After reading “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” by Eric S. Raymond, I am wondering where else we can apply the open source mentality to change the rules of complex projects? By this I mean in what industries and markets can we harness the power of self-motivated communities to do a better job than the longstanding processes that currently exist…and are blatantly inefficient and unproductive?
One that comes to mind is in construction and architectural. There is a recent project called Architecture for Humanity(http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/network/index.html), which aims to provide open solutions for affordable housing and infrastructure. The target audience are municipalities in developing countries that can benefit from previously-developed solutions. But what about those of developed nations? Why does the construction industry maintain such a tight grip on resources? Why don’t skilled tradesmen want to participate in jobs that they can take pride in? In what other ways can we harness communities to physically build structures and spaces without succumbing to the inherent inefficiencies of an industry that maintains a tight control on skilled labor?