#digped Storify: Outlining the "Open" in Open Access and Open Source

September 28, 2012 | Filed in: #digped

View the story "#digped Storify: Blurring Lines, Breaking Rules" on Storify#digped Storify: Blurring Lines, Breaking RulesThis #digped conversation began with a question on Open Access v. Open Source. From there, it moved outward to consider the risks and rewards of "openness" more generally in our scholarship and pedagogy.Storified by Robin Wharton · Fri, Sep 28 2012 08:41:30Blurring Lines, Breaking Rules: a #digped discussion | #digped | HYBRID PEDAGOGY | @scoopit http://sco.lt/6EfgXJHybrid PedagogyPrompted by some of the initial responses to Robin's #digped announcement, "Blurring Lines, Breaking Rules," the discussion began with consideration of working definitions for and distinctions between "Open Source" and "Open Access."#digped starting now. Let's begin by making some distinctions & creating working definitions for "Open Access" & "Open Source."Hybrid PedagogyIMO, OA refers only to the ability to access the article, open source is more comprehensive, b/c you can do stuff w/ code/text. #digpedRoger WhitsonThe 'open' of open source facilitates collaboration, the 'open' of open access does not, necessarily #digpedClay FenlasonI like the idea that open access means that content/material becomes flexible - copyable, changeable, operable. #digpedSean Michael Morris@jessifer @rswharton Open source has specific meaning in software. Lets you look under the hood and modify. #digpedAndrew Staroscik@Jessifer open source and open access are different thangs - just sayin' (hi from Germany BTW :-) #digpedCharlotte FrostIn organizations working on OA, "Open Access" seems limited to scholarly/academic pursuits. We need broader term + #digpedHeather MartinIs it fair to say that to many, OA in education means I don't have to pay money to access/use it? #digpedAndrew StaroscikAs a number of participants observed, the distinctions between open access and open source approaches to intellectual property sharing stem from how we define "open," and the discussion quickly turned to existing and potential paradigms of "openness." What does the "Open" in "Open Access" and "Open Source" mean? #digpedHybrid PedagogyDoes the "Open" in "Open Source" or "Open Access" mean free, accessible, equally accessible, available, readily available? #digpedJesse Stommel@afamiglietti @hybridped I think a lot of people conflate "Open" and "Free," so it's worth talking about this. #digpedJesse Stommel@jessifer @rogerwhitson maybe we'd LIKE "Open" to imply content written for a general audience, but I'm not sure it DOES mean that #digpedAndrew FamigliettiFor me "open" means that I can go in and play/manipulate/change. #digpedLee SkallerupSince people asked, "Free" implies an ethical obligation to Freedom, "Open" implies only an instrumental obligation to collaboration #digpedAndrew Famiglietti@andrewstaroscik @readywriting @rswharton Should we have more writing (academic or other) that lets us look under the hood & modify? #digpedJesse StommelWe've mentioned open=free...What about open=transparency? #digpedLee Skallerupto encompass "open" use across communities. #digpedHeather MartinOpenness might be intellectual giving. Unfortunately, we do not live in a giving society. #digpedWilliam Allen@readywriting Yes, and open=visible. #digpedJesse StommelI think "open" is a very broad term than can articulate with a variety of other things. We need to ask "open for what, to whom, etc" #digpedAndrew Famiglietti@readywriting i prefer to think open=transparent and available #digpedJR DingwallThe Open means very different things in "open peer-review," "open access," and "open source." #digpedJesse StommelI wish "Open" actually meant more accessible to the average user but more often it means you'll need a guru to help set it up #digpedCarrie Padian@readywriting ideally to borrow, retool, change, reference, consume etc. (with accred of course ;) ) #digpedJR Dingwall“@woodpainter: Most everything in professorial training argues against openness #digped” Yes, it's about status, privilege, power.Mark McGuireOpenness encourages conversation, widens the audience, speeds the contribution. #digpedWilliam AllenOpenness can also build academic reputation, which seems to be the hook for most professionals #digpedClay FenlasonInterwoven with this exchange regarding openness as a theoretical or philosophical concept influencing how we share and