This section is dedicated to the question: what is common to openness in these various domains, and what is different?

The technical aspects of openness are documented in our wiki section on Open Standards.

Introduction

Introduction to Openness
Dorothea Salo's Guide to the Different Flavors of Openness, a consise guide to the precise meaning of: Open Source ; Open Standards ; Open Access ; Open Educational Resources ; Open Research Data ; Open Government Data ; Open Notebook Science. [1]
Transparency and Accessibility as aspects of Openness
What is Openness?: inquiry by the Open ICT for Development project
Luis Villa: Evaluating open definitions. Villa stresses 3 essential conditions, the latter rarely attained until now: data access, source access, hardware access.
Henri Bergius stresses conditions in addition to using open licences, i.e. Requirements for Open Projects
Distinguishing Open Access from Open Process

Characteristics of Openness

The following key article, Fifty Shades of Open, lists the following:

Open means rights
Open means access
Open means use
Open means transparent
Open means participatory
Open means enabling openness
Open means philosophically aligned with open principles

Visualization

Tables from the "Openness as a Social Praxis" article

Other Overview Graphics

"Everything Open and Free Mindmeister Mindmap. Explanations here and here. Prezi version for TEDx Brussels

Specialized forms of openness

Business

Contrasting Firm Strategies for Open Standards, Open Source and Open Innovation. by Joel West. January 29, 2007 [3]

"While “open” normally has connotations of public goods, the idea of “open”-ness has been used for decades as a competitive strategy by firms in the computers and communications industries. Phrases like “open standard,” “open source” and more recently “open innovation” have been used to refer to these strategies.What do they have in common? Which ones really are “open”? What does “open” mean, anyway? Here I contrast firm strategies for these three types of “open”-ness in the context of their respective business models."

Open vs Closed Platforms as Business Choice.From a dialogue between Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School, and Mark VandenBrink, who leads Frog Design, conducted by Mr. Sherr and Mr. Totty. [4]

Culture, Education and Knowledge

Defining Open Educational Resources‎. Stephen Downes.
Defining Open Content Licenses‎. Stephen Downes.
Editorial by George Siemens: Openness in Education should have firm principles
The three key aspects of Open Education are: 1) Open Content; 2) Open Instruction; 3) Open Assessment. Read Stephen Downes on The Necessary Threefold Opening of Education
Felix Stalder: On the Differences between Open Source and Open Culture

Also:

Free Culture in Relation to Software Freedom: Mike Linksvayer contrasts open software and open culture.
The Mellon Seminar in Digital Humanities at UCLA has issued A Digital Humanities Manifesto which beautifully expresses the idea of openness in education.
Openness in Open Educational Resources: Report
The Open Movement and Libraries: course with reading list
Amazing stories of openness in education: cases, testimonials

Politics

Transparency and Accessibility as aspects of Openness
Five Principles of Openness and Transparency in Politics
From Open Space to Open Politics. From Jai Sen's article: On Open Space: Explorations Towards a Vocabulary of a More Open Politics. Jai Sen. Antipode. Volume 42, Issue 4, pages 994–1018, September 2010 [5]

Science & Technology

What is Openness in Open Source Software Development?
John Wilbanks insists that: Open Science differs from Open Source Software!!
Reproducible Science Needs Open Source Software: Editorial from Nature magazine, By Kyle Niemeyer

Related Initiatives

Map of Openness
Open Everything - Canada [6]: "One of big Everything goals is to map what people are doing with 'open' around the world."
Our pages on Open Standards and Open Design Communities, with our Open Hardware "Product Hacking directory".

Open Definitions

1. Dimensions of Openness

The authors of the Open Collaboration Encyclopedia created a simple rating system composed of four dimensions each on a scale of four. Check it out here on page xiii: http://web.mac.com/cusp/Pioneer_Imprints1/Open_Collaboration_Freemium.html

openness vs. closed

non-hierarchical vs. hierarchical

emergent vs. planned

owned vs. non-owned.

2.

Mark Surman discusses openness here at http://commonspace.typepad.com/commonspace/2008/02/open-vs-open-vs.html and has added a chart at http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dfpvr6w7_11g98b73dh

The Open Standards Definition. By Bruce Perens.
Open Standards Requirement for Software
Open Definition
The Open Software Service Definition, i.e. The Free/Open Service Definition (v1.0)
Open Source Media Definition
Open Source Definition

3. See also the following article:

Fifty shades of open. by Jeffrey Pomerantz and Robin Peek. First Monday, Volume 21, Number 5 - 2 May 2016

[7]

Free Definitions

Debian's Free Software Guidelines
Declaration on Libre Knowledge
Definition of Free Cultural Works
Franklin Street Statement on Freedom and Network Services, which concerns Network Service Licenses
Free Content Definition
Open O-Meter for Open Source Hardware: defines 8 characteristics

Short Citations

The digital is the realm of the open: open source, open resources, open doors. Anything that attempts to close this space should be recognized for what it is: the enemy.

- Digital Humanities Manifesto

Long Citations

Open source is often presented as a methodology, not an ideology – i.e. open source is an approach of collaborative work, shared creation, continual iteration (insert your favorative Torvalds or Raymond quote of bugs, many eyes, cathedrals, bazaars, release early/often, etc.). But openness is not a methodology. Openness is an ideology along the lines of democracy. It is worthy of theoretical discussion. And various modes of implementation should be subject to debate and criticism.

- George Siemens [8]

On the Advantages of Open Platforms

In an article critical of the closure of the Apple iPhone, the following entry summarizes the arguments for open platforms.

"An open platform allows developers to implement functionality the platform provider hasn't gotten around to yet.

