Sunday, September 18, 2005

Can You Dig It--Kappa Remixed?

I just saw a very interesting blog entry by Richard MacManus on a new phenomenon called Web 2.0 of taking the best of separate websites and combining them into something beyond what either of the individual websites imagined or could ever think about.

The same dynamic is sorely needed within Kappa. Since I know that a closed mind convinced against its will is of the same opinion still, check out the blog entry for yourself and you will read several parallels that could be applied to the Bond and/or any organization that has a high attrition rate while continuing to profess that "members are not made out of what they used to be".

While there is a great disparity between the online and offline worlds of Kappa and this disparity will decrease definitely as older, computer illiterate Brothers (or probably more accurate technological laggards) join the Chapter Invisible and internet usage is as common or more integrated into the lives of new members than the telephone is now.

The possibilities are still increasing to an infinite realm of opportunities.


Kappa is indeed simply more than a website as websites are known now. But as the telephone and zip codes were just as controversial when they were first created, time shall make everyone become witnesses to new dynamics and applications and variations of the Bond beyond what was created on the evening of January 5, 1911.

Many conservative thinkers within the Bond will go to their graves denying every opportunity they can to the open source philosophy. But they will also refuse to recognize their own integration and usage of the same open source philosophy that has been and will continue to be present in their lives.


If I have an open mind about a topic and another person's mind is closed, then it becomes very difficult for the other person to openly profess or accept their switch to openness without either being potentially recognized as a hypocrite or simply acknowledging that they were possibly wrong in their previous line of thinking. The converse applies as well.

But if everyone was closed initially, then it is easier to accept some degrees of an open mind versus remaining closed and refusing to debate the potential need to switch or take advantage of some opportunities within specific situations.

This is the present state of Kappa and many organizations worldwide.

Open mind = open source. Also, closed mind = closed system.

I now realize that it is not enough to simply present an opportunity to switch, but the dynamics of change require that the new benefits are presented and demonstrated as simply too good to refuse. The benefit of switching has to be greater the cost of staying the same.

But I cannot get away from realizing how all of this has been demonstrated through Hollywood with the movie trilogy "The Matrix".

Web 2.0 is similar to "The Matrix Reloaded" and what has to yet to be created is "Matrix Revolutions".

The blog article mentions that Peter Merholz has said, "The point isn't the features, it's the underlying philosophy of relinquishing control".

Other notable quotes are:

Paul Miller saying:

"Web 2.0 presages a freeing of data, allowing it to be exposed, discovered and manipulated in a variety of ways…
Web 2.0 permits the building of virtual applications, drawing data and functionality from a number of different sources…
Web 2.0 applications work for the user, and are able to locate and assemble content that meets our needs as users…
Web 2.0 applications are modular …
Web 2.0 is about sharing; code, content, ideas…"

Richard MacManus saying:

"the philosophy of Web 2.0 is to let go of control, share ideas and code, build on what others have built, free your data. It's actually a difficult philosophy to live by, when you consider how capitalistic Western society is".

Tim Berners-Lee (the creator of the internet as it is known via hyperlinking and websites):

"My goal for the web in 30 years is to be the platform which has led to the building of something very new and special, which we can't imagine now".

This last statement is clearly the same sentiment of our Founders and should be the position of every member of any organization as a result.

No parent within their right mind wants their children to live exactly and identical to the way that they lived. The lives of the children should show some specific and recognizable degree of progress.

Yours in the Bond!

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