disseminate our work as scholars and pedagogues was a more practical discussion of the particular problems created by intellectual property regulation and the value of open source and open access as responses to and potential solutions for those problems.I frankly think that lumping all these things together under the one label 'open' most often leads to muddled thinking #digpedClay FenlasonIt foregrounds a kind of philosophical commitment, and obscures the real problems you're trying to address #digpedClay FenlasonOA doesn't necessarily help to clarify copyright issues in same way as CC and OS. #digpedRobin WhartonCC is mainly about finer gradations of constraining uses, so that people feel safer about their choices. #digpedClay Fenlason@rswharton although, the goal of OA IS to be clear about copyrights. Not there yet. #digpedMicah VandegriftA thread in the conversation has turned toward Creative Commons (as a license and as a notion). Is a CC license "Open"? #digpedHybrid Pedagogy@micahvandegrift @khomotso "Constraint" isn't always bad. "Share alike" is a constraint, a condition of the license. #digpedRobin Wharton@HybridPed could be described as "ajar". How wide open must a door be before we consider it "open"? #digpedJR Dingwall@rswharton which I guess is my big gripe about open source, etc. It's 'open' as long as you've the knowledge & experience to use it #digpedCarrie Padian@carriepadian @rswharton And I think that's one of the biggest hurdles. Free isn't really free, b/c it costs time and manpower #digpedLee SkallerupFrom the conversation about openness emerged one about how we value and compensate intellectual labor. In this thread, we considered questions about what and why we pay for things that are "free," how the current system can be reconfigured to make "open" or "free" economically sustainable, and the political, ethical, and economic consequences of different modes of openness.
I agree many forms of "open" software require greater time investments from users. This needs to be corrected in some cases. However #digpedAndrew FamigliettiA Free society requires greater time investment from participants. We need to wrench that time back from those who monopolize it. #digpedAndrew FamigliettiSo, here is a doozy, is "open" sustainable? #digpedLee Skallerup@readywriting @andrewstaroscik Yeah, how do we "monetize" open? What kinds of new livelihoods can we make? #highered needs some. :) #digpedJesse Stommel“@readywriting: @JRRockwall @woodpainter YES! The "work" put into openness aren't rewarded. #digped” Enter the gift economy.Mark McGuire@readywriting Seems to be, though is it really delivering on what it could or should be? And if it did, would THAT be sustainable? #digpedCarrie Padian@rswharton @readywriting yes, but not without massive changes to larger systems of reward and social resource distribution #digpedAndrew FamigliettiHow can we do "open" work that is sustainable? How can we (or should we) support ourselves with this kind of work? #digpedHybrid PedagogyAgain, I think it gets things off on the wrong foot to start with 'open.' Start with sharing/collaboration. 'Open' a means to an end #digpedClay FenlasonYou do open primarily because doing your own thing is unsustainable #digpedClay Fenlason@khomotso I find myself able to let the word "open" do its complex work all at once in my head. But, yes, collaboration seems key. #digpedJesse Stommel@khomotso But how do you convince professors/highered that what they are doing is unsustainable? #digpedLee Skallerup@readywriting @rswharton @carriepadian This is important, we need to really talk about what subsidizes what in higher ed. #digpedAndrew StaroscikI think I'm hearing that openness is an economic issue, not an intellectual stance. #digpedWilliam Allen@woodpainter #digped Yes openness = donation to the greater good etc.Challenge for HE & OL in part, is 2 compensate author for Open content.Jenny Ankenbauer@jessifer @rswharton @readywriting minimum guaranteed income, maker-movement distributed industry, Graeber/Rushkoff/Occupy ideas #digpedAndrew Famiglietti@woodpainter A pedagogical stance for me that has economic implications. #digpedJesse StommelAt my university students subsidize research. Be clear. Students, not the university. Shouldn't I give it back? #digpedWilliam Allen@readywriting must follow a grass roots rather than institutionalized models, growth at a manageable rate based on community #digpedJR DingwallWhat is the pedagogical