Shifting the Focus to 'Open Society' and 'Open Culture'

HOT NEWS - The War is Over: Open Source and the Open Way have Won. The growing global Open Movement has now shifted its focus to Open Culture and Open Society.

For well over 10-15 years, the battles between 'open' vs. 'closed' solutions have raged. It started with free and 'open source' software (FOSS) solutions, then moved on to 'open standards', 'open access', 'open data', 'open architecture', ... The Open Movement started in the technology sector, then spread into education, healthcare, manufacturing, government and just about every other component of the public and private sector. It became more than just about technology, it became a broad, global movement that supports the adoption of 'open culture' and 'open societies' around the world. Many individuals, corporations, and countries will continue to battle and fight against the 'open movement' for years to come, not recognizing that the war is over - all 'closed' systems will eventually succumb to 'open solutions' as we move into the future.

To give you a better feel for what we're talking about, the following are a selection of recent articles focused on 'Open Culture' and 'Open Society' that have been published over the past few months. They cover a wide gamut of interesting topics.

• #OpenSociety: Historical Election 2016: For the first time, Two #Women Running for US President
• #OpenSociety: Watch how Social Changes have rolled across America
• #OpenSociety: U.S. has 5 percent of the World's Population and one quarter of the World's Prisoners - over 2.2 million in prison

Open Culture - A growing social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify creative works. The movement objects to over-restrictive copyright laws that restrict the free exchange of creative ideas and works. Open Society - In open societies, citizens are encouraged to engage in critical thinking, facilitated by cultural and legal institutions that support the concepts of freedom and tolerance of diverse individual, groups, ideas, and beliefs.

• Over 200,000 Youth tried and imprisoned every year making U.S. the World's Leading Jailer of Kids. 
• Political Parties wrestle with Open Markets, Open Borders, Open Minds, and Open Solutions
• U.S. House Republicans support Bill allowing Employers to Fire #Women using Insurance to buy Birth Control !!??
• CNN: Why are so many Americans criminals? Is the U.S. #Justice system and for-profit prisons out-of-control? 
• The "Great Cannon": How #China Turns Its Websites Into Cyberweapons
• Survey: Should robots make life/death decisions? See Open RoboEthics 
• BBC - Arkansas and Indiana pass changes to prohibit discrimination in 'religious freedom' laws 
• 'Hactivists' are trying to reboot Democracy from the bottom up with interactive #OpenSource Voting Apps

• Open Society Justice Initiative Issues New Report on U.S. Drone Strikes in Yemen

• There Will Be More Silence in the Face of Tyranny if We Continue to Look the Other Way

• World Press Freedom Day in Pursuit of the Truth in Good Faith in the Public Interest

• Ten lessons from Open Source Conference - 2015

Please Share any other good articles you have run across that are focused on Open Culture and Open Society with our readers.