Is it a revolution?

Creating a comprehensive encyclopedia seems an appropriate first step for a wiki-like venture. But can it be applied to other ventures. So far, success has been limited. But some exciting other projects are popping up. Wikitionary, a wiki dictionary, is almost as comprehensive as Wikipedia. Wikitravel is a pretty solid travel guide, but there are better sites online. Wikibooks is an ambitious sister project for Wikipedia that attempts to create full books on various subjects, as opposed to simple articles. Not surprisingly, in the first four years, few books have been completed.

But the Wiki may yet have better and greater applications outside of writing. In essence, a wiki is about sharing, and about contribution. It has gained some traction in the software development field, but that is mostly a result of the open source software movement, which is a little different. Science, in particular science that requires huge datamining projects like the Human Genome project, might benefit greatly from a Wiki-like model û if done on a closed market scale. But the surprising ability of Wikipedia to create a vast knowledge database in less than six years has opened a lot of eyes. And, and the very least, may entice some individual entrepreneur to look beyond herself and imagine the possibilities of the many.