[Oer-community] In fields like OER -- Shouldn't we eat our own dog food?

[Poncelet Ileleji]

Hello Wyne,

Greetings from the Gambia, you definitely "Hit the nail on the head" we need
and excellent open  collaborative frame work to learn and share from each
other.

I have read the write ups from Bakary, on the initiative of the African
Virtual University, but the need for more collaborative openness and  for
all within the community to share and collaborate to yield the really
purpose why OER is an excellent idea must be seen to play a significant role
in the real context of us eating "our own dog food".  iN other words all
players must be on the same page and be ready to be open within the context
of OER.

Mark Surman,. definitely gave a good account of this in his account  of Open
philanthropy

Peace

Poncelet
On 11 October 2010 21:25, Wayne Mackintosh <wayne at oerfoundation.org> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> Congratulations to Susan and team at Athabasca University for continued
> support of this OER forum and community.
>
> In the corporate world "eating your own dog food" is when a company uses
> the products that it makes - the idea being that "if you expect customers to
> buy your products, you should also be willing to use them". (See Wikipedia -
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food.)
>
> Notwithstanding the phenomenal progress of the open content and free
> culture movements over the last decade, OER still has a long way to go
> before it is mainstream practice in the formal education sector. Paul
> Stacey's suggestion of encouraging institutions to use and remix OER created
> externally is a good one because it will teach organisations the value of
> sharing.
>
> In the OER world we are still in the early learning phases of our own
> capability maturity. We now need to shift from the notion of "sharing to
> learn" to "learning to share". "Sharing to learn" focuses on the core value
> and purpose of education -- that is, to share knowledge freely.  However,
> "learning to share" is the real challenge but also the "competitive
> advantage" of OER ;-).
>
> As movement, if we a serious about nurturing the development of sustainable
> OER ecosystems on a global scale -- I think we should start "eating our own
> dog food". That is, as individual OER projects fostering and promoting
> openness, transparency and collaboration through self--organising and open
> systems.
>
> The OER landscape is characterised by project silos with very little
> collaboration among OER initiatives. There is a high level of redundancy and
> duplication of core resources used to support OER projects. For example,
> funding proposals and grant applications are typically developed under
> all-rights reserved copyright. Core policy documents and strategic meetings
> associated with OER projects happen behind closed doors and not very
> transparent.
>
> IMHO, our strategic point of difference (when compared to closed models)
> must be our openness.
>
> Shouldn't we as the OER movement be more open and start eating our own dog
> food? What can and should we collectively be doing to leverage our openness
> for the benefit of society?
>
> If we are serious about real social change let's make a shift towards open
> philanthropy (Here I'd recommend reading Mark Surman's ideas on the concept
> of open philanthropy -
> http://commonspace.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/open-philanthropy-and-a-theory-of-change/
> )
>
> Cheers
> Wayne
>
>
>
>
> --
> Wayne Mackintosh <http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg>, Ph.D.
> Director OER Foundation <http://www.oerfoundation.org/>
> Director, International Centre for Open Education,
> Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
> Founder and elected Community Council Member, Wikieducator<http://www.wikieducator.org/>
> Mobile +64 21 2436 380
> Skype: WGMNZ1
> Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Oer-community at athabascau.ca
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>
>


-- 
Poncelet O. Ileleji MBCS
Coordinator
The Gambia YMCAs Computer Training Centre & Digital Studio
MDI Road Kanifing South
P. O. Box 421 Banjul
The Gambia, West Africa
Tel: (220) 4370240
Fax:(220) 4390793
Cell:(220) 9912508
Skype: pons_utd
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