Research these days has a strong collaborative component, and open research takes this further by inviting external participation in the research process.
Wikis are tools for collaboration that facilitate the technical aspects of collaborating across institutions, time zones, operating systems and other frequent collaboration barriers. I am exploring ways to use wiki-based approaches in the context of research and education.
Federated Wiki is an interesting approach in this regard (see also Walter Noll's 
idea that "Every scientist should be encouraged to create his or her own website and publish all of his or her work on this website."), so I am using this instance to try to explore Federated Wiki a bit deeper than is possible through the occasional lurking that I have engaged in so far.