Openness

Openness Connect & Access

EKG contribution to Openness.

Connect, Access, Take-up the silos
Enable Silo Synergies
Readable, Discoverable, Explorable
Confront Multiple Versions of the Truth
Challenge Assumptions

What we mean by openness¶

Openness is the ability of an enterprise (and its ecosystem) to connect, access, and reuse data and knowledge across boundaries. Boundaries can be organizational, domain, technical, contractual, or jurisdictional.

Openness overlaps with transparency, but it is not the same:

Openness is about access, interoperability, and participation.
Transparency is about visibility, explainability, and audit.

In other words:

You can be open but not transparent (data is shared, but its meaning, provenance, and decision logic are opaque).
You can be transparent but not open (internally auditable, but locked behind closed interfaces or siloed access).

Openness in an EKG¶

An Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG) supports openness by making assets readable, discoverable, and explorable, while still respecting policy and entitlements.

Openness shows up in practice as:

Connect and access: reduce friction between silos and enable access within entitlement and policy boundaries.
Enable silo synergies: allow knowledge assets to be reused across teams, domains, and systems.
Readable and explorable: publish information and knowledge in machine-usable forms with resolvable meaning.
Confront MVOT: embrace multiple versions of the truth and make them navigable, rather than forcing a single narrative.
Challenge assumptions: enable viewpoints, sources, and interpretations to be compared, validated, and improved.

Openness is therefore not “everything is open to everyone”. It is the ability to connect and reuse responsibly, at scale, across an ecosystem.