Openness… the power of transparency…
Is transparency the new engine of economic productivity?
Think about the following…
~~~ “The open source model of operation and decision making allows concurrent input of different agendas, approaches and priorities, and differs from the more closed, centralized models of development….” ~~~~
The use of the term open source is generally applied to the development of software but it is really much more widely embedded in business, social, political and economic practices…
Open sourcing politics >> Think of the beauty of Barack Obama’s primary and presidential campaigns and the use of outward and inward bound communications and cash… how does a nobody Senator with a gift for oratory marathon to the Presidency?
He leveraged technology in an astonishingly open source manner … he connected people to each other locally and grew political change from the ground up… he leaped over the old Democratic state and local machines… his supporters are singing “I’m ready to be free… I’m ready to lead…” Give the people the tools for change and keep them motivated… open source their opportunity to be citizens… look back at the definition above… right… yes…
Open sourcing business >> standards setting… every which way… technology… reversing specialization… enthroning commodization… lower costs and accelerate development… open source standards became a “framework” for products to be developed towards… broadens substitution…
ASPing business functions … application service providers… open sourcing corporate functions…ASP payroll… ASP design… ASP accounting…ASP software dev… ASP anything… supports the creation of smaller more nimble firms… does this counterbalance the heft and resources of Fortune 1000 firms? Of course not… these are different types of economic units… often the ones out front… zooming to meet and create consumer and commercial solutions… excitement on the edge of creation… the joy of producing… Netflix, eBay, PayPal, YouTube, Google, Salesforce … more to come…
Open sourcing social relations >> discover, connect, fight, learn, share… the numbers are already big for open source social networks but we just beginning to discover how they can move individuals to new possibilities…
Think social networks for specific medical conditions… sharing information on the efficacy of treatments, the quality of doctors, home recuperation possibilities, centers of excellence… individuals sharing their experience with different treatment modalities… family members and loved ones logging in… circles of love and caring… communities of pain and hope…
Or social networks for specific professions… sharing research, job postings, conference and education listings, connecting… sounds like a “virtual guild”… maybe there is some economic viability in aggregating expertise… maybe…
Open sourcing economic activity >> oh… this is the easiest one by far… Americans do love to get a bargain (their levels of indebtedness notwithstanding…) coupon clipping… comparing costs, features, deliveries… product reviews… the Internet is a big pipe that brings consumables right to your desktop…
Do you even remember what it used to by like to hunt around for the lowest airfare via telephone or a travel agent? Now you log onto Kayak.com or Travelocity and lovely tools drive you into the mainframe supporting the national airline reservation system… what happened to that travel agent? They got open sourced right out of the transaction… same way for stock brokers, music and book store clerks… etc… etc … the consumer dives right into the product pool and self steers…
OK… so is there a limit to this openness?
Of course… but we are many miles from the end… and consumers know what openness and choice feels like… no taking them back to the old methods… revenues and profits, the yardsticks of capitalism, will measure our progress along the open source road…
But what about the economic elephant in the room… the government? Pockets of openness… my favorite agency, the SEC, is miles ahead of most others… maybe the new administration can foster more transparency… open up the big federal institution… let some air in… Give the people the tools for change and keep them motivated… open source their opportunity to be citizens… that is the only antidote to special interest control of our government…
~~~~ “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group,”~~~~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
This imperfect nation… this glorious place of opportunity… this tolerant place of beauty… we are blessed to have the chance to shape the future of such a grand experiment… fear not the challenges… open source the possibilities…
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The Republicans have made a habit of running against the media in elections past. This year, the mainstream media found itself at times running against both parties. Perhaps drawing on Mr. Obama’s background as a community organizer, his campaign decided early on to build a social network that would flank, and in some cases outflank, traditional news media.
With a Facebook group that had 2.3 million adherents and a huge push on YouTube — last week alone, the campaign uploaded 70 videos, many of them tailored to battleground states — the campaign used peer-to-peer communication to build a juggernaut that did not depend on the whims and choices of the media’s collective brain trust.
The campaign mined its online community not just for money, but for content. A video titled “Four Days in Denver” about the Obama campaign had the kind of access that journalists would kill for, including the candidate working over his acceptance speech with a staff member and showing the family backstage making ready for their moment in the spotlight.
It looked like a big-time network get, but it was produced by the campaign itself.
“We’re constantly experimenting with videos,” said Joe Rospars, Mr. Obama’s new-media director. “There aren’t hard and fast rules about what will inspire supporters or explain things clearly.” The most popular videos on BarackObama.com weren’t TV ads; they were biographical videos and Web-only recordings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/business/media/03media.html?ref=business
So much of this long protracted struggle for political change has rubbed off on the tech community. In the partisan windup to this long election process, we’ve become almost inured to the fact that as much as things will continue to be the same, already the “choice” between the two candidates has produced one sure thing. That is, either of the two candidates represents fundamental change from the status quo, no matter how much you want to differentiate further. So it is with the shift to the Cloud. Whether you’re betting on Google, or Amazon, or Microsoft, or less obviously Apple, IBM, Oracle, or Cisco, the sure thing is that Web services has gone main stream. If this is a horse race at the vendor level, it’s about each company’s ability to harness its innate strengths and migrate its weaknesses. Put another way, the battle is within, not between.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/EVyfLSbIc-A/
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