Expectation: a survey of how the (relatively) new tools of online collaboration impact society and business.

Actual outcome: I don’t really know, the book was so badly written that I kinda lost the point of what they were saying around page 3…

So, is the book really that bad?

Well I have to admit they do have some interesting stories and anecdotes in there (let me summarize some of them here so that you don’t have to read the book):

• GoldCorp used an online competition to find gold
• Proctor & Gamble used InnoCentive to outsource much of their R&D (with great success)
• Nettwerk – an innovative Canadian music label that actually embraces the digital age
• Novartis publishes a free dataset from years of research into the genetic foundations of type 2 diabetes

There’s a bunch of other interesting case studies like the above, but you can get a sense for most of them from the notes at the end of the book. My question is: why is the book 319 pages?

Sure, maybe the book wouldn’t have sold at the 60 pages that the content actually deserves. But then again maybe the authors should have stuck to their principles that they’re advocating and published it on a Wiki! (where it would have quickly been edited down to a remove the 300x repetition).

In short, if you woke up today after a 20-year coma and you’re looking to find out what this whole web thing is about, maybe you should  buy the book. Otherwise, just google for the above stories for some interesting reading and don’t bother. I’m going to try and sell mine, it’s just taking up useful space.

And don’t forget to paradigm shift your synergies going forward! *

* Paraphrasing of said book