I have this vision of A Thing. Right now it’s a cloudy vision, but I’d like to ask your help clearing it up.
The time seems particularly ripe for a Thing that helps People start Projects to make useful Stuff. For example, people could collaborate to make a story. Or get an idea patented. Or start a distributed business making handicrafts, and connect to customers. Of course, I say the time is ripe because of current employment market, or lack thereof. The unemployed could be spending some of their time creating valuable stuff or connecting valuable stuff to people who need it – hence becoming employed.
The qualities this Thing would need (IMO) are:
- easy and interesting to get started using
- gives a comfy feeling that if the Stuff you’re working on generates revenue, you’ll get some kind of reasonable cut
- helps People find Stuff that needs their talents
- helps Projects find the talents (or other resources) they need to generate revenue
- possibly include a system of currency so People with Stuff can trade it with other People for Stuff they need
- helps People leverage other resources for their Project (e.g. instant messaging, wikis, etc.)
I kinda sorta started a wiki some time ago about this sort of Thing, but it never went anywhere.
Whaddaya think? If someone built it, would they come? Or is that impossible to answer without knowing a lot better what it is?