“What we plan for the use of something is not necessarily how people will use it and we don’t necessarily dictate how they use it. We open it up and we hope for the best and a lot of the times we are surprised.”
It’s still one of my favourite quotes from Jim Groom’s February 2012 talk at Kansas State University. It fits with the practice of sharing out in the open. Sharing out in the open can help to create something what Alan Levine calls a potential energy for happy accidents to happen.
I would never, ever, EVER claim to be anywhere near the absolute awesomeness of Jim or Alan, but from my own wonky experience I believe what they say to be true.
I’m always surprised and flattered someone would want to use my strange photos of something like a supermarket aisle for a book about genetically modified food or a colourful photo of some hanboks for a school project or even a photo of a statue of Bhuddha from a temple in Busan South Korea for a fridge magnet.
All I know is that if I hadn’t operated with an open intent I wouldn’t have set myself up for a (possible) surprise. And I like surprises!
A big thanks to World Wide Gifts LLC for the fridge magnets that now reside in their rightful place on my fridge!
2 replies on “Fridge magnets out in the open”
That is a great story. I’ll remember it the next time anyone questions using Creative Commons licenses.
Hello Sally!
Thanks for your comment. By the way, you should check out Alan Levine’s True Stories of Openness for heaps of awesome stories!