Transparency is (in) the air

The UK Core team has been wrestling with some practical implications of interacting transparently for the past couple of weeks. In the light of this I was intrigued to discover this post from Web Worker Daily (the comments are particularly interesting). The increasing use of social networking via the web has made the lives of many people much more transparent than they would have been a few years ago, but problems are arising because it is an unconscious transparency.

One of the commenters says,

“Don’t write it unless you would say it in front of 100 strangers, your mom, your best friend and your spouse/partner.”

Perhaps that could be reframed to: Don't do it unless you would do it in view of 100 strangers, your mom, your best friend and your spouse/partner.

An issue that is raised that was of interest to me is that there is a responsibility on the viewer of an activity to make conscious choices too. Do I need to know this? Do I want this level of intimacy? By our bravery in breaking our cocoons we force others to make brave decisions about what they want to know.

Another commenter links to a strong article by Molly Holzschlag about her experiences of being transparent in her professional life in IT and how that has benefited her career. These articles are coming from a more mundane approach than our venture, but they are dealing with the same issues we are.

We have embraced an idea that is coming to the surface here and we have with that a great opportunity for positive influence. We will need courage to follow this through but we are not doing this alone, and we have the key element of consciousness in our approach.

Molly Holzschlag includes a powerful quote in her article that is helping me in my battle for transparency;

Never apologise for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologise for truth.

Benjamin Disraeli

One day we will wonder why it wasn't always this way.