Serendipity35

I've been posting on this blog under the category "open everything for awhile now, and I started using the term in posts in January 2008. It was my term for the openness movement that has grown out of the "open source" movement to include more than just software.

When I first started using the term in some presentations in 2007, I had not found any references to it online. I wasn't even sure it was a good way to define what I felt was a growing trend in technology. Well, as it often turns out, I'm not the only one who was thinking about these things. The term "open everything" is starting to get some authority. I checked again recently and the term is now defined on Wikipedia. (That makes it officially something.) The history on the Wikipedia entry shows November 2008 as the first version. There's not much there right now other than a definition.

Open Everything is a global conversation about the art, science and spirit of 'open'. It gathers people using openness to create and improve software, education, media, philanthropy, neighbourhoods, workplaces and the society we live in: everything. It's about thinking, doing and being open.

The open everything "home" seems to be www.openeverything.net which redirects you to a wiki. The site is mostly an aggregation of events occurring around the world.

That Wikipedia entry seems to be the work of John Britton, and he seems to be based in Hong Kong and involved in openness there, including an open everything event.

I also discovered that there's an event this Saturday (December 6) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Their description gives you a good summary of what is happening with the movement.

"Open Everything: A Conversation on Openness, Access and Transparency" is a roundtable discussion on the current state of 'open' in the region. Participants come of an array of sectors dealing with various levels and components of 'open' issues, including: technology, education, libraries, journalism, government, philanthropy, arts, nonprofit sector, and more.

Open is a game changer. Take a look at the growing revolution around issues of transparency, collaboration, access and inclusion. Libraries and educational institutions have been working on open access and open collaboration issues for a longtime; but current technologies are spearhead the shape and form of openness in unprecedented ways.

Wikipedia and wikis offer a great example of new tools that allow mass contribution, while encouraging collaboration. Open source software offers a great example of new ways in which to be open, to collaborate, and produce products and services of great importance. Openness in media and government are pushing the boundaries of transparency and accountability, exploring what it truly means to be a democracy.

The conversation has spread well beyond the realm of technology. It's about value and values.

The world's changing, and you're an active agent for its change. Many of us are working with different kinds of 'open' exploring corollary issues:

• How do you protect and promote open source in a world of intellectual (IP) property?
• How did 'open spaces' morph or mash into 'co-working'?
• How do you encourage community and civic engagement on local, regional, national, and even global issues and events?
• How does access to research effect university rankings?

I checked out John Britton's blog (shouldn't everyone have a blog?) and I see that he has signed up for David Wiley's "Introduction to Open Education 2009" course (offered at Brigham Young University but "the course will be open again this year, meaning anyone, anywhere is welcome to participate.") 

Wiley has gotten some press for "turning his course into a role-playing game." He is a professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at BYU, Chief Openness Officer (love that title) at the Open High School Utah, and involved in opencontent.org. (Take a look at some presentations he has done about Open Content

And John Britton is involved in Peer2Peer University (P2PU) which I also wrote about here earlier.

There aren't even six degrees of separation on the Web. Lately, things seems to be linked by just a few clicks of connectedness. I'm open to that.