Fifty shades of open
Citation: Jeffrey Pomerantz, Robin Peek (2016/05/02) Fifty shades of open. First Monday (RSS)
DOI (original publisher): 10.5210/fm.v21i5.6360
Semantic Scholar (metadata): 10.5210/fm.v21i5.6360
Sci-Hub (fulltext): 10.5210/fm.v21i5.6360
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): Fifty shades of open
Download: http://www.ojphi.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/6360/5460
Tagged: openness (RSS)
Summary
Noting that the word "open" has changed little in over 1000 years and its specific application over the centuries, e.g., as "open house", "open stacks" (in a library), and "open society", the authors document recent decades' application of the term to many domains, starting with open source software, which itself was an alternative name for free software. Based on the meaning of open in the Open Source Definition and numerous other definitions of openness and the use of the term in related fields, open means one or more of the following:
- rights
- access
- use
- transparent
- participatory
- enabling openness
- philosophically aligned with open principles
"Openwashing", loose use of the term, or use of the term to spin, even where the above meanings may not be applicable, may devalue the term, or doing open movements a favor by raising their profiles.
Theoretical and Practical Relevance
Quote: "as openness increasingly comes to be the norm, more phraseological neologisms will be coined using the word “open.” ... [h]opefully, as new uses of the word ”open“ are coined, their coiners will be clear about just which shade of open is meant. However, this essay is probably only the opening gambit in attempts to disambiguate this term. We have merely opened the door on the many uses of the word ”open;“ as the use of the word grows, others must opine."
