I think it's also about demand -- articulating what "open" is to pre-college students is one thing, establishing to the publishers that its a criterion that students will be evaluating universities on is another story.
So I think the best is to have the data first, establish the demand, and then make the pitch to the publications. But I love the scale of your thinking, Matt. :) F ~ ~ ~ thoughts / http://fredbenenson.com/blog work / http://creativecommons.org sights / http://flickr.com/fcb sounds / http://www.last.fm/user/mecredis status / http://twitter.com/mecredis On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 3:01 PM, Samuel Klein <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
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