value in openness: encourages collaboration and play, disrupts power dynamics of education. #digpedJesse StommelHow do we overcome the challenge of language in open? Breakdown the translation wall. #digpedJR Dingwall@jessifer except when it doesn't. Open also means "surveillance." Sometimes play needs darkness. Sometimes. #digpedAndrew FamigliettiNot surprisingly, as the hour drew to a close, @HybridPed turned the conversation back to pedagogy, and the implications of all of these forms of "open" for the work we do in the classroom.Bringing discussion around to pedagogy. What is the pedagogical value in openness? #digpedHybrid Pedagogy@HybridPed I like to start with what works for learning & then figuring out how to deal with the economic & political remifications. #digpedJesse Stommel@HybridPed Forms learning communities, focuses on process-not just results, extends beyond classroom walls #digpedLee Skallerup@HybridPed Open pedagogy is one in which students are empowered to make responsible choices re intellectual property, privacy. #digpedRobin WhartonNever forget that pedagogy carries moral responsibilities. #digpedWilliam AllenAlso openness as pedagogy: authentic audiences, new feedback system, barrier-breaking #digpedLee Skallerup@woodpainter #digped Pedagogy is a choice & involves decision of what/n to teach or how. Am I open-ended, more work, or predicable w/direct?Jenny AnkenbauerWe concluded by considering how desire for openness in our pedagogy must be balanced with respect for students' privacy concerns, what we accomplish by putting the classroom behind a privacy wall, and whether "safety" is something we can or should preserve in our learning spaces.
@Jessifer Also, how do we balance openness with privacy, or safe spaces for learning? Need nuanced, contextualized choices like CC #digpedClay Fenlason@afamiglietti @jessifer must be critical when deciding what to have open. Ensuring the "classroom" is safe learning environment #digpedJR DingwallI wonder what a safe space for learning means when so much content is available online? #digped Not that it isn't a concern.Roger Whitson@rogerwhitson On its simplest level, the freedom to ask 'dumb' questions and not have them come back to you in another context #digpedClay Fenlason@khomotso @rogerwhitson agreed. along the lines of why many Universities don't allow class to be recorded #digpedJR Dingwall@rogerwhitson I'm not sure these "safe spaces" really exist anymore. Maybe, they are purely nostalgic? Maybe learning isn't safe. #digpedJesse Stommel@khomotso @rogerwhitson We should also consider, though, why people are penalized for asking stupid questions. #digpedRobin Wharton@readywriting @HybridPed Maybe comes first (as in first thing we do), but maybe students can still come first from ethical place. #digpedJesse Stommel@rswharton @afamiglietti @jessifer they do. They need to be well informed decision makers though. #digpedJR Dingwall@Jessifer @rogerwhitson 'safe' 2 me, implies safe for the student to express him/herself without fear of personal attack #digpedValerie Robin@vrobin1000 @rogerwhitson Isn't there always risk of personal attack? I try to advocate for my students rather than sheltering them. #digpedJesse Stommel@Jessifer @rogerwhitson Learning has always been dangerous. Education is even more dangerous. Notice how govt tries to stamp it out #digpedWilliam Allen@khomotso @rogerwhitson @Jessifer Do we make classrooms safer by walling them off or encouraging social values that make them safe. #digpedRobin WhartonTurn it around: is there any value to privacy? And if there is, do any of them have to do with learning? #digpedClay FenlasonInteresting to talk about OA and OS on twitter given the restrictions they place on use and reuse of tweets #digpedAndrew StaroscikCan we talk about "safe spaces" for (open) learning when for many of us, we don't have a "safe space" for (open) teaching? #digpedLee Skallerup@jessifer Another facet of openness is exposure #digpedAndrew StaroscikAs always, the discussion was fruitful and productive, even if we may have generated more questions than we answered. If you are interested in continuing the conversation, please consider doing so by commenting here, joining the next #digped conversation on Friday, October 5, at 1 pm, or submitting an article to Hybrid Pedagogy. You should also take a look at another Storify of this conversation created by Martin Lugton.

Tags: Open Education, Valerie Robin