Wikinomics

Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams published ‘Wikinomics’ in 2006. It is the ‘big idea’ about business and commerce in the online age. There are arguments about distribution, consumption and exchange (such as buying and selling) and human behaviour. Web 2.0 has brought cultural studies and economics together.

5 stages of wikinomics:

• Peering is the free sharing of material on the internet.  This cuts distribution costs for businesses, which is one bonus. However this is bad for people who create creative material who want to protect it as intellectual property (IP).
• There are positive outcomes due to wikinomics, such as free creativity (for example people creating remixes or YouTube videos). Creative Commons provide licences to protect IP, but also allowing others to remix material within limits.
• Wikinomics means journalism is produced by the public, such as on blogs and social networking sites.
•  There is a lot of global communication due to Web 2.0, making cultural and national boundries inevitably reduced.
• Technology, demographics (those bought up around the digital world) and economics (businesses online) are there for an internation market. Media compnay's would be lacking if it wasn't for Web 2.0.

Critics believe that things are not changing as quickly as Tapscott and Williams believed.  Many young people feel alienated by Web 2.0. Wikinomics ignores inequality, as a lot of the world isn’t able to access broadband, so think globally is a luxury to those who are richer.