Don Tapscott's Blog, page 52

Negroponte offers good advice to India's $35 computer project

Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chair of the One Laptop per Child Foundation, just posted an open letter to the Indian government, offering to share his hard-earned expertise and help the government achieve its recently announced goal to distribute a $35 tablet computer to millions of students.  (Full disclosure: Negroponte is a good friend.)

The new device, designed by Indian scientists but manufactured in China, would be the world's cheapest tablet and run on either battery or solar...

Exclusive promotion if you pre-order MacroWikinomics before Wednesday night

Anthony D. Williams and I are in countdown mode to the September 28 launch of our new book, MacroWikinomics. Together with the publisher, Portfolio Hardcover, we've developed a tremendous bonus package for readers who pre-order the book online before 11:59pm EDT August 4th.  That's this Wednesday, so carpe diem.

To thank you for your early support, we'll send you:

A free early release copy weeks before launchYour purchased copy on September 28th (yes, that means you get two books for the...

Privacy worries continue to grow

Two interesting items re privacy.  A poll released last week by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion revealed that fully half of Americans who have a profile on social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn are worried about their privacy.  And the publication of results from a clever study of shoppers in a Pittsburgh shopping mall explored how willingly people would forfeit personal privacy in exchange for tangible benefits, in this case more money.

Of the 50 percent of...

Why transparency and privacy should go hand in hand

I was speaking at the recent Google Zeitgeist conference in London.  On one panel, a privacy advocate argued that she was against transparency, and that all this talk about openness was frightening.  She argued that anyone who favors privacy should oppose transparency.

I for one, am both a transparency advocate and a privacy advocate. Transparency is an opportunity and even obligation for corporations and other institutions.  But it is not an opportunity or obligation of individuals...

Changing the World, One Friend at a Time

I first met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg a few years ago at a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. He and his partner Matt Cohler wanted my advice on how to take their fast-growing company to the next level. I gave my views: The way to make a successful business with massive revenue was to create a Facebook for enterprises. I argued that social networks could become the new operating platform for the corporation, government, innovation and wealth creation, and that...

We can't afford BP to go it alone

I've just read an incredibly depressing Fast Company piece on InnoCentive and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The story reports on a recent blog posting by Dwayne Spradlin, President and Chief Executive Officer of InnoCentive.

If you're not familiar with InnoCentive, here is a thumbnail sketch:  It is a global, online marketplace where organizations in need of innovation–companies, academic institutions, public sector, and non-profit organizations–can utilize a global network of more than...

Your insights wanted at Save the Gulf discussion

Two weeks ago I was on a panel in London as part of Google's Zeitgeist 2010 event.  Also on the panel was Carl-Henric Svanberg, Chairman & non-executive Director of BP.  The moderator asked what I would recommend to solve BP's PR problems.  I said that BP has more than just a PR problem; it needs to fix the oil spill.  She said fine, how would you do that?  I said that I would issue a global challenge, and it appears that BP is trying something along those lines.  It is reaching out to a...

Net Change Week 2010

Don Tapscott presents the concept of mass collaboration as it applies to structures beyond business; from how we are altering the way our financial institutions and governments operate; to how we educate our children; and how the healthcare, newspaper, and energy industries are dealing with the challenges of a sustainable world.

Twitter's users dictate what's happening

I recently watched a video of Jack Dorsey's presentation to The99percent conference, which you can see here.  In it, Dorsey shares three core takeaways from his experiences in conceiving and building Twitter. 1) Draw: get your idea out of your head and share it, 2) Luck: assessing when is the right time to execute the idea, 3) Iterate: absorb the feedback and refine the idea.

The third takeway is the most interesting. Despite his resistance on some ideas, Dorsey says that "almost everything...

Will publishers rise to the challenge?

As an author of many books, I'm thankful for the hard work of my publishers, but I also I'm fascinated by changes in the publishing industry.

An author self-publishing his or her book — also known as the "vanity press" —  has traditionally been viewed with a bit of disdain.  It usually meant that the author was unable to find a publisher willing to risk the time and money required to bring a book to market, either because the topic wasn't interesting and/or the writing quality was poor...