Series of Blogs on the 'Open Revolution & Movement

America's Future: 2020-2050

Focused on the "Future of America" and the "American Dream" in the 21st Century

Blogs on the Evolving 'Open Revolution' & Movement

'Open' Revolution #1 – It's Well Underway

Apr 7, 2011 - I believe we have moved into a century of massive, global collaboration, innovation, and 'open' solutions. There is a revolution taking place in the high tech industry as we continue to move to open source solutions. In education and publishing we are moving to open copyright, open access, open knowledge, and open journals. We're seeing collaborative and 'open' news organizations, religious, and political movements…

'Open' Revolution #2 – It's All Around Us

Aug 14, 2011 - We have moved into a century of massive, global collaboration, innovation, and 'open' solutions. We now have open source software, open communities, open copyright licenses, open access, open knowledge, open standards, open journals and more.  I still haven't got a truly clear handle on what is happening, but the 'open' revolution is upon us, all around us…

'Open' Revolution #3 – It's Taking Hold

Oct 4, 2011 - This the third blog I have written on the global 'Open Revolution'. As I have stated in the past, I believe we are seeing the successful strategies of global collaboration, open solutions, and innovation take hold and start to overwhelm current organizations and systems that are starting to fail…

'Open' Revolution #4 - Ending Closed Systems

Oct 30, 2011 - The growing number of protests on Wall Street and across the country by our citizenry reflects the belief that our system of American checks and balances has been circumvented by the influence of big corporations and and financial organizations that have made it impossible for the people's voice to be heard. This in turn has led to a global 'Open Revolution'. People are speaking up and have taken to the street…

'Open' Revolution #5 - Continuing to Unfold

Nov 6, 2011 - I started writing about the 'Open Revolution' over 6 months ago as we saw people step up, speak out, and start to overthrow existing leaders, political systems, and oppressive hierarchies in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria ...

'Open' Revolution #6 - The 'Information Age' and the 'Open Way'

Dec 1, 2011 - We are in the process of transitioning from the Industrial Age of the past century into the Information Age of the 21^st century.  Many acknowledge this but don't really grasped what it means. We are moving from the 'closed' protective systems that worked well in the Industrial Age to the new, more effective 'open' systems approach that is the hallmark of the Information Age.

'Open' Revolution #7 – The Rise of the 'Information Age' and the Death of Existing 'Nation States'

Mar 6, 2012 - We are all passing through a turbulent time in history. We are in the midst of the transition from the 'Industrial Age' to the 'Information Age' and are experiencing major changes and disruptions similar to those experienced when our country transitioned from the 'Agricultural Age' to the 'Industrial Age'.  Many businesses and skills that used to be valued are disappearing...

'Open' Revolution #8 - Culture Change

Jun 15, 2012 - The Internet, computer chips, social media, mobile devices, and other disruptive technologies of this Information Age are spreading around the world and bringing about major changes in business practices, government functions, and our culture. What does this all mean to us? What is going to happen? What will be replacing our existing system of government and way of life? I don't think any of us know for sure, but…

'Open' Revolution #9 – Taking action to Start Restoring the 'American Dream'

Aug 3, 2012 - What can we do to help shape a better future for our country and our people? We shouldn't just complain or comment on the current state of affairs, we ought to provide recommendations on next steps to take as we move deeper into the 21^st century. Let's start to figure out what 'We the People' believe ought to be the best way forward. Let's identify some of the key issues facing us and specific strategies and alternatives we should pursue. For example…

'Open' Revolution #10 - Solutions

Sep 25, 2012 – In this final blog of mine on the 'Open Revolution', my focus has shifted to 'solutions'.  What can we do in the U.S. to restore the American Dream and guide our country through this transition from the 'Industrial Age' of the 1900's into the 21^st century 'Information Age' .  What we need is a clearly articulated vision of the future we want for the U.S., coupled with a strategy, goals, and the major objectives the country needs to be focused on for the next several decades… 

These short blogs on the 'Open' Revolution were written over a period of almost 2 years as the 'Open' Movement slowly spread across the globe. What constructive thoughts and observations do you have to add about the 'Open' Revolution that is underway?

Open Source Space Satellites Launched

This news story in NewScientist by Lisa Grossman caught the attention of a lot of people this week – "Space station poised to launch open-source satellites". Known as CubeSats, these open source mini -satellites were launched into space this week aboard a Japanese resupply vehicle heading to the International Space Station (ISS). This citizen-science project was partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign.

Paying customers will be able to program controls on the satellites and run experiments for three days for $125, or for $250 per week. The open source CubeSats run Arduino, an open source computer hardware and software platform popular with science hobbyists. Five years out, the project team expects to see hundreds of these satellites deployed in space.

Students of Sara Seager at MIT helped design and build CubeSats for planetary science.  "This definitely is helping open up space both to all people and all nations," Seager says of the Ardusat launch.

