The Ignorance of Crowds The Open Source model can play an important role in Innovation, but know its limitations.

Informal group of volunteers
Radical development of software
Combining of Knowledge
Coinciding with the birth of the World wide web
Peer production
Forums/Blogs/Reviews
Social Activism - Organisation of masses, Riots, Propeganda, Mass sharing of ideas, Congregation.
Organisation and Speed.

It was not until things could be sent out to people so cheaply on the net that people had the ability to codeshare and collaborate so fast. High-Speed communication in the last 10-20 years has meant that there is an explosion in mainstream sharing and expansion.