Openness is an overarching concept that is characterized by an emphasis on
transparency and
collaboration
Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The ...
.
That is, openness refers to "accessibility of knowledge, technology and other resources; the transparency of action; the permeability of organisational structures; and the inclusiveness of participation".
Openness can be said to be the opposite of closedness,
central
authority
Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people.
In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...
and
secrecy.
Openness concept
Openness has been attributed to a wide array of approaches in very different contexts as outlined below. While there is no universally accepted definition of the overarching concept of openness, a 2017 comprehensive review concludes that:
Open terminology can refer to a higher-order concept (e.g. the ‘‘philosophy of openness’’); the nature of resources (e.g. ‘‘open data’’); the nature of processes (e.g. ‘‘open innovation’’); or the effects on specific domains (e.g. ‘‘open education’’) ..The principles typically used to characterize this higher-order concept are: access to information and other resources; participation in an inclusive and often collaborative manner; transparency of resources and actions; and democracy or ‘‘democratization’’ such as the breaking up of exclusionary structures.
In government
Open government is the governing
doctrine
Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...
which holds that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public
oversight.
Openness in government applies the idea of
freedom of information to information held by authorities and holds that citizens should have the right to see the operations and activities of government at work.
Since reliable information is requisite for accountability, freedom of access to information about the government supports government accountability and helps protect other necessary rights.
In creative works
Open content
Free content, libre content, libre information, or free information is any kind of creative work, such as a work of art, a book, a software, software program, or any other creative Media (communication), content for which there are very minimal ...
and
free content both refer to creative works that lack restrictions on how people can use, modify, and distribute them.
The terms derive from
open source software
Open-source software (OSS) is Software, computer software that is released under a Open-source license, license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and Software distribution, distribute the software an ...
and
free software
Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
, similar concepts that refer specifically to software.
In education
Open education refers to institutional practices and programmatic initiatives that broaden access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems. By eliminating
barriers to entry
In theories of Competition (economics), competition in economics, a barrier to entry, or an economic barrier to entry, is a fixed cost that must be incurred by a new entrant, regardless of production or sales activities, into a Market (economics) ...
,
open education aids freedom of information by increasing accessibility.
Open Education advocates state people from all social classes worldwide have open access to high-quality education and resources. They help eliminate obstacles like high costs, outmoded materials, and legal instruments. These barriers impede collaboration among stakeholders. Cooperation is crucial to open education. The Open Education Consortium claims “Sharing is a fundamental attribute of education. Education means the sharing of knowledge, insights, and information with everybody. It is the foundation of new wisdom, ideas, talents, and understanding”. Open Educational Resources refer to learning materials that educators can improve and modify with permission from their publishers or authors. Creators of OERs are allowed to include a variety of items such as lesson plans, presentation slides, lecture videos, podcasts, worksheets, maps, and images.
There are legitimate tools like the Creative Commons’ licenses that students can access and use at liberty. They are allowed to translate and amend these materials. Public school teachers in the USA can share resources they developed as compliance for government-authorized standards in education. One of these is called the Common Core State Standards. Some teachers and school officials have recommended that OERs can help reduce expenses in production and distribution of course materials for primary and secondary institutions. Some teachers and school officials have recommended that OERs can help reduce expenses in production and distribution of course materials for primary and secondary institutions. Certain projects like the OER Commons as storage for open educational resources.
In science
Open science
Open science is the movement to make scientific research (including publications, data, physical samples, and software) and its dissemination accessible to all levels of society, amateur or professional. Open science is transparent and accessib ...
refers to the practice of allowing peer-reviewed research articles to be available online free of charge and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Benefits of this approach include: accelerated discovery and progress as researchers are free to use and build on the findings of others, giving back to the public as much research is paid for with public funds,
and greater impact for one's work due to
open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...
articles being accessible to a bigger audience.
In information technology
In
Open-source software
Open-source software (OSS) is Software, computer software that is released under a Open-source license, license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and Software distribution, distribute the software an ...
, the user is given access to the sources such as
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
. In
Open-source hardware
Open-source hardware (OSH, OSHW) consists of physical artifact (software development), artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by th ...
, the user gets access to sources such as design documents and
blueprint
A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842. The process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...
s.
Open data
Open data are data that are openly accessible, exploitable, editable and shareable by anyone for any purpose. Open data are generally licensed under an open license.
The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "open(-so ...
is
data
Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...
that can be freely used and shared by anyone.
In psychology
In psychology,
openness to experience
Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe personality psychology, human personality in the Big Five personality traits, Five Factor Model. Openness involves six Facet (psychology), facets, or dimensions: active imagina ...
is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the
Five Factor Model.
In business
See also
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Accessibility
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Free association
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Free content
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Free software
Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
*
Glasnost
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Open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
*
Open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...
: publishing
*
Open innovation
Open innovation is a term used to promote an Information Age mindset toward innovation that runs counter to the secrecy and silo mentality of traditional corporate research labs. The benefits and driving forces behind increased openness have b ...
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Open education
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Open educational resources
Open educational resources (OER) are Instructional materials, teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and Free license, licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" descr ...
*
Open-design movement
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Open government
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Open Knowledge Foundation
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Open knowledge
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Open-mindedness
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Open text
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Open gaming
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Open patent
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Open-source curriculum
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Open-source governance
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Open-source journalism
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Open-source model
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Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a common prerequisite that open standards use an open license that provides for extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in their development due to ...
*
Openness to experience
Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe personality psychology, human personality in the Big Five personality traits, Five Factor Model. Openness involves six Facet (psychology), facets, or dimensions: active imagina ...
*
Secrecy: the opposite of openness
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The Open Definition
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Transparency: openness in a utilitarian view, economic openness, open economic or politic data, degree of openness, etc.
References and notes
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{{Reflist, 2
Transparency (behavior)