Open source flatness

Todd at the 800-CEO-READ blog points to an interesting article in the Financial Times about Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, in which Friedman says he is mulling over the idea of turning the book into a wiki:

"It's been suggested to me that we actually turn the book into an open-source product. Just put it up on the web like Wikipedia [the collaborative online encyclopedia] and let people add to it."

That's a great idea for a book about the rapidly changing landscape in which U.S. businesses must compete -- make changes on the fly to ensure that the book stays up to date. It's an important book, and taking a step such as this means that people will continue to talk about it and keep thinking about his theories and how they impact the economy. Friedman notes that technology already has changed significantly since he wrote the book:

"What's really interesting is that when I started this book in March 2004, podcasting didn't exist," he says, noting that the audio version of the book became a top-selling podcast on iTunes in 2005.

The FT.com site has a lot more interesting information about Friedman and his book, which won its 2005 Business Book of the Year award, on the page announcing the award, including a transcript of the interview from which the above article was drawn.