This is all kind of amazing to me – and to the rapidly growing open source global community. What's next? Open source space vehicles heading around the moon and off to Mars? 
BTW - how much would a large commercial company have charged for a similar solution? $50 million? $100 million? Interesting to speculate about.

Open source has come a long way over the past decade.  What other spectacular new innovative uses of open source platforms do you see coming down the road?

'Open Data' can help protect our Cities, Citizens, and Workers

I was recently reading a blog by Thomas Papagiannis on "Open Data and Financial Crisis", particularly with regards to cities.  It was a timely piece given the recent issue of Time Magazine on the bankruptcy of Detroit and a growing number of other cities across the U.S.

What I have read about cities that have declared bankruptcy, is that financial organizations and corporations somehow seem to get their money back in the bankruptcy proceedings. However, city workers who have put in 30-40 years of work and paid contributions to pension funds get the shaft.  

The argument is usually that it's too bad, the politicians either raided the pension funds to pay off the financial creditors, or they simply never put enough money into the pension fund.  Bottom line, no politician is ever held accountable and the workers – well, they get blamed and then are robbed blind. 

It's time to change that everywhere across the country. By taking an 'Open Data' approach cities, workers, citizens, investors and financial institutions can build and ensure:

• more transparency and accountability, clearly identifying when pension funds are being raided or are not fully funded by the government and its elected officials;
• more trust in our government and its elected officials, especially when they enter into financial contracts and commitments;
• citizens receive an early warning of potential problems regarding the financial condition of the government, especially fraudulent behavior;
• steps are taken to constantly evaluate and stimulate innovative solutions to improve the efficient and quality of government services;
• politicians are held accountable and build the will to make distasteful but required changes, by giving them reliable and 'transparent data' to back up their arguments in public.
• all key data is 'open' to the public and government watchdog organizations

Citizens! Workers! Local governments! Wake up.  It's in your best interest to enforce new 'Open Data' policies and laws. We can do better. 


* The White House has taken the initiative by releasing an Executive Order on Open Data Policy to be followed by the Federal government. State and local governments need to follow suit.

Global Health & Health IT Solutions for America in 2040

It's time. Let's revisit and discuss "Health IT solutions for 2040." 

Our attention has been intensely focused on EHR, PHR, HIE, and mHealth solutions that will be put inplace by 2020. But, those efforts are now well underway. It's time to shift the focus to 2040. See http://www.openhealthnews.com/blogs/groenpj/2010-09-15/health-it-systems-2040 …

As we look at potential Health IT system, we need to look at the subject of Global Health in 2040. What do we think the world will look like at that point in time. What issues will we be facing. We need to start connecting the dots. See http://www.openhealthnews.com/hotnews/global-health-2040-trends-challenges-and-solutions …

For more background material as we start discussing Global Health and Health IT solutions for 2040, see the following article that provides additional notes on the Future of Health Care in America: 2020-2050.  See  http://www.openhealthnews.com/blogs/groenpj/2011-11-06/notes-future-health-care-america-2020-2050 …

Share your thoughts with our readers on Global Health and Health IT solutions for 2040.

Iraq: The True Cost of the War may exceed $6 Trillion

The U.S. war in Iraq has cost approximately $2 trillion, with additional trillions in benefits owed to war veterans, rebuilding our armed forces, paying off the debt, and more. Expenses could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades, according to a recent study on the real Costs of War completed by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

The war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians. When security forces, insurgents, journalists and humanitarian workers were included, the war's death toll rose to an estimated 176,000 to 189,000, the study said. This does not include those that were injured or forced to flee their homes or country.

The report was the work of about 30 academics and experts and was published in advance of the 10th anniversary of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003. See http://costsofwar.org

The report concluded the U.S. gained little from the war while Iraq was traumatized by it. The war reinvigorated radical Islamist militants in the region, set back women's rights, and weakened an already precarious healthcare system. Meanwhile, the $212 billion reconstruction effort was largely deemed a failure with most of that money spent on security or lost to waste and fraud.

According to the report, former President George W. Bush's administration cited its belief that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's government held weapons of mass destruction to justify the decision to go to war. U.S. and allied forces later found that such stockpiles did not exist. In addition, his administration estimated the cost of the war would be around $50 to $60 billion.

The forecasts for the cost and duration of the war proved to be a tiny fraction of the real costs. If we had had the foresight to see how long it would last and the cost in lost lives, we would not have gone in. There are major lessons to be learned here for future administrations, Congress, political parties, and the people of America.

Now that the war is over, the bill has come due. To pay for the financial predicament we now find ourselves in, some politicians are now advocating we simply cut social programs like Social Security and Medicare – pensions and healthcare for American workers.

What can we learn from all this as we move into the future.  How do we now go about paying for the Iraq War? Do we cut social programs and benefits for American workers? What other constructive alternatives should be on the table?

* Also see Reuters News -  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314