madisen

‘openness’ often enables systemic exploitation of developers’ and creators’ labor while maintaining the infrastructural and ecosystem dominance of the largest firms. In the context of high levels of corporate concentration and gatekeeping over the ingredients necessary to build AI systems, ‘open’ AI as currently operationalized is primed for... See more

Sometimes I find some of the open systems to be some of the most interesting things going on. I think it’s interesting when Linux can go and be an operating system that competes with the very biggest companies. IBM is now supporting and has moved over to Linux. What does that mean? That the open world can work. It does require a large amount of... See more

As the regime governing intellectual property rights evolved and began disproportionately favoring IP rights owners, the concept of openness became a tool for challenging power relations and striving for more equality. In that sense, the promotion of reuse and access to informational resources was fully compatible with the need to defend human... See more

“Home is where we know and where we are known, where we love and are beloved. Home is mastery, voice, relationship, and sanctuary: part freedom, part flourishing ... part refuge, part prospect.” “We can choose its form and location but not its meaning.” (Zuboff 2019).

But if our fundamental goal is to create more relationships with each other, to build trust, enable collaboration and unlock creativity, we need to think more widely about the kinds of openness we need. We also need to consider the kinds of technological platforms, legal mechanisms and organisational structures that are necessary to support it.

Alongside technical tools, we need ways of defining and explaining social norms and expectations about contribution and value sharing. We need collective mechanisms for decision-making about shared assets, that make people feel heard while recognising the limitations, constraints and realities of their maintenance. We need people and organisations... See more

The United States, as you point out, has been actually freer than most in terms of offering access to information. It doesn’t have to be this way. Openness is not the default in terms of how if you look back in time, or even around the world. We need to show how openness works better. That you end up with companies that thrive better. That you... See more