This is really good news! and I salute HappyAbout for their openness, ethics and integrity! OER rock Cheers, Patricia
On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 6:42 PM, Wayne Mackintosh < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > Today is reason to celebrate and commend OER friendly publishers! The OER > Foundation commends > THINKaha<http://www.happyabout.com/thinkaha/opentextbooktweet01.php>and the > Community > College Open Textbook Collaborative <http://collegeopentextbooks.org/> for > doing the right thing. > > Yesterday I was sad because of an oversight where my contribution to a > great text was not licensed under a free cultural works approved license. > Today I am happy! Mitch Levy <http://www.happyabout.com/about.php>, CEO > of Happy About and THINKaha publishers scheduled a Skype conference with me > yesterday evening to discuss a fix to this licensing oversight. I'm happy to > report that the team at THINKaha worked through the night and posted a > copyright notification amendment that the forward of the text is licensed > under a CC-BY-SA license. > > Moreover, Happy About and ThINKaha publishers have released a CC-BY-SA > electronic version of the text available on > WikiEducator<http://wikieducator.org/Open_Textbook_Tweet>, > which is now licensed under a free cultural works approved license :-). > > I strongly recommend that you consider purchasing a hard copy of Open > Textbook Tweet: Driving Awareness and Adoption of Open > Textbooks<http://www.happyabout.com/thinkaha/opentextbooktweet01.php>. > This is an important juncture in our history of OER. Collectively we should > support the foresight of an innovative publisher and the Community College > Textbook Collaborative in seeing the potential of the open web and OER > publishing. > > If you are looking for an OER friendly publisher -- I suggest you contact > the Happy About <http://www.happyabout.com/about.php> team. > > *Thoughts on how can publishers earn a living in the (F)OER world?* > > Many publishers moving into OER markets protect their products and markets > by restricting other publishers from selling the same text by applying the > non-commercial restriction. This is a traditional and old-style business > model which does not recognise the potential and opportunities of the open > web and free (libre) content licensing. Publishers typically make an upfront > investment and they recoup their investment through the sales of the text. > By limiting other publishers from distributing and publishing the same text, > the publisher who has taken the risk with upfront investment has greater > control of the selling price and distribution rights to the text. > > The Free (Libre) and Open Resources for Education (FORE) movement advocates > against the non-commercial restriction, because we believe in the essential > freedoms and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with regards to the > right of individuals to earn a living. A publisher in Uganda should have the > freedom to publish and distribute FORE and not be restricted from doing so > because a publisher, for instance in the USA, has applied a non-commercial > restriction on the text. OER should not be the reason for restricting anyone > from earning a living. > > So how do we overcome the business dilemma for publishers in managing the > risks associated with the upfront investment for a new OER text in an > uncertain market? The solution requires us to tweak the business model by > removing the need (and risk) for upfront investment by the publisher. > > The majority of educators working in the formal education sector are > effectively paid by taxpayer dollars. There are a number of education > institutions, governments and non-profits which are shifting intellectual > policies to adopt free cultural works approved licences (for instance Otago > Polytechnic<http://wikieducator.org/Otago_Polytechnic:_An_IP_policy_for_the_times>, > New Zealand, the > Wikiwijs<http://wikiwijsinhetonderwijs.nl/over-wikiwijs/english/>, > Dutch Ministry of Education, Washington State Board for Community and > Technical Colleges <http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/22712>, > BCcampus <http://wikieducator.org/BCcampus/Case_study>, Canada, > NZGOA<http://www.e.govt.nz/policy/nzgoal>L, > New Zealand etc.). As the OER movement grows, this represents a huge > development resource for authoring and creating FORE. Educators can develop > and release materials under free cultural works approved licenses. > Non-profit communities like WikiEducator, the Community College Open > Textbook Collaborative, OCWC, Connexions etc can help co-ordinate and > determine development priorities. Innovative wiki ==> > print<http://wikieducator.org/WikiPublishing>technologies and platforms like > Connexions have the capabilities to produce > customised open textbooks based on a model of mass-customisation (as opposed > to mass standardisation). > > So for example, a school or tertiary education institution may compile > their own unique study guide or open text book from texts in WIkiEducator > using the book collection editor. They can choose their own cover and add > their institutional logo (derivative works are permitted). At this point > users may request prices and quotes from a range of publishers who print > FORE textbooks online in the wiki. Industry-scale printing technology means > that publishers will be able to print and bind textbooks at costs which > would typically be lower than the cost of printing this locally on your > desktop printer. Publishers will incorporate a small commission (eg 10%) > into their pricing which is paid back to the non-profit communities from > which the texts are sourced as an "honesty box" contribution. The non-profit > communities use the honesty box contributions to pay authors to develope > FORE addressing gaps in the curriculum. In this model, publishers only need > to commit cost once they have a confirmed order. > > This is potentially a win-win model and evolving OER ecosystem: students > get cheaper texts, publishers can still make a profit, and authors can get > paid for their work. All using licenses that meet the free cultural works > definition. Augmenting existing publishing models to incorporate these > approaches in parallel with the traditional publishing model will improve > efficiency, and widen access to education materials around the world. > > The OER Foundation is working with progressive and forward looking > publishers like Happy About and Pedia Press who have seen the OER futures > which have already happened! > > > -- > Wayne Mackintosh <http://wikieducator.org/User:Mackiwg>, Ph.D. > Director OER Foundation <http://www.oerfoundation.org/> > Director, International Centre for Open Education, > Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. > Founder and elected Community Council Member, > Wikieducator<http://www.wikieducator.org%20/> > Mobile +64 21 2436 380 > Skype: WGMNZ1 > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "WikiEducator" group. > To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org > To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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