The Meaning of Open
Not long ago I was on a panel at the Grantmakers in the Arts Conference on new business models. Everyone on the panel was under the age of 40; nearly everyone in the audience was over 40.
Amid a generally feisty conversation, one question especially resonated for me. Acknowledging the generational divide, a grantmaker in the audience asked us, “What’s your generation’s metaphor?” He was asking us to articulate the essential metaphor that ties us together as a community and gives us a shared sense of purpose or direction. I answered “open source”.
I explained that I wasn’t just talking about open source software (although that’s part of it). I was talking about a commitment to openness in general. As a generation, we embrace transparency. We routinely share knowledge with our peers, even when they’re outside our organizational silos, and expect the same in return.
I was reminded of this conversation this morning when I read a post on Google’s blog titled “The Meaning of Open”. In it, Senior VP Jonathan Rosenberg lays out his vision of open source and rallies his fellow Googlers to the cause. Of course, Rosenberg for the most part really is talking about open source software. But if you’re geeky enough to follow it, the post is a good read nonetheless. If “open source” is indeed the metaphor for my generation of arts leaders, then there’s a lot to reflect on here.
Tags: Google, open source
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