Saying You're Open And Being Open Are Not The Same

Picture yourself in a little universe - like the little scene off to the left. It isn't a big area, but there is some life to it - and everything looks wide open. In fact, the fish could be swimming around talking about how open their world is - what else would they talk about? So the fish are in there, chatting with the penguin, the eel, the octopus and having very slow conversations with the coral. Its an ecosystem of sorts - to the natives, everything is familiar. To the natives, everything is open. It is a Socratic Cave that eats itself.

For these folks lurking in their own world, this is all open. You can't argue with them about that. Most of the time you can't even discuss it with them because they're busy... in their own little world. Everything they say or do is pretty much in the context of their own little world. Everything is referential; relative to bits and pieces of their own little world. They figure by telling people who exist in their own little world whatever they wish to say that they are being open.

The problem is when they are claiming to be open to people outside their little world.

From the outside it is not an open world. From the outside, it looks completely different. The little internal references have little or perhaps even no meaning in the context of the surrounding world and the very people who they claim to be interested in talking to.

A shift in perspective says just about everything. The references are different.

So claiming to 'be open' doesn't mean you are being open. Know your audience. Globalization is built on this principle, as is Free Software/Open Source and Open Content. You can't have those without communicating with people properly - and doing that requires context.

And when you're looking out at them, those people outside the little area... they're looking back at you. If you have a website - especially a blog or a wiki - that should be the central repository of information and announcements. There is no excuse otherwise.