Theonemillion(master)piece

Now, I wonder where they got the idea for this?

We are asking you to draw a small square image using software on our website. You don't need to be an artist or be able to draw - you can make patterns, write words, doodle - what-ever you want. Your image will be one of one million images that will make up the entire picture - The One Million Masterpiece.

You can choose to make your picture fit in with the surrounding pieces, or make it stand out, by using a preview feature that shows your image with the context of your neighbours. You can change your image at any time if you don't feel happy with it, and you can exchange messages with your fellow artists using our community pages.

All in a good cause and that, but it has to be said that pooling a million images does not make an image a million times "better". Interestingly, that Other Page looks rather more artistic.... (Via eHub.)

Open Earth

I came across this story about Whirlpool offering 3D models of its white goods for use in Google's Sketchup program. That's interesting enough, but it led me to explore Google's 3D Warehouse for that program a little, and I was frankly amazed how far things have come since I last looked at this area. For example, the Cities in Development area is full of detailed models of real buildings.

What's striking about this is that it is an example of Net-based collaboration on an open project - in this case, modelling the entire planet by placing these 3D models on Google Earth. Where this gets really interesting is when you start creating Second Life-like avatars that can move freely around that Virtual Earth, interacting away.... (Via Ogle Earth.)

Thinking about Thinkature

I like Thinkature for four reasons.

First, it's about real-time, online, visual collaboration.

Second, it doesn't use Flash (unlike one of its rivals).

Third, it's free.

Fourth, it's got a great name.

(Via TechCrunch.)

Wikipolitics, Or, The Power of the Many

Nothing new here, but it bears underlining, since it's why collaborative openness will prevail:

when news of Donald Rumsfeld's resignation from his position as Secretary of Defense came across the wires I was not necessarily surprised to see that a Google search for his nominated replacement Robert Gates returned Gates' Wikipedia page as the first search result. Wikipedia content places very high in many Google search results, not only its articles but its user profiles as well. But the key factor was that his bio had been updated to include dozens of useful new edits from several sources within hours of his announced nomination - including information and links about the nomination itself.

Open Source DIY

I hate DIY.

No, really: I really, really hate DIY. So the idea of a site devoted to the damn subject is pretty appalling. Except that Instructables has a clever twist (otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it): this is a kind of collaborative, open source DIY, where people share their DIY ideas, tips and secrets, and others make suggestions for improvement or just generally comment on things.

It's a nice idea. But a better one would be where somebody else came around to your house and did it for you. Now that's what I call real collaborative DIY. (Via TechCrunch.)

Programs, Participation and People

One of the central themes of this blog is how the ideas at the heart of free software - collaborative, participatory, distributed development - are gradually seeping out into other areas, with dramatic effects. Mostly I write about the obvious examples - open access, open content, open genomics etc. - but occasionally I slip in instances popping up in areas that seem to have little to do with software and yet are obviously still highly germane.

An example is this report called People and Participation. It comes from the dubiously-named "Involve", which sounds like a front for some bunch of religious nutters, but as a page entitled "Connectivity" makes clear, it has some interesting ideas that, er, plug straight into the technological origins of these movements:

The 21st century is delivering endless opportunities to connect with one another wherever we are. The new technology that fills our pockets allows us 24/7 contact with friends, family and work; it is also central to Digital Britain, the second stage of the digital revolution that could transform the lives of everyone in the UK. But this new culture of connection is not limited to bluetooth and WiFi, connectivity also underpins the enabling state, the Government vision of a modern social contract.

(Via P2P Foundation.)

Getting to Know the Knowledge Commons

The Knowledge Commons is

a distributed network architecture that enables the culturing of knowledge through construction, distribution, and recombination.

This model provides:

* collaborative knowledge creation
* knowledge correlation through metadata
* identity and authentication brokering
* peer-based content distribution and retrieval
* automated commons management

Er, yes? Sounds interesting, but could we have some more details, please?

WikiMusic

In principle, open content applies to all kinds of materials, not just words. But it's certainly true that most open content is text-based. The basic problem is coming up with a framework that allows collaboration with other kinds of media. So here's an idea: WikiMusic.

The idea here is collaborative asynchronous recording of music, wherin you record your parts to a music editing software file, then upload it for others to add to. Each version of the file can be left online, so that people can revert back to older versions.

Open Filmmaking

After collaborative books, here comes collaborative filmmaking. A film in 28 parts, made by 28 different groups, the whole released under a CC licence. (Via eHub)

Wackypedia

In case you haven't seen this on digg.com yet: a Wikipedia page devoted to "unusual articles" in Wikipedia. What's impressive is not just the sheer wackiness of some of these, but how many have been brought together here.

This is of more than passing interest. As the Edit history shows, the page's length - and richness - is down to the number of people who have contributed. In a way, this page single-handedly demonstrates the real strengths of the collaborative approach when applied to appropriate domains.