I have been reading Bonk’s “The world is open”. It is well written, but much like too many other books I have read lately – a mash-up of “The world is flat”, “Wikinomics”, “Here comes everybody”, and perhaps a bit of “The social life of information”.
The idea of openness is intriguing – we clearly have open source software and some open source information resources (e.g., wikipedia). I am still grappling with a core concept associated with “openness” – what products or resources do we assume should be free? Clearly, many of these authors see a world in which software, educational content, and educational experiences should be free. Just what about these services and products prompt such expectations.
I have too many vegetables growing in my garden this time of year. Should food be free. I don’t mind giving stuff away now – I might as well. I can only eat so many tomatoes and the zucchini are far past the point at which I even bother to pick them. They just grow into these large things I am thinking of carving for halloween. Now, a month ago, I would have thought differently. I even had to make purchases at the farmer’s market to put vegetables on the table. By the way, those farmers are still there selling stuff. Do you think they would be offended if I put up a table and just gave stuff away? I could call this open source food. There are probably lots of hobby gardners just like me. Is that what makes an open source movement? Hobbyists? People with too much stuff or too much time?
One of the concepts in Wikinomics is that consumers become prosumers when they co-create goods and services. This I think is not appreciated. This sounds like a co-op or maybe a barter system to me. The problem with the way many understand the open source movement is that it is too much like a “free lunch”. Try walking out of your local co-op with an open source tomato.