Open Architecture Culture

One of the aims of BSn is to create an open culture, a meeting place of ideas and open standards, a marketplace where everyone is included via appropriate technology and open software, of giving and receiving gifts of wonderful work from across the universe.

[SGML] [XML] [ANSI Z39.50 / ISO 23950] {CORBA] {SOAP] [OAI] [GILS] [ASF] [WebDAV]

Open standards are not the same as open source. Open source can be both a safe and risky place. Possibilities for follow-up are good but cannot be assured. Open standards transcends open source. Different views, implementations, programs that all can "talk" to each other using an agreed upon language. That is the structure of padare; a place to provide encounters with newness of sharing and uniqueness of exchange.

A dare in English is to courageous or bold enough to do or try something. Our dare is also about consensus through open standards, dialogue and mutual respect. Dare is also the traditional Shona term which denotes the special meeting place which, before colonialism, functioned at many levels of Zimbabwean society.


Padare (a Zimbabwean word meaning "meeting place") 		Within the family, the dare was the time and place in which men met together, along with the boys of the household. It was a resting place and the place where they ate. It was also a place of counseling and formation where the older generation passed on wisdom to the young.

Women within a family also met together, but in a different place to the men. They called their meetings kutandare. At the village level the padare was also a mainly male grouping. Here, it provided community building, counseling of the young, and judicial decisions in the face of disputes.

The dare was a place where all participants became equals. It was also a place of consensus; there was never a rush to reach decisions, for that would have prevented the building of community.

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