the CEO of Gold Corp, a large gold mining company put all of their geological data from the past 50 years on an open source web site in order to get the thinking from many sources around the world to solve the critical need for his company to discover at least six million more ounces of gold or risk bankruptcy. Since gold mining is a highly secretive operation, McEwen ran into great resitance, but went ahead with his plan anyway. Virtual prospectors from over 50 countries collaborated through a virtual medium. The participants in this contest ranged from students to mathematicians, to military offices.Their ideas lead to a discovery of over 8 million ounces of gold. The bottom line on the gold mine's profit margin went from $100 million to $9 billion and changed them from a company on the brink of closure to an innovative, cutting edge, highly profitable company. (Stock purchased in 1993 for $100 is now worth $3,000.) So, McEwen harnessed the collective genius of folks outside the boundaries of his company to make a huge impact on his company. This is the concept behind Wikinomics -global collaboration. Pulling from the minds of the best,no matter who or where they are and doing it in a way that is so open and easy to access that leads to greater success and creativity than any one (or any one company) can create on their own. This is the collaborative world we need to prepare our students to interact in. This is the collaborative world we need to participate in to make our business cutting edge and to challenge our thinking to new heights.