What is the open Web?

• Fueled by participation, in ideas, energy or media from more than a billion Internet users.
• Built on transparent technologies that anyone can study, use or improve.
• Decentralized in both architecture and control, ensuring continued choice and diversity.
• The generative nature of web means we can all take existing parts of the Internet into something that is our own.

Draft and brainstorm of "What is the open web?"

Definitions

What do we mean by the web? What does open mean? What is "an open web," and what is "the open web?" Should we just say "to make the web more open"?

• web
  • First and foremost we mean the internet--the actual technical capabilities that connect devices to devices and thus humans to other humans. Also, the web isn't just the connecting fibers or wireless technologies, but the types of software these that allow individuals and organizations alike to access the web, without which the web would be meaningless. The web, also, means the information and knowledge that can be accessed via the internet.

• • out takes and related phrases: connected social groups of people, creative energy

• open
  • Open means accessible, available, usable--without, or with minimal constraints.

• an "open web"

• • Characteristics of "open web"
    • shareable
    • re-mixable (both open-source and open access, for non-code) (this can also be called "generative")
    • accessible (or at least as accessible as technologically possible)

• • sometimes/debatable characteristics of "open web"
    • free (as in beer) (for those of you that don't know the "free as in speech" vs. "free as in beer" FOSS phrase, it means that it is a good you do not have to purchase, as in free beer, shoes, gasoline, operating system, chocolate chip cookies, etc.)

• "the open web"

The open Web, in short, is remixable, decentralized, transparent and participatory.
The open Web is:
Evolving and improving as we each can remix existing parts of the Internet into something that is our own. Decentralized in both architecture and control, ensuring continued choice and diversity.
Built on transparent technologies that anyone can study, use or improve.
Fueled by participation, in ideas, energy or media from more than a billion Internet users.
The Internet is increasingly becoming our global commons: a critical public resource over a billion people use every day to learn, innovate, trade, befriend and play. By explaining, protecting and building things around the characteristics of the open Web, Drumbeat can create a better Internet, an Internet that is even richer and more resilient.

random thoughts:

• Should we just say "to make the web more open"?
• The open web is tricky, because if you ask anyone involved in the FOSS community 'the' open web is 'our' open web, but how well does this translate to the rest of the world? (because it's definitley 'the web' but it's not always 'the open web' and 'the (sometimes) open web' isn't exactly catchy nor

• how much of a distinction do we want to draw between Drumbeat and businesses (or academic institutions for that matter) that aren't using completely open tools, but who facilitate openness in some way? (think open educational resources as flash videos, or a free, but not open-source code project...) Where is the line in the sand?

The web, and openness

brainstorming questions:

• What cultural productions wouldn't be possible without openness?

• What are things that work in similar ways to the open web? (free culture, remix culture, art, music)

• How can the open web further good work in the world?

Constraints and considerations

brainstorming questions:

• How do we talk about openness in terms of dichotomies like privacy vs openness with data?

• Where is the line between proprietary or personal content rights and the call for openness?

• What aspects of a website or service can remain closed (advertisement metrics on social networks, credit card encryption data) but maintain the spirit of openness within their realm of business practices?

Pre-existing definitions

From the Mozilla Manifesto

Principles

1. The Internet is an integral part of modern life–a key component in education, communication, collaboration, business, entertainment and society as a whole.
2. The Internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.
3. The Internet should enrich the lives of individual human beings.
4. Individuals' security on the Internet is fundamental and cannot be treated as optional.
5. Individuals must have the ability to shape their own experiences on the Internet.
6. The effectiveness of the Internet as a public resource depends upon interoperability (protocols, data formats, content), innovation and decentralized participation worldwide.
7. Free and open source software promotes the development of the Internet as a public resource.
8. Transparent community-based processes promote participation, accountability, and trust.
9. Commercial involvement in the development of the Internet brings many benefits; a balance between commercial goals and public benefit is critical.
10. Magnifying the public benefit aspects of the Internet is an important goal, worthy of time, attention and commitment.

http://www.mozilla.org/causes/better.html

We think there are a few key characteristics of a better Internet

• Transparency
  • An open Internet makes it easier for people to collaborate, innovate and share.
• Participation
  • Everyone who uses the Internet can take part in creating it.
• Shared Control
  • A decentralized Internet creates more opportunity for participation.
• Generativity or Remixability
  • Individuals can shape their own experiences on the Internet.

From http://www.drumbeat.org/about

What do you mean by a "better Internet?"

Increasingly, the internet is becoming our global commons: a critical public resource over a billion people use every day to learn, innovate, trade, befriend and play.

We believe four key characteristics have helped build and make this global commons great:

• Open. Built on technologies that anyone, without permission, can study, use or improve.
• Participatory. fueled by the ideas and energy of more than a billion people.
• Decentralized in both architecture and control, ensuring continued choice and diversity.
• Generative. Evolving and improving as we each remix existing parts of the internet into something that is our own.

By explaining, protecting and building things around these characteristics, we create a better internet. An internet that is even richer and more resilient. This is what the Mozilla Drumbeat community is doing.

From http://futureoftheinternet.org/glossary

Generative technologies

Technologies like personal computers that have the capacity to produce unprompted, user-driven change. For example, on a PC any person can write code, run that code on a variety of platforms, and share that code with anyone who might want it. In general, generative technologies are useful for performing tasks, adaptable, easy to master, permission-free, and share-able. In the name of security consumers are increasingly moving away from generative technologies like the PC and towards tethered ones like the iPhone.

From http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2009/05/27/describing-mozilla/

From Mitchell's Eyeballs with Wallets

We envision a world where the Internet is built to support these varied aspects of the human experience; a world where robust economic activity lives alongside vibrant social, civic and individual enrichment. We’re building this world so that we can all live in it.

Brad Neuberg's Open Web Definition (Version 0.4)

Open Web Definition

"The Open Web is an interoperable, ubiquitous, and searchable network where everyone can share information, integrate, and innovate without having to ask for permission, accessible through powerful and universal clients."

Here is a litmus test definition we can apply when wondering whether something is part of the Open Web and actions to take. Open Web Litmus Test Does it have:

• Composability - The ability to innovate, link, contribute, search, and integrate without red tape, fear of a lawsuit, or having to ask "please?"
• Interoperability - The ability for developers to interoperate without having to know of each others existence
• Ubiquity - The ubiquity of a set of open technologies and services agreed upon by the widest possible community
• Universal Client - Empowering and evolving the browser and web technologies as a universal client

(Also found from Brad Neuberg's post) the Open Source Definition

The Open Source Definition

Introduction

Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria:

1. Free Redistribution

The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.

1. Source Code

The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.

1. Derived Works

The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.

1. Integrity of The Author's Source Code

The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.

1. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.

1. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.

1. Distribution of License

The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.

1. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product

The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.

1. License Must Not Restrict Other Software

The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.

1. License Must Be Technology-Neutral

No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.