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Download our free eBook: Open Voices: Applying open source principles to government

My favorite thing about the Internet is the way it makes so many of us into storytellers. It turns people on to sharing their own experiences, especially experiences they might be uncomfortable relating in person. My enthusiasm for the Internet’s encouragement of transparency extends beyond digital confessionals and group therapy and well into the mundane: instruction manuals; wikis packed with the sort of minutiae one used to have to wait to overhear at a cocktail party; and the open listserv a friend maintained as a shared journal, where my every entry addressed the lone lurker no one knew (but who seemed to be named Paul and kept showing up in the output of a REVIEW DIARY-L).

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Last month, this site featured an article about the startup I work for, Unglue.it. Briefly, we think more books should be available to the world under Creative Commons licenses, and we think authors and publishers should be paid for their work. We're doing this through a crowdfunding model: raise enough money up front to make it worthwhile, and there's no reason for authors and publishers not to make their books freely available to all. Of course, any innovative model inspires many questions, but the most common questions we get have been about open culture—from widely differing perspectives. Opensource.com has asked me to share some of what we've learned since Unglue.it completed its first successful campaign. » Read more

In 2008, representatives of the Personal Democracy Forum sent dozens of writers, pundits, politicians, entrepreneurs, researchers, and think-tankers the following prompt: » Read more

Think of a book you absolutely love. Now imagine being able to share a copy of that book with anyone, anywhere, as quickly and easily as you can send an email.

Normally, this just wouldn't be possible. Chances are, your favorite book hasn't even been digitized. And if it has, copyright restrictions or digital rights management technologies likely prevent you from making and disseminating copies of it. » Read more