by Katherine Noyes
Here
in the tech world, it's
become increasingly common to see market research and reports
testifying to the growing ubiquity of open source software, such as
the one just last week from Black
Duck Software and North Bridge Venture Partners indicating that open
source is “eating” the software world, as the authors put it.
What's
typically not recognized, however, is that this trend toward openness
in software is just one piece of a much bigger picture. In fact,
openness is a trend that's taking hold throughout numerous aspects of
the modern world, to the benefit of everyday
people
like you and me.
“Open,”
in other words, appears
to be
the future – whether we're talking software or beyond.
Ready
for a quick tour? Most
Linux advocates
are already well aware of the benefits
of open source when
it comes to software,
but here
are two
other
kinds of openness
I've come
to appreciate from the
writing
I do outside the tech
world.
1. The Crowdsourcing Trend
It
used to be that companies were expected to create
products, and consumers were expected to consume them. Legislators
were expected to create laws, and citizens were expected to obey
them. Investors
were expected to provide funds, and companies were expected
to generate a return on that investment.
Today,
that's all been turned on its head. Companies routinely recruit
consumers for help designing products; not
only that, but they use those ideas and even reward
those who came up with them.
Legislators like former
California
Senator Joe Simitian invite – and act upon -- constituents' input
for conceiving new
laws.
The
explosive success of sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo,
meanwhile, is evidence of the key role consumers have begun to play
in funding the products and services that matter to them in
virtually every niche and industry.
The
bottom line, as I've said
before, is that no organization
is an “island” anymore. Consumers and citizens increasingly
expect – and are afforded – openness
and an
active role.
2. 'Transparency Tyranny'
At
the same time, no government or corporation can continue to get away
with operating in secret, or behind closed doors. The
global economic crisis of recent years has made it all too clear to
citizens how much power has been abused at their expense, and the
ongoing activities of watchdog
organizations like Wikileaks
have continued to drive that message home.
Except
in very rare cases – Apple, in fact, might well be one of them, at
least among a niche set of consumers
-- citizens and customers are no longer willing to trust companies or
governments to do what's best for them. The result is a
phenomenon
that Trendwatching.com (sister site to Springwise,
one of the publications I write for) has named “Transparency
Tyranny” for the fact that corporate and governmental
organizations no longer have anywhere to hide; citizens and consumers
are always watching and
publishing their assessments for all the world to see.
The
world is opening up, in other words. The horses are out of the barn,
and they're not going back again. The interesting part now is to
watch how the organizations that affect our lives choose to respond.
-- Katherine
-- Katherine
