wiki

There is a new culture of learning and academia around the world largely based on the notion of two heads being better than one. Hasn't this always been true throughout history? I mean, the saying must have originated because it has at least some truth to it.

At least in my experiences I have found this to be true. Group projects always seem to turn out better when everyone is working towards a common goal. On the contrary, when one person takes the lead and never gives anything to any leeway for doing anything to anyone else, the project can suffer. Wikipedia is the ultimate group project. It encapsulates the whole essence of cooperative learning into one website and one piece of software. The results of this project have been astounding, as Daniel H. Pink's article "The Book Stops Here" points out. Wikipedia has more articles than any established, respected, printed encyclopedia has and probably will ever have - and the information is not that much less accurate.

My question is, how long will it take for wiki software to expand to business? There are already some companies that run on user-generated material, but not in very efficient forms. People can go somewhere and submit a design for a t-shirt, but nobody else can go there, change it and repost it, perhaps creating a better t-shirt. I think it would be cool for a business to try something like this out. Let users create their own products and let them modify other peoples' products to satiate their own fancies.

I know it's not very well thought out yet, but maybe someone can implement it somewhere.