这个标题来自于[Geoff Mulgan, Tom Steinberg & Omar Salem]发在2005的《Demo》上的同名文章。第一作者是英国政坛的重要智囊人物。这篇文章讨论了开源方法在社会领域中的应用潜力。
下面节选了其引言的片段。文章全文可以在http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/wideopen获取。

For centuries the pursuit of knowledge has been undertaken in
ways that involve widely dispersed groups commenting on each
others’ work. The evolution of the Talmud in Judaism is one example,
and the tradition of interpretation in Islam is another. Modern
science has developed through critical peer review in an open, expert
and increasingly global community. Each shares the principle of
making thought open, and using structured commentary to advance
knowledge. Each operates more like a gift economy than a market
economy.
Open source methods take these principles in a radically new
direction. The advent of the internet has made it possible for new
knowledge to be developed, shared and refined in ways that
emphasise its character as a common good, rather than as something
to be owned and enclosed. Open source methods are just the latest in
a series of major innovations founded in the fertile pasture which is
the internet.
Our primary interest in this pamphlet is with the wider
applications and potential of the open source idea. In recent years
‘open source’ has been applied to many areas that have nothing to do
with software. There are now important new organisations involved
in biosciences and pharmaceuticals that describe themselves, or are
being described by others, as open source. There are also open source
news organisations, political campaigns, betting organisations,
markets and employee campaigns.
The application of open source methods to wider areas of social
and economic life is understandably attractive to many. The promise
for the casual observer is of huge returns from relatively little
investment, as well as a sense that non-professionals outside big
corporations now have an unprecedented chance to beat the ‘big
beasts’ at their own games.
The actual picture is much more complex. This paper looks at
these complexities, and concludes with a series of recommendations
for the wide application of open methods to areas including law,
media, academia and social enterprise among others.
Some of the most important innovations will be in and around the
state. Government has started to open up its data sources and more
open methods of policy formulation should make it possible to draw
on much more of society’s intelligence when decisions are being
made. Politics is likely to remain dominated by mass communication
– but open methods are already beginning to transform the ways in
which citizens organise, and even mainstream parties and media
organisations are having to learn how to use them. More broadly, as
has happened with the web – those cities, organisations and nations
that move fastest to embrace open methods in appropriate fields are
likely to benefit in all sorts of ways, both economic and social.
However, in all of this we try to strike a balance. Achieving the full
potential of wider applications depends on clarity about what ‘open
source’ really means, awareness of its limits as a detailed working
model and rigour in thinking through which aspects of it are
applicable in new areas.