Rahaf Harfoush

Writing and Research Team (2008)

As a member of the research and writing team for Grown Up Digital I was responsible for drafting preliminary chapters including interviews,  research and writing. I contributed to the following chapters directly:

• Chapter 1 - The Net Generation Comes of Age
• Chapter 2 - A Generation Bathed in Bits
• Chapter 8 - The Net Generation and the Family: No Place Like The New Home
• Chapter 9 - Obama, Social Networks, and Citizen Engagement

I was also a part of the team that was responsible for designing the marketing and promoting strategy, including the Net Generation Education Challenge.

You can buy your own copy here.

About the Book:

Poised to transform every social institution, the Net Generation is reshaping the form and functions of school, work, and even democracy. Simply put, the wave of youth, aged 12-30, the first truly global generation, is impacting all institutions. Particularly, employers, instructors, parents, marketers and political leaders are finding it necessary to adapt to the changing social fabric due to this generation’s unique characteristics. Within its comprehensive examination of the Net Generation, and based on a 4.5 million dollar study, Don Tapscott’s Grown Up Digital offers valuable insight and concrete takeaways for leaders across all social institutions.

Grown Up Digital explores:

• How the Net Generation can be the most innovative, collaborative, and productive cohort, if given the proper working environment. From company ethic to leadership style, Grown Up Digital examines, in-depth, what this new organization will look like.

• The benefits of a shift from a traditional, broadcast model of education to one that is customized, collaborative and interactive

• How the Net Generation’s ability to scrutinize and investigate is forcing a new model of democracy that will have to be transparent, collaborative and engaging

• How parents, teachers, and elder influencers can engage in open and informative discussions to ensure technology is properly used

• How marketers no longer control their brands and how to cope with this power shift that affords the advantage to the consumer

Reviews

“A decade ago Don Tapscott recognized that the kids growing up online were different,
and that speaking digital as a first language was the key competitive skill of
our age. Now that generation has grown up and Tapscott has followed them into
the workplace and the world, where those skills are playing out in surprising ways.
This is a rich and data-packed atlas of that generation.”
- Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief, Wired

Research Coordinator (2006)

As the research coordinator for Don Tapscott’s best-selling book, I managed and facilitated the research process including aggregating industry best practices and case studies, identifying key interview targets, conducting interviews, and all logistical aspects of pulling together chapters.  Additionally I was responsible for creating the Wikinomics.com online presence and managed the book jacket endorsement process.

Buy it now! Or click here for a sneak peek.

Wikinomics placed on the Washington Post’s and New York Time’s Best Seller Lists, and was selected as one of the top business books of 2007 by Amazon.

About the Book

In the last few years, traditional collaboration—in a meeting room, a conference call, even a convention center—has been superceded by collaborations on an astronomical scale.

Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.

A brilliant primer on one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply-rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand the key forces driving competitiveness in the twenty-first century.

Based on a $9 million research project led by bestselling author Don Tapscott, Wikinomics shows how the masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. They are creating TV news stories, sequencing the human genome, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding a cure for disease, editing school texts, inventing new cosmetics, and even building motorcycles.

Reviews

“Wikinomics heralds the biggest change in collaboration to date. Thanks to the Internet, masses of people outside the boundaries of traditional hierarchies can innovate to produce content, goods and services. In order to understand the opportunities this presents for companies, read this book.

- Eric Schmidt, CEO Google