Business Expert Envisions Content Collaboration as Media Future
The Wikinomics of media
Charles Warner interviews Don Tapscott over email May 14th-18th
Don Tapscott, one of the world's leading authorities on business strategy, is Chief Executive of international think tank New Paradigm, which produces research focused on the role of technology in productivity and business design, effectiveness, and competitiveness. He is the author of 11 widely-read books about information technology in business and society, including Paradigm Shift, Growing Up Digital and The Naked Corporation. His new book (January 2007), co-authored with Anthony Williams, is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. In this interview, he talks about how this mass collaboration fits into the world of journalism. Tapscott is also adjunct professor of management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Charles Warner: In your and Anthony Williams' book Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, you wrote "…as a growing number of firms see the benefits of mass collaboration, this new way of organizing will eventually displace the traditional corporate structures as the economy's primary engine of wealth creation. Already this new economic model extends beyond software, music, publishing, pharmaceuticals, and other bellwethers to virtually every part of the global economy." Do you believe mass collaboration can work for journalism?
Don Tapscott: It already works for a wide range of publishing and content-creation activities, including journalism. In print media, the Wikipedia model is being extended to textbooks, as in the case of the California open source school book initiative. Expect the 'Wikipedia Guide to Rock and Roll' and many any other tomes from Jimmy Wales and his colleagues.
When it comes to broadcast media, there are initial examples where people outside the formal media structures can create content. Take Al Gore's Current TV, where anyone can create a news clip; and if it's received well on the Web, it will be broadcast on the Current TV network.
Q: What effect will this mass collaboration have on the print media, such as newspapers and magazines and the journalists they now employ?
A: The corporation will continue to be the primary engine of wealth creation, but the corporation is changing. As we explain in Wikinomics, peering is causing change. Companies can act as peers rather than collaborating in traditional supply chains. Within companies, individuals can now collaborate effectively as peers across traditional corporate silos. And, significantly, individuals can act as peers outside the boundaries of corporations -- not just social networking but actually producing goods and services. The latter form creates a powerful new force that firms can harness if they are smart.
When it comes to journalism, the poster child about how to do this wrong was the Los Angeles Times effort to wiki the editorial. Content laden with opinions is the hardest thing to wiki. Smarter publications begin with content that is rich in fact, and that can be more easily corrected by consensus.
We can anticipate, however, that every important publication over time will open itself up. In a conversation with the deputy editor of the New York Times, he said that nothing is more important to him than figuring out how the readers of the paper can become involved in creating content.
Q: Assignment Zero is conducting a number of interviews like this one and a small group of editors will put together the final story for Wired magazine. Do you suggest we should post a version of the final story and let the AZ community correct it by consensus? If so, any further recommendations?
A: That would make sense.
Q: Assignment Zero is using mass collaboration (which it refers to as crowdsourcing) to write a story about mass collaboration. Is this navel gazing? If not, why? If so, what stories should AZ be working on?
A: It sounds like a reasonable task to me, but I'd focus on creating content that is verifiable rather content on the "opinion" end of the scale. Personally I think the term "crowdsourcing" is restrictive -- mass collaboration takes a number of different modes that don't all involve a "crowd."
Q: I can see why such business leaders as Eric Schmidt of Google, John Chambers of Cisco, and Tony Scott of The Walt Disney Company praised your book Wikinomics. But why should journalists read it?
A: Journalism is changing as it becomes democratized. This will change the business models of many publications and content companies. Content will not be king -- content collaboration will be. This is not just a threat to journalists. It is a wonderful new opportunity, but to succeed, journalists need to know the principals of mass collaboration, i.e. "wikinomics."
Q: Would you please elaborate and give some examples of "threats" and "opportunities"?
A: The great Harold Innis and his student, Marshall McLuhan, pointed out that new media changes power relationships in the economy and society. As Innis wrote in 1953: "Monopolies or oligopolies of knowledge have been built up ... (to support) forces chiefly on the defensive, but improved technology has strengthened the position of forces on the offensive and compelled realignments favoring the vernacular."
The democratization of media means that anyone with talent can be a journalist. Barriers to entry have fallen and previously inscrutable genius can be unearthed. This is good news for the vernacular and bad news for the entrenched. But overall, it's a positive development for society as true capability and value can be recognized like never before.
If you're a journalist, you must work hard on your craft, but it also means that you have new opportunities to research and develop stories through mass collaboration. I don't think there has ever been a more interesting, dangerous, and exciting time for the profession.
As we said in Wikinomics: "A sober analysis of today's trends reveals that this new participation is both a blessing and a curse. Mass collaboration can empower a growing cohort of connected individuals and organizations to create extraordinary wealth and reach unprecedented heights in learning and scientific discovery. If we are wise, we will harness this capability to create opportunities for everyone and to carefully steward the planet's natural resources. But the new participation will also cause great upheaval, dislocation and danger for societies, corporations and individuals that fail to keep up with relentless change."
(Edited by April Chan)
