Yesterday I mistakenly wrote that Wikipedia is outside the realm of open source. I’ve since tracked down a presentation by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and have realised how wrong I was to make that statement.
The video is a fascinating look into the organisational structure and sociology that is Wikipedia and is clearly indicative of a community with strong roots in open source and free software philosophy. There are numerous points and notable quotes from the presentation that support this notion, many of which are listed below:
Organisation

new methods of organisation …

A work colleague and I got into a discussion recently about online communities; the common threads or characteristics that occur amongst them and what key differences exist; and particularly whether there are recurring and crucial elements that, when present, make certain communities succeed, and when absent, make others fail.
Of particular relevance to my recent indulgence into Ubuntu is the epiphany I came to during the course of the discussion: The greatest examples of passionate online collaboration and vibrant community interaction I’ve seen occur in the open source and free software …