Sharing of resources and ideas
leads to
a greater public domain
leads to
creativity/co-creation/participative creation
leads to
social innovation
leads to
greater living conditions for humanity as a fellowship/global community.
(Yes, she is in love with the future.)
I believe in the OS-principles as a starting point for designing sustainable and social innovative solutions for the future.
Not only does it supports my general belief that sharing intellectual resources and products will lead to a grander ideation pool, that will benefit the whole of humanity as well as individuals. I also believe that is happening no matter whether we like it or not, as a result of digitalization and socio-digital networks, so we might just as well be pro-active about it.
Let shortly look at those trends:
1. Socio-digital networks
Communities come into being/arise from shared motivations and passions.
We are no longer restricted to and bound by a geographical area.
We gather because we share similar ideas, interests, values and hopes. Not because we have to, out of duty. Internet as young global framework opens these borders. And by that, challenges traditional institutions of government.
So we see a shift from a mechanical world view to a more systemic view on human interaction and organization.
However, the net is being regulated by the producers of code. Who controls the programmers?
2. Digitalization
The notion of intellectual property is being challenged in a digital culture.
One might argue that ideas never can become anyone's property as they are the result of human interaction throughout history and an artist's life experience, and hence never something that appear separately and distinctly in an artist's mind.
Anne Nimus - a two-person team pseudonym - describes this shift in history - from viewing the artist as a craftsman and a messenger that could appropriate/communicate the common knowledge - to ideas being the property of an artist's unique personality. A shift that marks the beginning of and now, I would argue, outdated concept of copyright
The idea of a copy no longer holds the same impact as it did before digitalization.
E.g.
Resources used in producing a copy of a book.
1 book
- 500 g of paper
- 10 ml ink
- unknown amount of Erg (energy)
2 books
- 1000 g of paper
- 20 ml ink
- 2x (unknown amount)of Erg
Now the duplication of 1 piece of intellectual property can be done by a mouse-click, and the only cost is the hard-drive storage and the energy used when accessing the HD. That is if you don't want to go physical and have a real-life copy.
3. Paradigm of Openness
Looking into the history of the Free Open Source Software movement, we see the value of sharing the recipe. I argue that a product/service only is improved by the motivated input of many, instead of restricting it to the work of a single development team.
What does Open mean?
- The recipe/method for production/creation is available
- Transparency
What does Free mean?
It is more a question about availability than about something being given away at no cost. Or as Lawrence Lessig (founder of Creative Commons) puts it, what resources should be available and accessible to anyone, and not controlled by either state or marked?
I am curious of how we can utilize open source/copyleft/open copyright as the basic principle in designing a future business model? How do we capitalize on freedom (focusing on no-cost or on availability) and openness (transparency)?
As I wrote in a previous blog:
With the GPL (General Public License - stating that you have the right to use a given product, and the code for the product as you please - you may alter it, redefine, extend it - as long as you provide the people you distribute it to with the same set of freedom as you were given) the general copyright paradigm is challenged. That is powerful. And it can be capitalized. Open source as a concept isn’t necessarily about something being given away for free. Your customization of a product/service is key, if there is a community out there with that specific need. At the same time you empower you customers as they have the possibility to remix the product further.
People are driven by their engagement to create and to share – and what limits creation is interest/motivation, not copyright.
So, what are we afraid of losing when opening up?
Main reason must be reduction in profits. And this is where my journey begins.
Final project underway. Now in the search of a company that is willing to try out new ideas with me.
//M/E
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