Good explanatory post and very relevant to initiatives springing up around collaboration on the Social Network. Despite the walled gardens collaboration will best be served by open tools, applications, data stores and environments. Both forges and foundations are needed to ensure the flexibility and open access to public discourse and production.
Also thanks for the pointer to the survey - my next task is to complete it.
The answer is unfortunately longer than we would wish. The awareness we seek comes from mainly two sources. Firstly education, which is pivotal to any change in cultural direction, especially in but not limited to business schools where the seed for share value over customer/community value is currently sown.
The second is the regular and frequent practice of sharing and collaboration. As you point out the proof of the success of the open movement lies in the public's hands, yet despite familiarity with the use of communication devices there is little to no awareness that they are the product of many different open source developments. However it is not the device directly that will lead people to the necessary realization it is their own actions with and beyond the device that will provide the bridge to understanding. The "ah-ha" moment generally comes when one sees and experiences how knowledge, ideas and constructs can grow and improve with free dialogue and positive interaction. By removing the technological veneer to open source and realizing that the principle of sharing enriches everyone we can spread the gospel. And like other gospels, the Open Movement can spread faster when we walk the walk as well as talking the talk.
We should continue to encourage the adoption, use and proliferation of social media participation, taking it to a maturer level where entertainment and consumerism is secondary to enlightenment and progressive action. And to take it to higher levels we must once more rely on education, but this time not depend on those in the academic community alone; we have to engage and integrate with that community so that we too contribute to the education of ourselves and future generations.
I wish there was a shortcut yet I doubt there is one as I believe that this is a cultural change of such magnitude that either persuasive argument or marketing communication will lack the potency to rewire public thinking. Growth through devotion to practice is the surest path to public acceptance and adoption.
Authored Comments
Good explanatory post and very relevant to initiatives springing up around collaboration on the Social Network. Despite the walled gardens collaboration will best be served by open tools, applications, data stores and environments. Both forges and foundations are needed to ensure the flexibility and open access to public discourse and production.
Also thanks for the pointer to the survey - my next task is to complete it.
The answer is unfortunately longer than we would wish. The awareness we seek comes from mainly two sources. Firstly education, which is pivotal to any change in cultural direction, especially in but not limited to business schools where the seed for share value over customer/community value is currently sown.
The second is the regular and frequent practice of sharing and collaboration. As you point out the proof of the success of the open movement lies in the public's hands, yet despite familiarity with the use of communication devices there is little to no awareness that they are the product of many different open source developments. However it is not the device directly that will lead people to the necessary realization it is their own actions with and beyond the device that will provide the bridge to understanding. The "ah-ha" moment generally comes when one sees and experiences how knowledge, ideas and constructs can grow and improve with free dialogue and positive interaction. By removing the technological veneer to open source and realizing that the principle of sharing enriches everyone we can spread the gospel. And like other gospels, the Open Movement can spread faster when we walk the walk as well as talking the talk.
We should continue to encourage the adoption, use and proliferation of social media participation, taking it to a maturer level where entertainment and consumerism is secondary to enlightenment and progressive action. And to take it to higher levels we must once more rely on education, but this time not depend on those in the academic community alone; we have to engage and integrate with that community so that we too contribute to the education of ourselves and future generations.
I wish there was a shortcut yet I doubt there is one as I believe that this is a cultural change of such magnitude that either persuasive argument or marketing communication will lack the potency to rewire public thinking. Growth through devotion to practice is the surest path to public acceptance and adoption.