open source software, the values and practices of open sourcing—making information and innovations publicly available—are being applied in a diz- zying number of ways. In the past few years, open, or peer-to-peer, sharing strategies have gained significant trac- tion in science, business, culture, educa- tion and government.
Applications range from the ob- scure, like the Open Source Tractor, to the everyday, like the OpenStreetMaps project. It’s a tough trend to quantify, because it is so viral and self-organized. The Obama admin- istration’s Open Govern- ment Directive is currently one of the most visible of these efforts, at least in the United States. The direc- tive orders each executive department and agency to identify and publish online, in an open format,
at least three high-value data sets; cre- ate an open government web page and respond to public input received via that page; and develop and publish an Open Government Plan that describes how they are improving transparency and integrating public participation and collaboration into its activities.
Social Media
Sharing is the currency of social media. Socialnomics author Erik Qualman alerts us that, “Social media is bigger than you think.”
The public uploaded more user- generated video to YouTube in a recent six-month period than the three major TV networks produced and distrib- uted in the past 60 years. Now with more than 500 million users, Face- book would represent the third largest country in the world by population. Wikipedia contains more than 9 million articles in 250 languages, all written by volunteers—and with an accuracy that studies like that at Harford Community College, in Bel Air, Maryland, indicate approaches that of leading commercial sources (80 versus 95 percent). Cre- ative Commons has made it easier for creators to share their work; they’ve licensed more than 130 million creative works in 50 countries since 2002. By 2008, one in eight couples who
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married that year met through social me- dia, and 96 percent of Generation Y has joined a social network, where sharing is a way of life. In these powerful ways, so- cial media has taken sharing mainstream.
We are rethinking ourselves through sharing, linking and collaborating in new ways.
Generation Y = Gen G Now that a shareable world has a seri- ous foothold, all that’s needed is a will- ing population to scale it up. There’s a strong argument that Gen Y is the generation that can bring it to fruition. Roughly 100 million strong in the United States, Gen Y grew up on the Internet and brings its values and practices, including sharing, into the real world. Last year,
TrendWatching.com called them Gen G (for “generous”) and said they are accelerating a cul- tural shift where giving is already the new taking.
They may not reach their full sharing potential until later in life, but there are promising indicators that they are already having a telling impact. An online study by Cone Inc. and AMP Insights concluded that 61 percent of 13-to-25-year-olds feel personally responsible for making a difference in the world. Eighty-three percent will trust a company more if it’s socially and envi- ronmentally responsible. Volunteering by college students increased by 20 percent between 2002 and 2005, with nearly one in three contributing their time. Business strategist Gary Hamel believes that this massive generational force, which outnumbers baby boom- ers, promises to transform our world in the image of the Internet—a world where sharing and contributing to the common good are integral to the good life. William Strauss and Neil Howe, authors of Millennials Rising, believe that Gen Y is a hero generation, coming of age in a time of crises they’re already helping to resolve, largely by applying the tools and mindset of sharing.
Neal Gorenflo is the publisher of
Shareable.net, a leading online maga- zine about sharing that includes the Web’s largest collection of how-to- share articles. Jeremy Adam Smith is the editor of
Shareable.net.
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