Tech Manager

I am starting to hear a lot of references to the Open Web, and like most folks, I think I understand the reference, however I dug a little deeper and found three posts that clarify the Open Web, and wanted to share them with you along with my thoughts on the Open Web.

The first and most descriptive post is from Brad Neuberg and the Coding in Paradise blog. Brad, works for Google, and outlines 10 philosophies of the Open Web that he feels are important. Here is a reference to Brad's post along with the 10 philosophies of the Open Web:

Decentralization, Transparency, Hackability, Openness,

From Gift Economies to Free Markets, Third-Party Integration,

Third-Party Innovation, Civil Society and Discourse, 

Two-Way Communication, End-User Usability and Integration

Within these philosophies, Brad makes the point of openness and talks about adopting Open Source Strategies and not getting hung up on the proprietary strategies of the past, but instead giving the web an open enough infrastructure to allow it to grow and evolve over time. 

My next example is from David Eaves who is an Independent Writer who states ....

"The open web is a social value. It’s not a fact, it’s not necessity, and it’s not a requirement. It’s a value - one that a growing community of people believe in and are willing to fight for."

David see's the Open Web as a Social Movement, a movement of Open Source practices that have gained acceptance through maturity and market acceptance. It is obvious that David is passionate about moving the Open Web forward, and he asks others in this Social Movement  ....

"... could we push ourselves harder? Are we creating enough hooks for new participants to latch on to? Are we creating an ecosystem where non-coders, but passionate open web believers, can find a niche? What are the big harry audacious goals that a larger community can get behind, and support? "

You can find David's post here.

My next example is Mark Pilgrim of Google. Mark's post and video talk about Google's Doctype Project, however he describes Doctype as part of the Open Web and touches on the Open Web before diving into Doctype: 

"The open web is the web built on open standards: HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and more. The open web is a beautiful soup of barely compatible clients and servers. It comprises billions of pages, millions of users, and thousands of browser-based applications. You can access the open web with open source and proprietary browsers, on open source and proprietary operating systems, on open source and proprietary hardware."

In Mark's post and video, he outlines the Open Web as having both proprietary and non-proprietary browsers, and in his video he stresses the point of developing solutions for a more Open Web with open browsers and less reliance on proprietary solutions.

All three posts outline features and philosophies of the Open Web, and identify a reliance on Open Source strategies to ensure a sustained growth in the Open Web.

When I think of the Open Web, it goes something like this ...

The Open Web is the infrastructure for the delivery of open web applications, functions, tools and api's to the world, through the use of Open Source strategies, standards and technologies.

I see the total reliance on Open Source strategies as a great goal for the Open Web, however, is it an attainable goal? Maybe it does not have to be reachable as long as it remains a goal and contributes to the evolution of the web.