Open Technology Club

Why open technologies?

Open technologies are ones that allow a wide range of people to contribute to their development AND encourage users to make the jump from being passive consumers to being active participants who feel a sense of control over the technologies they use. Technologies structured in this way can have a very positive impact on the world, as we have seen in the recent past, for example, with the Linux kernel and the RepRap project.

Often, our meeting discussions begin with an unmet social need or a deficiency in current technologies. Real-world applications motivate almost all of our discussions and, although they begin from complex, human concerns, they often end with very well-specified, concrete solutions rooted in the development of not “better” technology, but “more humane” technology: technology that actually serves those who use and create it (as opposed to, say, venture capitalists in Silicon Valley).