FLOSS In School - Open Source Software in the Education System

Tony Hirst has a new post explaining OpenLearn’s new site redesign. From the post:

First up, and with a beta launch today, the new OpenLearn site makes an appearance, including integration of content from the Open2.net site. As I understand it, the new OpenLearn website amounts to something akin to the “public service educator” presence of the OU

Oliver Lindberg has written an article on his interview with Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons. From the post:

The biggest challenge now is to get people to use Creative Commons licences correctly. “It’s like writing valid HTML – most people can’t do it,” says Ito.

Glyn Moody has a new post on Move Commons. From the post:

…I was therefore delighted to come across Move Commons (MC), “a simple tool for initiatives, collectives and NGOs to declare the core principles they are committed to.” It works in almost the same way as the CC licences, allowing you to specify exactly what your “core principles” are…

Joss Winn has a new post on a recent talk he gave titled “Sustainable Practice in OER.” From the post:

Under those three headings, I have highlighted a couple of other ideas worth engaging with by ‘open educators’. They are ‘mass intellectuality’ and ‘commonism’, both of which have been developed in the area of political critical theory.

Steve Carson has a new post asking for help in building the history of OpenCourseWare. Stephen Downes responds.

D’Arcy Norman has a new post on students who want to blog privately. From the post:

The open web is an incredible force multiplier. Students (and faculty) can say something, and have it spread around the world and accessed by anyone. Which is great, unless that short circuits the kinds of risk taking behaviours that make for really meaningful learning experiences.

Nicole Allen has issued a press release announcing that new textbook affordability provisions have come into effect. From the press release:

Publishers must offer unbundled versions of textbooks. “Bundling,” or the practice of packing textbooks with CDs, pass-codes and other ancillaries that often go unused, can increase costs 10-50% according to PIRG research. From now on, students will have the option to purchase only the items they need.

Education Week that U.S. Department of Education will be creating a National Learning Registry to index digital learning resources. Presumably OER will be included. From the post:

In a speech to the National Rural Education Technology Summit, Duncan gave the example of digital artifacts pertaining to the first moon landing in explaining the value of the planned registry. Currently, recordings of the conversations, digital exhibits about the rockets involved, and weather records from the mission are scattered across the websites of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Thanks to Timothy Vollmer for the link.

David Wiley has a new post announcing that a study to compare students learning from traditional textbooks compared to open textbooks. From the post:

Because expensive, traditional textbooks have to be passed from student to student over 4-7 years, students are typically prohibited from marking in the books in any way. By contrast, because the open textbooks are so inexpensive as to be considered consumables (from a budget perspective), students will be able to engage these books through active study processes like highlighting and annotating.

Last week OEN reported that Larry Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, wanted to challenge ASCAP to debate of negative comments regarding Creative Commons. An astute reader, “Sarah” as well as the blog Mind the Gap notes that ASCAP President Paul Williams has responded. From the response:

I am well aware of those “copyleft” mouthpieces who take a highly critical view of ASCAP’s efforts to protect our members’ rights. That will not change ASCAP’s commitment to doing so. ASCAP exists for one purpose — fair payment to music creators for the use of their music by businesses and others who seek to attract viewers and customers.

Zoe Hayes is reporting on the cost of journal subscriptions at Purdue. From the article:

James Mullins, dean of libraries, explained why publication costs – even with the shift to digital publication – have gone up, with digital publications taking up about $10 million of the Libraries’ $11 million budget.

Jennifer McLennan is announcing that a hearing will be held within a U.S. House of Representatives committee meeting regarding open access to federally funded research. From the announcement:

“The hearing will examine the state of public access to federally-funded research in science, technology, and medicine. The hearing will assess and delineate the complex issues surrounding public access policies. The hearing will afford an opportunity for representatives from the areas of publishing, science and research, education and patient care to provide perspective on challenges, potential impact and opportunities regarding increased access.”

Note: The security certificate for the SPARC mailing list posting appears to incorrect. Still.

Last week OEN reported on MELIBEA, a directory of open access policies. Stevan Harnad has a new post responding to the project. From the post:

I can only agree with Steve Hitchcock’s points and conclude that consulting MELIBEA today would be likely to create and compound confusion rather than helping to bring the all-important focus and direction to OA policy-making that I am sure CSIC, too, seeks, and seeks to help realize.

Note: Many of the stories regarding open access that have been posted by OEN have been found through the OATP project on Connotea. We encourage readers to contribute open access links to their project.

Jonathan Gray has a new post following the debate whether the Open Source Initiative should adopt the Open Knowledge Definition. From the post:

We’re excited at the prospect that the OKD might get adopted as an official open data definition by OSI…

Christopher Gutteridge has a new post on opening up data at the University of Southampton. From the post:

We have formally added a “CC0″ public domain license to all our infrastructure RDF data, such as staff contact details, research groups and publication lists. One reason few people took an interest in working with our data is that we didn’t explicitly say what was and wasn’t OK, and people are disinclined to build anything on top of data which they have no explicit permission to use.

Jack Menzel has a new post announcing that Google will purchase Metaweb, which owns Freebase. Freebase is an open database of content. From the post:

Google and Metaweb plan to maintain Freebase as a free and open database for the world. Better yet, we plan to contribute to and further develop Freebase and would be delighted if other web companies use and contribute to the data.

Andy Greenberg has a new post reviewing BookLiberator, a device for creating e-books. From the post:

All of which may send a small twinge up the spine of the publishing industry’s copyright lawyers. Why buy a book–or even an e-book from Amazon or Apple–if it can be copied from a friend, a college classmate, or your local library?

Shawn Adderly is reporting on efforts by Google and the Internet Archive to digitize content at the University of Illinois. From the post:

On average, about 500 pages per hour are scanned using two scribe book scanner machines owned by the Internet Archive, which equates to about 15 to 20 volumes being digitized per day.

Rebecca Fernandez has a new post comparing openness to various kinds of Chinese food. From the post:

It’s certainly hard to deny the value of a development model that’s produced innovations like the Philly Cheesesteak egg roll and pastrami fried rice.

Steve Wheeler has a new post noting that Brian Lamb will be speaking at an Open Educational Resources Symposium in London on July 23. From the post:

Lamb, the Manager of Emerging Technologies and Digital Content at the University of British Columbia’s Office of Learning Technology, is one of the keynote speakers at the symposium alongside Mary Lou Forward, Executive Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium.