Openness

The Openness initiative investigates the interplay between ethics and the intentional sharing or withholding of data, information or knowledge.

The question of whether or not to share something has always been central to social and political life. As a result, moral discourses tend to distinguish sharply under which circumstances it would be appropriate to share (or not) almost anything imaginable, be it material resources or political power, time or space, joy or sorrow, knowledge or experience, ideas or behaviors.

In a world rich with potentially actionable data pertinent to virtually any aspect of human activity, the impact of decisions on whether or not to share can be greatly modulated by sharing or withholding relevant data, information or knowledge.

This initiative examines tensions arising from different degrees of openness both within and across environments, with special attention towards how the magnitude and rate of systemic changes interact with aspects of openness.