An open platform allows developers to reimplement and replace functionality the platform provider has gotten around to, but has failed to do well.

An open platform allows developers to meet needs that scare the platform provider, and allows consumers to have those needs met where otherwise the platform provider would block a capability.

An open platform allows its users to get far more done, and latches them to that platform far more tightly as a result." (http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/01/four_stories_on.html)

Open platforms have enormous value for society, which can be calculated: Quantifying the Value of Open Source Hardware Development

Open Platform Literacy requirements

What we need to know to judge the difference between open and closed (proprietary) platforms.

By Ulises Mejias:

"The ability to articulate the difference between open (FLOSS) and proprietary social media platforms (including how to tell when the former mutates into the latter, and what to do about it).

- The ability to determine when it's appropriate to use open (FLOSS) or proprietary social media platforms to promote social change with maximum effect.

- The ability to understand the social agency of code of a particular technology, i.e., how the program promotes, constricts or redefines social functions through its affordances.

- The ability to identify the benefits of contributing to a social media environment that operates as a gift economy versus a market economy (including the ability to identify social media environments that operate as both simultaneously).

- The ability to articulate in personal terms how networked participation is changing the relationship with one's local environment, and be able to calculate trade offs and assume responsibility for one's choices.

On the historical trend towards inclusivity and openness

Rob Weir, from the Antic Disposition blog:

"It does seem that the general flow of history has been:

1. A move from undocumented or improvised laws to laws that are fixed and publicly documented.

2. A move from laws created by a single entity to laws formed as part of a deliberative, multilateral, consensual process.

3. A move toward increasing inclusivity as to who whose interests are considered.

So we should never stop at a claim of "openness" and say that with the mere application of this label that all diligence has been performed. You need to ask yourself always, whose interests have been taken into account? All? Many? Few? One?

There seems to me to be a natural parallel here with the "open standard" moniker. Is it a single fixed and unitary concept that admits of no degrees? Or is there a wide range of standards which share the concept "open" to one degree or another? How thinly can the concept be diluted? Can it be homeopathically prepared, with one drop enough to inoculate gallons?

I think the key is to move away from the mere consideration of the process of standardization and to also consider the content of the standard. Just as a Constitution that held that women could not vote was far from open, even though it was drafted in an open committee process, a standard that does not facilitate use by competitors is not open, regardless of the process that created led to it. We need to move beyond strictly process-oriented definitions of openness and bring in considerations of content and results. A standard can be per-se non-open if its content violates important principles of openness." (http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/01/brief-history-of-open.html)

Joi Ito's Optimism on Open Networks

Joi Ito:

"I am optimistic that open networks will continue to grow and become available to more and more people. I am optimistic that computers will continue to become cheaper and more available. I am optimistic that the hardware and software will become more open, transparent and free. I am optimistic that the ability to for people to create, share and remix their works will provide a voice to the vast majority of people.

I believe that the Internet, open source and a global culture of discourse and sharing will become the pillar of democracy for the 21st Century. Whereas those in power as well as terrorists who are not have used broadcast technology and the mass media of the 20th century against the free world, I am optimistic that Internet will enable the collective voice of the people and that voice will be a voice of reason and good will." (http://edge.org/q2007/q07_14.html#ito)

Open Documentation

Open Source Open World Infographic

Articles

Openness as Social Praxis. by Matthew Longshore Smith and Ruhiya Seward. First Monday, Volume 22, Number 4 - 3 April 2017

[9]

Fifty Shades of Open. by Jeffrey Pomerantz and Robin Peek. First Monday, Volume 21, Number 5 - 2 May 2016

[10]

Conferences

FSCONS, http://fscons.org/
Free Knowledge, Free Technology , http://fkft.eu/
Open Mind, http://www.mindtrek.org/2008/openmind (Finland)
Go Open, http://goopen2009.friprog.no/ (Norway)
Open tech, http://www.ukuug.org/events/opentech2009 (UK)

Interviews

Interviews in print or transcripts:

Open Source:

Podcasts

Openness 2.0 = a five part ongoing series by First Monday.

And also:

On Open Source:

Webcasts

Mark Surman on a Free and Open Future

Don Tapscott on Four Principles for the Open World

And also:

On Open Source:

Open Movements

Sister organizations of the P2P Foundation:

The following are most similar in intent:

Key Movements supporting the Open paradigm

Open Education

David Wiley on the Open Education Movement

Open Knowledge

Public Domain:

Open Licensing

Categorisation

This is by no means complete, but may make sense as a structure for the encyclopedic list below. Please help in updating it.

Infrastructure

Soft infrastructure:

Hard infrastructure:

Technological: Open Handset Alliance ; Open Infrastructure ; Open Mesh ; Open Spectrum ; Open Platforms
Financial: Open Money; Open Capital; Open Barter
Business process: Open Business ; Open Business Models ; Open Business Process Initiative ;
Industrial: Open Customization ; Open Manufacturing Equipment ; Open Micromanufacturing and Nanomanufacturing Equipment

Raw material:

Processes

Output

Computing hardware: Open Circuit Design ; Open Circuits ; Open Cores; Open Hardware ; Open Source Hardware
Computing software: Open Source Software;
Design/Architecture: Open Design; Open Domotics
Education: Open Courseware Initiative ; Open Education ; Open Educational Resources
Gaming: Open Gaming
Media: Open Documentaries; Open Film Business Models ; Open Media Commons; Open Music Business Models
Production: Open Hardware
Publishing: Open Access; Open Archives; Open City Guides ; Open Fiction
Science: Open Chemistry ; Open Health ; Open Notebook Science

Pages in category "Open"

The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 1,189 total.

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