[Oer-community] On-line education is using a flawed Creative Commons license
Stephen Downes
stephen at downes.ca
Tue Nov 27 06:08:42 MST 2012
Hiya all,
Again, not to pursue the argument regarding the One True License beyond
reason in the present forum...
- I very specifically referred to OERu assessment, not content, and
assessment will cost students $1000 for a typical 5-course semester
- I have been following and commenting on WikiEducator and OERu since
the beginning, and have expressed my concerns in this regard on numerous
occasions
- In particular, I expressed my concerns regarding the 'logic model'
employed by OERu, as well as the 'founding partners' methodology, both
of which entrenched educational institutions as an essential part of the
process,
- No mechanism for recognition of learning exists, or was even
contemplated, other than institutional recognition, which as noted,
carries a significant financial burden
I have no objection to the mechanism whereby OERu converts OERs it
receives for free from volunteers into revenues for universities. What I
object to is the ongoing campaign by OERu staff to depict non-commercial
OERs as 'non-free' and to lobby for their exclusion from the definition
of 'free educational resources'. I wish to pursue my support of OERs in
such a way that does not impose significant cost on students. To this
date, the best and only mechanism for ensuring their use of OERs remains
genuinely free is through the use of the NC license.
As an aside: there is always in this context a reference to the
'original' version of open source licensing, and of course Stallman's
four freedoms. I would like to point out that open source licenses
existed before GPL, and open content licenses existed before Creative
Commons. Until the intervention of staff from large U.S. universities
(Berkeley-Stanford-MIT-Harvard) these licenses required that
distribution be unencumbered with cost. It is only with the intervention
of staff from these institutions that 'free' comes to mean 'commercial'.
Again: people may attach licenses allowing commerical use to their work
if they wish. I have no objection to this. But such people should /cease
and desist/ their ongoing campaign to have works that are non-commercial
in intent, and free in distribution, classified as 'not free'. Content
that /cannot/ be enclosed within a paywall, and /cannot/ be distributed
with commercial encumbrances attached, is /just as free/ - indeed, /more
free/ - than so-called 'free' commercial content.
-- Stephen
On 2012-11-27 4:36 AM, Wayne Mackintosh wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Stephen Downes <stephen at downes.ca
> <mailto:stephen at downes.ca>> wrote:
>
> The problem with this is the Flat World publications or the OERu
> assessment scenario - content deposited with the intent that it be
> available without cost is converted into a commercial product.
> It's not free if you can't access it.
>
>
> Stephen, your assumption is incorrect with reference to access to
> learning materials and the OERu assessment model.
>
> The founding OERu anchors partners, as per the decisions of the
> inaugural meeting which was streamed live with back-channels for the
> open community to engage and participate in all activities agreed:
>
> * to conduct all planning activities of the OERu openly and
> transparently in WikiEducator and you can monitor progress from
> the open planning portal
> <http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/Planning> in the wiki
> where all discussions are conducted with radical transparency
> inviting contributions from all interested parties including
> non-OERu members. Furthermore there are no restrictions to anyone
> joining the OERu open planning discussion groups
> <http://wikieducator.org/OER_university/Planning/OERu_Communication_technologies_and_protocols>.
>
> * to develop OERu courses in WIkiEducator. To date all OER
> Foundation courses have been conducted openly in the wiki and all
> interested people of free to follow and participate in OERu
> courses without the requirement to register an account on any of
> the OER Foundation maintained websites. Moreover, the open
> community governance policy
> <http://wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:Open_Community_Governance_Policy>
> of the WikiEducator community states that: "/In collaboration with
> WikiEducators around the world, the governance structure provides
> the organisational framework to support the community in the
> achievement of its aims, maintaining the essential freedoms of the
> project resources, and *making these available on the Internet in
> perpetuity' * -- /as a matter of public policy. Given that
> WikiEducator policy requires the use of free cultural works
> approved licenses inclusive of the requirement for open and
> editable file formats, in practice this means that if ever the OER
> Foundation we're unable to sustain its activities financially, we
> would make the data base available for anyone to reuse in open and
> editable file formats.
>
> Stephen, your statement in the context of the OERu suggesting that
> "It's not free if you can't access it" does not hold true for the OERu
> collaboration.
>
> 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
> Commonwealth of Learning Chair in OER, Otago Polytechnic
> Founder and elected Community Council Member, WikiEducator
> <http://www.wikieducator.org>
> Mobile +64 21 2436 380
> Skype: WGMNZ1
> Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/Mackiwg> | identi.ca
> <http://identi.ca/waynemackintosh>
> Wikiblog <http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg/Blog>
>
>
>
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