[Oer-community] UNESCO and OER Foundation join hands in building capability in OER

[Mark Bullen]

I've been lurking for the most part but want to say that this latest
thread on the meaning of openness and free and how various CC licenses
may or may not restrict access has been absolutely fascinating.

 

Mark.

 

Mark Bullen, Ph.D.

Education Specialist - eLearning

Commonwealth of Learning

1055 West Hastings, Suite 1200

Vancouver, BC, V6E 2E9

CANADA

1 604 775 8261

 

From: oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca
[mailto:oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca] On Behalf Of Stephen Downes
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 10:57 AM
To: oer-community
Subject: Re: [Oer-community] UNESCO and OER Foundation join hands in
building capability in OER

 

Totally agreed with David Wiley: "It would be great if the world were
simple enough that One License to Rule Them All could exist, but it
doesn't."

It needs to be recognized that for many people, 'open' and 'free' do not
mean 'commercial'. For many people, the idea of 'selling a free
resource' is a contradiction in terms. For many people, access to the
resource, rather than making money from it, is the primary concern.

I don't wish to continue restating this (though it seems the campaigning
from the CC-by people against NC is endless). I would simply urge UNESCO
to respect the wishes of those people who are not commercial publishers
or multi-million-dollar educational institutions, to recognize the
intent of people creating NC-licensed resources to ensure they can be
accessed for free, and to recognize resources licensed with a NC clause
as OERs with equal standing.

This is consistent with the 2012 Paris declaration, which I remind
people, refers to OERs as "teaching, learning and research materials in
any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or
have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access,
use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited
restrictions." (My emphasis)

-- Stephen




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