It's been many years since grenness started being a common idea in activist circles for an institution. Once we've put out an independent assessment and demonstated what sorts of metrics might be used -- and agreed on a couple of them as fundamental -- people that hand out awards will have something to work with.
Getting a small consortium of friednly orgs to support/sponsor/write about the first report card on universities will help. I could see some of them helping gather data - herdict might help cover censorship, cc might help cover licensing, a major OA group might cover journal access and publishing standards. SJ On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 9:16 PM, Adi Kamdar <[email protected]> wrote: > I know the Princeton Review rates "greenness" as well. > http://www.princetonreview.com/green/press-release.aspx > > The problem I'm foreseeing is that sustainability is much more > well-politicized issue than openness. It seems obvious that these ranking > magazines picked that up, but it may be a while before openness is > considered. I think this is the big reason why we should focus on tackling > the preliminary rankings ourselves, show that it can be done, show how it > can be done, and show why it's important. Plus, instead of having other > organizations collect and publish findings (something that may not happen at > all), we should find out and publish what we can (something that we can make > sure happens). > > -Adi > > > > On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 8:58 PM, Matthew Senate > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> I hate to bump this message, but I'd really like to get a response or some >> feedback about this idea. >> >> Any thoughts? Newsweek is just one, there are many more serious rankings >> that need to take OA, OERs, and the like into consideration. Are there any >> already? What do we know? >> >> - Matt >> >> >> > One of the s...@berkeley members (Michael Lissner) suggested an >> > interesting strategy to better distribute the labor of evaluating >> > Universities' "Openness." He suggested convincing groups that already >> > review and rank schools to include "Openness" in their evaluations. He >> > suggested for example >> > getting people like Newsweek to include "Openness" just as they are >> > beginning to include "Greenness." >> > >> > We should put together a reasonable and convincing argument that >> describes >> > what "Openness" is, which would be similar to the "report cards" project >> > below. But instead of simply implementing this on our own, we should >> > pressure other groups to see: >> > 1. Students actually care about these issues >> > 2. Openness is an important aspect of any institution whose purpose >> > includes public service >> > 3. Given the technology and media now at our disposal, universities have >> > the responsibility to realize to the best of their ability the full >> > productive potential of these tools in the name of education and freedom >> > >> > Note that Openness is perhaps not the best term, since it could be >> > confused with Transparency (which is another metric that should be >> > included in evaluating universities--but that's a battle for another >> day). >> > >> > - Matt >> > s...@berkeley >> > >> >> Writes Kevin Donovan on our blog: >> >> >> >> As many of you know, following the Free Culture 2008 Conference, >> >> Students for Free Culture began the Open University Campaign - an >> >> initiative to increase collaboration, sharing, and openness at the >> level >> >> of higher education. With the academic year about to begin, we want to >> >> invite all interested parties to assist the with project; after all, we >> >> wouldn't be very genuine if we didn't do this in an open manner >> >> ourselves! >> >> >> >> ![Oucmini][1] >> >> >> >> **About the Open University Campaign** >> >> >> >> In October 2008, Students for Free Culture drafted and adopted the >> >> Wheeler Declaration which declared that: >> >> >> >> _ >> >> >> >> "An open university is one in which:_ >> >> >> >> _1. The research produced is open access; >> >> >> >> 2. The course materials are open educational resources; >> >> >> >> 3. The university embraces free software and open standards; >> >> >> >> 4. The university's patents are readily licensed for free software, >> >> essential medicine, and the public good; >> >> >> >> 5. The university's network reflects the open nature of the Internet,_ >> >> >> >> _where "university" includes all parts of the community: students, >> >> faculty and administration."_ >> >> >> >> Out of this agreement has grown the Open University Campaign, of which >> a >> >> major goal is to produce objective, reliable indicators of individual >> >> universities' levels of openness. A primary method through which this >> >> will be accomplished is through "report card" style profiles of leading >> >> institution of higher learning, similar to [College Sustainability >> >> Report Cards][2]. Students for Free Culture has already begun this work >> >> by defining principles of measurement, researching available resources, >> >> and developing surveys to be distributed to universities. >> >> >> >> **What Will the Open University Report Cards Entail?** >> >> >> >> Mirroring the Wheeler Declaration, the Open University Report Cards, as >> >> currently envisioned, will evaluate schools on five topics: >> >> >> >> 1. Open Access: Are faculty required to make their scholarship open >> >> access? Is the university press publish open access materials? >> >> >> >> 2. Open Educational Resources: Does the university create OERs? Does >> the >> >> university use OERs? >> >> >> >> 3. Free and Open Source Software and Standards: Does university >> >> computing use FOSS? Are students and faculty required to use >> proprietary >> >> software? >> >> >> >> 4. Intellectual Property: Is IP revenue transparent? Is IP used to >> >> promote innovation, or restrict knowledge? >> >> >> >> 5. Network Management: Is the network neutral? Is user privacy >> >> respected? >> >> >> >> Establishing credible criteria under which schools will be assessed >> will >> >> be essential to creating a respected resource. For example, Which >> >> schools' open access policies are currently lacking important criteria? >> >> Or, To what extent should a school actively support FOSS? The >> volunteers >> >> currently involved with the project are working through these questions >> >> on [the wiki page, and we encourage you to join the conversation][3]. >> >> >> >> **What the Open University Campaign Needs** >> >> >> >> In order to make this a successful endeavor, Students for Free Culture >> >> needs your involvement! >> >> >> >> * Are you a student who can _research official university [open >> access >> >> policies][4]_? >> >> >> >> * Are you passionate about FOSS and can _develop a [questionnaire for >> >> IT administrators about FOSS policy][5]_? >> >> >> >> * Are you statistically-inclined and can _handle data on >> >> universities_? >> >> >> >> * Are you a web developer who could _create a public website for the >> >> Open University Report Cards_? >> >> >> >> * Are you a graphic designer who could _create posters to raise >> >> awareness on campuses_? >> >> >> >> **In Closing…** >> >> >> >> The Open University Campaign recognizes that scholastic advancement >> >> occurs most readily in an environment of sharing, openness and >> >> collaboration. By providing a cross-index of leading universities, the >> >> project will add important comparative measurements to encourage >> >> increased academic openness. Our hope is that these resources will >> >> provide a platform from which openness activists can endeavor to >> improve >> >> the scholastic environment. >> >> >> >> Join us by jumping into the [wiki][3], signing up for the [Open >> >> University mailing list][6], or emailing board (at) freeculture (dot) >> >> org with suggestions or questions! >> >> >> >> [1]: http://freeculture.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Oucmini.jpg >> >> (Oucmini) >> >> >> >> [2]: http://greenreportcard.org/ >> >> >> >> [3]: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Open_University_Report_Cards >> >> >> >> [4]: >> >> http://wiki.freeculture.org/Open_University_Report_Cards_Open_Access >> >> >> >> [5]: >> http://wiki.freeculture.org/Open_University_Report_Cards_Survey >> >> >> >> [6]: http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openuniversity >> >> >> >> URL: >> >> >> http://freeculture.org/blog/2009/10/27/call-for-participation-join-the-open-university-campaign/ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Discuss mailing list >> >> [email protected] >> >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> >> >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Discuss mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
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