1. Task 1 LIS 590 By Jessica Yonzon

2. Definitions innovation and value creation driven by the masses of people and firms collaborating openly; a new way of producing goods and services that harnesses the power of mass collaboration (Wikinomics – Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams) commons-based peer production: radically decentralized, collaborative, and nonproprietary production based on sharing resources and outputs among widely distributed, loosely connected individuals who cooperate with each other without relying on either market signals or managerial commands (Benkler, 2006)

3. Characteristics of peer production Self-organization Volunteering (not always) Shared outcome/output Leadership to integrate community contributions Self-selection by contributors themselves based on interests and expertise  efficient at allocating resources Low cost of participation (desirable) Collective intelligence Building a community/ belonging to a community of shared interests

4. Models of peer production (Haythornthwaite, 2009): Lightweight - large set of contributors; each provides minimal, rule-based additions to the product as a whole; not designed to create or maintain relationships among contributors; no need to make a long-term commitment to the project, the group, or its members; contributors not expected to play an ongoing role in determining the course of the enterprise as a whole Heavyweight - commitment to maintaining and sustaining the direction and viability of the community; commitment to the enterprise as a whole, including internal processes as well as products, the social and emotional experience of the community, and its continued existence Dual weight – mixture of both lightweight and heavyweight

5. Benefits of peer production (to firms): Use external talent/skills that might not be available within the company Fast-paced upgrades/ rapid diffusion of best-practice techniques and standards Opportunities for auxiliary businesses Reduced costs Easy collaboration without problems related to ownerships and IP proprietorships

6. Pitfalls/ difficulties of peer production: Authenticity or reliability of information/ knowledge Monitoring inaccuracies Making all the disparate contributions work in concert (for example in the case of OSS) Contributions might not be consistent over time and quality

7. Fields/ areas where peer production has been used: (Wikinomics – Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams) Software development (OSS) Scientific Research & Design (Pharmaceuticals) Games (Second Life) Design (BMW cars) News Media/ Entertainment/ Informational sites Open Access Journals (academic) – reviewed by a greater proportion of the scientific community (?) Industry-University partnerships – transferring technologies back and forth – example, Intel’s labs at UC Berkeley, University of Washington in Seattle, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Cambridge (UK)

8. Fields/areas where peer production has a potential to add value: (Wikinomics – Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams) E-governance – RI’s GovTracker, Scorecard (combines data from over four hundred scientific and government databases to profile local environmental problems and the health effects of toxic chemicals), Neighborhood Knowledge California Producing physical products – Chinese motorcycle industry, 787 Boeing – many suppliers working together for design and production

9. Web sites that are built on or promote peer production: Wikipedia – a collaboratively created encyclopedia owned by no one and authored by masses http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page - a collaboratively created how-to manual http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page http://www.shopwiki.com/ - collaboratively created shopping guide http://www.shopwiki.com/ http://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page - collaboratively created travel guide http://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page Social networking sites – FaceBook, MySpace, Orkut TakingITGlobal - online social community of youth leaders and educators collaborating to address global issueshttp://www.tigweb.org/ Human Genome Project, Open Wet Ware Open Innovation - InnoCentive, NineSigma, InnovationXchange Network, Eureka Medical, YourEncore, Innovation Relay Centers, yet2come.com User-generated news sites - Slashdot, digg, Rabble

10. Areas that peer production affects and may eventually change/modify: Copyright & Intellectual property – www.creativecommons.org, www.creativecommons.org Existing business model – direct control of assets Organizational structure – open peer production (within and/or outside the company) vs. hierarchical top-down approach, using external skills rather than hiring employees Labor market will be global – legal issues, taxes, etc. Education systems – technology-based, emphasis on collaboration (?)

11. New ways of doing business: (Wikinomics – Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams) Auxiliary business supporting free product – example support/training/consulting for customizing OSS Providing platform for consumers to innovate, create – example SecondLife Providing platforms for participation – “mashup businesses” – example, housingmaps, cheapgas, Chicagocrime; Amazon, eBay, Google open up their software services and databases via APIs (application programming interface) for possible mashup innovations/ co-developments of services Rewarding participation to sustain the business – Amazon developers get sales commissions, SecondLife

12. References: Benkler, Y. (2006). The Wealth of Networks. New Haven: Yale University Press Haythornthwaite, C. (2009). “Crowds and Communities: Light and Heavyweight Models of Peer Production”, Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference On System Sciences Tapscott, D. & A. Williams (2006). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York: Penguin Group.