Organic growth of forms, objects or relacions through a set of basic rules

Think of a piece of land, with acces to a road, sufficient water and sunlight and a fertile soil. It might very well automatically develop to be farming land; without the need to force anyone to cultivate it.
Now what if the situation changed slightly. All the basic factors (road acces, water, climate, soil) stay the same, only the location changes. The piece of land is now located in Manhattan. It's more likely now the piece will be built with a skyscraper.

So it seems the use of a piece of land is determined by a number of different factors. But changing one of them slightly can have big effects on the eventual development of this piece of land.

Comparison with the internet:

The internet was originally made as a basic structure, a set of rules, a protocol. First there was the http protocol (and others) which, combined with a modem, allowes data to be sent from one pc to another.
This allowed data transfers in very specific and professional situations (universities, companies, ...).

Later they added extra protocols to it. One of the first important ones was the .html filetype (later followed by many others: php, flash, ...). The internet became much more accesible and even 'buildable' by less professional users. The simple changing (or adding) of basic 'game rules' changed and extended the use of the internet dramatically.

Later even more rules (a 'framework') were added by different platforms such as Wikipedia and Looknmeet. By creating this framework, they allowed the internet to come to a next phase of user-generated content and they're beginning to show the internets real potential.

Central systems with power over the internet are very limited. They have nothing more to say then just making up some of the basic rules (protocols). And only the very general ones. More and more the making of the protocols is in the hands of the users themselves.

Wikipedia shows that it's possible to generat very specific and extensive data, just with the input of users. Just by chosing the right 'rules'.