The column I was asked to write by an MIT alumni publication ran today.
Check it out. Here's an excerpt:
"Fundamentally, blogs are part of a larger, ongoing trend in society that recognizes that true creativity in any area, whether it's in culture or technology, thrives when the power to innovate is distributed to people who will use it, care about it, and consume it. MIT Professor Eric Von Hippel articulates this view most clearly in his book Democratizing Innovation. Those who are starting to grasp this are creating easy-to-use tools to allow users to be the entrepreneurs and innovators of content and culture. Letting users innovate by providing them with new tools allows the emergence of applications and content that the tool makers might never have dreamed of creating."