How the Internet is used is changing before our eyes. From initially being an access point to a global library of static websites it has morphed into a tool facilitating global collaboration. The phrase now used is Web 2.0. We are sliding into a world of mass collaboration. This change is explored in-depth in a book authored by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams entitled Wikinomics. It explores how the Internet is the means for facilitating collaborations of all kinds leading us into an age of mass collaboration. Tapscott and Williams explore why and how this has occurred and offer many examples of how the Internet is supporting global collaboration on many fronts. One example is how the Boeing Corporation in the development of their new 787 Dreamliner has completely revamped the way it builds aircraft. From a primarily sole source built in-house approach the Dreamliner has become an international project, with major worked farmed out in contracts to suppliers all throughout the world. Major sections of the plane are being built as sub sections to be connected together at Boeing’s assembly plant in Seattle. Besides being highlighted in Wikinomics this approached has been featured in a news story at MSNBC, “How Boeing transformed the aviation industry.”Another approach is the story of Ideagoras, market places for ideas and innovations such as Innocentive an e-bay for scientists. Through Innocentive companies can search out scientists with particular expertise to help solve a specific problem or challenge they are facing. Simply put, a company seeking a solution can search for a solution finder through Innocentive. Proctor and Gamble the great American consumer products once approached R&D totally as an internal process. No more, now they seek out potential product offerings throughout the world. For example, Swiffer Dusters was developed by others and brought to market by P&G.There are many stories in the book of how companies willing to take risks are changing how they utilize the Internet to collaborate with others.The authors contend that thriving in this Web 2.0 world requires openness, peering, sharing and acting globally. They believe that these four principles are changing the way 21st century corporations will operate. While education may be slower to adapt to this Web 2.0 world some educators particularly at the college level are trying new things. Gerald Kane, assistant professor of information systems at the Chestnut Hill, Mass., school, has been using a wiki from SocialText Inc. as the primary teaching tool in his classroom since October, relying on the technology to integrate content from other Web 2.0 technologies like social book-making tools, RSS systems, and Google for his "Computers in Management" courses.Time will tell. One thing is certain that Web 2.0 is changing how people and organizations connect, collaborate and share information with each other. For more information on the book Wikinomics check out http://www.wikinomics.com/index.php.

What will happen to the travel industry, airlines and hotels, in particular, when the face to face meeting is unnecessary? In Kansas, we are looking at bringing our superintendents of districts on improvement together with experts on school improvement. The cost of bringing people together in a vast state like KS with $3.00 gas and hotel expenses, will be minimized by using technology. New things to think about: facilitating the on-line gatherings; retraining the participants; the cost of the technology to do the on-line gatherings; moderating dissent on-line. The gathering of people face to face will become purely social. Oh, we have facebook and myspace social networking now as well, don't we. How will this impact schools? What do you think? To further stimulate your thinking about education, read Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea".

How can you collaborate in a Web 2.0 world? Prior to the email and the Internet collaboration in the workplace was limited geographically. Working with colleagues in the next cubicle, or down the hall, or another classroom or the other side of town or another school was the extant of collaboration. The telephone and fax offered some geographical extension enabling regional or cross country efforts. Now email and the Internet have changed all that. We are now able to collaborate globally, with people perhaps we will never see. Social networking tools have enabled us to reach out and touch anyone in the world. Certainly teenagers and college students do so through MySpace and FaceBook. Physicians too are now reaching out to each other through a social networking site for them called Sermo.com. Through this site doctors can move beyond the walls of the doctor lounge to connect with colleagues to discuss cases and share experiences. There are now 25,000 doctors registered with Sermo.com! Social networking isn’t just for teenagers any more.So are teachers limited to talking with only colleagues in their building? Not really. Practically every professional organization offers discussion forums to its members these days; such as National Council of Teachers of English and the National Association of Special Education Teachers. Social networking is just one of many ways to use the Internet to support collaboration. The point is that today working together with others goes beyond the telephone, fax and email. Discussion forums, communities of practice, collaborative composing through wikis are new ways to interact with each other. They can bring the world together at your desk top.

A wiki is a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. Wikipedia is perhaps the most recognizable Wiki today. It is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. Wikis are being adapted by many organizations and business to share information. One of interest is supported by NativeWeb, a website providing resources for indigenous cultures around the world. NativeWiki, allows users to contribute information on indigenous peoples around the world.The Web 2.0 world is about sharing and collaborating. NativeWiki is another example of a Web 2.0 tool enabling just that.