OpenEyeWorld Launches Online Sustainability Expert Exchange Network

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) March 31, 2011 -”I am a transparent eyeball, I am nothing, I see all.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sustainability, stakeholder engagement, and social media all share a common thread: they thrive on interaction, with a diversity of voices sharing perspectives to bring about better outcomes. OpenEyeWorld (OEW) uses this sweet spot as a launching pad for Sustainability Expert Exchanges (SEEs) where sustainability thought leaders, consultants, and civil society experts engage with corporate managers to collaboratively conceive sustainability solutions. Inspired by Emerson’s words, OpenEyeWorld’s mission is to offer a robust, but unbiased, online platform linking stakeholders with companies to accelerate their journey of transformation toward sustainability.  OEW is a tool, not a consultancy; it provides no content, but rather an easy-to-navigate, secure platform for leveraging the “wisdom of crowds”.   You might say OpenEyeWorld is the “LinkedIn of sustainability,” but that would just scratch the surface. OEW seeks to unlock latent demand of companies who are eager to engage with expert stakeholders but remain skeptical of social media. The OEW platform solves this dilemma by creating a community of Sustainability Experts who post in-depth profiles and validate each others’ credentials and experience. Companies initiate dialogues, determining the topic, scope, duration, and participants of each engagement; they can even opt to remain anonymous.    It’s not just companies who can benefit from OEW’s tools. All organizations committed to sustainability can use OEW’s Group functionalities for discussion streams, file sharing, and customizable forums for more deliberate collaboration.  In addition to serving as a destination site, OpenEyeWorld white labels its tools on third party sites, enabling CSR Organizations to attract clients and build expert communities on their own turf.   OEW also builds tools to help organizations avoid the hit-and-run feedback associated with social media. By attaching tools onto a sustainability news or press releases on third party sites, OEW provides a consistent feedback mechanism that requires the commenter to have a profile on the platform.   OpenEyeWorld builds on a raft of recent research and opinion pointing toward a new world of corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR). The 2010 Harvard report The Accountability Web by Bill Baue and Marcy Murninghan foresaw for the creation “Web 2.0 platforms that empower users to collaborate and co-create in communities of practice” – a vision that OEW realizes. “The power of Web 2.0 is on a confluence course with CSR through crowdsourcing solutions like” OpenEyeWorld, writes Wayne Visser in his new book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business, which profiles the OEW platform   Contact: Tom O’Malley CEO, OpenEyeWorld Tom@OpenEyeWorld.com   Disclosure: Wayne Visser is an OEW advisor and shareholder, and Bill Baue is an OEW advisor.   OEW12721