• Log in

K12 Open Ed

• A blog for reflecting on the opportunities and challenges in open education
•       
•       
•       
•       
• Home
• About
• NECC 2009

Licensing discussion and the whole libre thing

Posted by karen on February 20, 2008 in Uncategorized

I participated in a group conversation today about Open Ed (part 1 and part 2). It was interesting. The first part of the conversation was really about copyright education, not open ed. When the conversation finally got around to open ed resources, the conversation turned, as it inevitably does, to license compatibility, CC-BY vs. SA/GFDL, etc., the whole “libre” issue, etc.

As the participants were talking, the call facilitator text’d “For most people, this discussion will go WAY over their heads.”

I replied, “You are right…However…the ‘open’ culture community is forcing this debate. Frankly it’s driving people away from the open movement.”

When asked to elaborate, I shared my view that forcing a specific vision of “open” on others that is not inclusive is likely to fracture the movement before it even gets going (especially in K-12).  I have become more and more frustrated by this issue.

I’m increasingly moving toward David Wiley’s suggestion that “we need a Educational Productivity Pledge along the lines of the following: Every time you feel tempted to engage in a discussion about free/libre issues, create some educational materials instead. Imagine where we might be now if we could all find the strength of character to adhere to such a pledge.”

And I am leaning more toward hosting my open content on my own server. (Still undecided though.)