Shimmer

So I’ve been thinking more about transparency . OK, I’m not a corporation but I can’t read about this concept and not apply it personally, not as a wanna be blogger.

Part of me is very attracted to the concept and that part of me is what nudges me to keep this blog. But the other part of me knows that I’ve been manipulated so long that almost nothing is sacred or secret anymore and caring about it is so 1995. This is an exaggeration of course, but it’s true to an extent; we’re bombarded by information, so much so that no one even notices anymore. Who cares about your company blog? Who cares about this blog? No one! But here I am and the entire world has access to view these words. Anyone can flame me if I misspell or misuse the word weather.

Whether we ponder it or not, the Internet is affecting everything and most of us very personally. It affects us in ways that we are in the process of understanding as technology and our relationship to it matures. It doesn’t matter that most of us are not thinking about it now, but 3rd graders 50 years from now will wonder how it was possible not to.

One of the reasons I’m attracted to transparency is its relationship to the concept of open standards as that relates to IT, computers, and technology. It just makes sense that systems, devices and interfaces should communicate and interact though a common set of protocols, language and controls. Theoretically, when companies open up they are communicating too. With less susceptibility to Enron like fraud. If the concept of transparency is partly a reaction to Enron, I think it might also be a reaction to the sometimes massively over-implemented security and SOX policies, procedures and processes that now engulf everyone (even me FTLOG) in Enron’s wake. Maybe all of it combined will help balance the interdependent needs of openness, security and accountability.

I am open, secure and accountable so what's the harm in kicking a little ASCII on my blog?

OK, that was bad.