Service Oriented
Just went to a symposium my office helped organize on Service Oriented Architecture. It wasn't on my radar until recently, but it's apparently a buzz term to describe a philosophy of creating software pieces that meet the needs of users (who require "services"), and that can work easily with other software pieces. At the beginning of the day, it sounded like it was a movement away from specific software companies and toward a world where we could pick and choose the best software and not have to worry about what platform or other software we were using.
I was interested in the Open Source implications - people building on each other's software and trying to create tools that can be used by others. But by the end of the day, it sounded like it was more a structure for the big boys to use to keep you with them after all. So that was a bit disappointing, though it got me thinking about paradigm shifts from competitive short-term to collaborative long-term models of problem-solving.
Interesting as an artist to be thinking about business models. As a web designer, I have to think about the users of the site, what they're looking for and what the owner of the site wants to convey. But as a writer or filmmaker, I think my responsibility is to upend expectations, to NOT provide what the "user" of art wants. Though as humans we have needs to be exposed to beauty. This is a "service" artists provide, though we can also provide the services of entertainment, inspiration and education, to name a few. Is it important for my art to be "interoperable" with other artists? With mainstream entertainment? If I want to use other people's work, again, this leads me to Open Culture/Open Content models. Definitely don't want a finite number of people to have a monopoly on Art.
And what if citizens demanded Service-Oriented Government? Standards-based government, where citizens set minimum levels of required functions and performance. What if we could pick and choose among a variety of governments instead of being tied to just one? "I like this government's drug policy, but that one's foreign aid policy and that one's health care plan." We could donate to the tip jar for each government, to support their policies... But somehow in there all the governments would have to learn how to talk to each other...
And on an even higher philosophical plane, do we live Service Oriented Lives? Are we flexible and agile, do we inter-connect well with others? Do we serve each other in meaningful ways, think about the needs and requirements of others? Do we expect to meet all the needs of anyone else, or have our needs met by a single person? Or are we open to having multiple people meet our varying requirements?
A few thoughts for Friday night...
I was interested in the Open Source implications - people building on each other's software and trying to create tools that can be used by others. But by the end of the day, it sounded like it was more a structure for the big boys to use to keep you with them after all. So that was a bit disappointing, though it got me thinking about paradigm shifts from competitive short-term to collaborative long-term models of problem-solving.
Interesting as an artist to be thinking about business models. As a web designer, I have to think about the users of the site, what they're looking for and what the owner of the site wants to convey. But as a writer or filmmaker, I think my responsibility is to upend expectations, to NOT provide what the "user" of art wants. Though as humans we have needs to be exposed to beauty. This is a "service" artists provide, though we can also provide the services of entertainment, inspiration and education, to name a few. Is it important for my art to be "interoperable" with other artists? With mainstream entertainment? If I want to use other people's work, again, this leads me to Open Culture/Open Content models. Definitely don't want a finite number of people to have a monopoly on Art.
And what if citizens demanded Service-Oriented Government? Standards-based government, where citizens set minimum levels of required functions and performance. What if we could pick and choose among a variety of governments instead of being tied to just one? "I like this government's drug policy, but that one's foreign aid policy and that one's health care plan." We could donate to the tip jar for each government, to support their policies... But somehow in there all the governments would have to learn how to talk to each other...
And on an even higher philosophical plane, do we live Service Oriented Lives? Are we flexible and agile, do we inter-connect well with others? Do we serve each other in meaningful ways, think about the needs and requirements of others? Do we expect to meet all the needs of anyone else, or have our needs met by a single person? Or are we open to having multiple people meet our varying requirements?
A few thoughts for Friday night...
posted by Polly @ 5:25 p.m.
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