Programming in an open environment remains challenging because it requires combining modularity, security, concurrency, distribution, and dynamicity. In this paper, we propose an approach to open distributed programming that exploits the notion of locality, which has been used in the past decade as a basis for several distributed process calculi such as Mobile Ambients, Dπ, and Seal. We use the locality concept as a form of component that serves as a unit of modularity, of isolation, and of passivation. Specifically, we introduce in this paper OZ/K, a kernel programming language, that adds to the OZ computation model a notion of locality borrowed from the Kell calculus. We present an operational semantics for the language and several examples to illustrate how OZ/K supports open distributed programming.