[Open-education] Policy Projects at CC: Open Policy Network and Institute for Open Leadership

Cable Green cable at creativecommons.org
Thu Jan 9 21:28:27 UTC 2014 

Greetings Open Friends:

FYI:

https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/41633

Cable

-------------------------

Over the last year we’ve been working on developing two new projects: the
Open Policy Network and the Institute for Open Leadership. Both of these
initiatives arise out of a direct identified need from the Creative Commons
community. Let’s explain a bit more about each of these projects.


*Open Policy Network*
Overview

Over the last several years, Creative Commons and related organizations
have been contacted by multiple institutions and governments seeking
assistance on how to implement open licensing and develop materials and
strategies for open policies. By “open policies” we mean policies whereby
publicly funded resources are developed and released as openly licensed
resources. The $2 billion Department of Labor TAACCCT grant
program<https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/26100> would
be considered an open policy. There is a pressing need to provide support
to policymakers so they can successfully create, adopt, and implement open
policies. And CC affiliates from around the world have asked for an
informational hub where open policies could be shared and discussed.

The open community needs access to existing open policies, legislation, and
action plans for how open policies were created, discussed and passed.
Advocates need to know what barriers were encountered and how they were
overcome, and because politics and opportunities are local, open advocates
may need support customizing an open policy solution and strategy. This is
why we need the Open Policy Network (OPN).
Mission

The mission of the Open Policy Network is to foster the creation, adoption
and implementation of open policies and practices that advance the public
good by supporting advocates, organizations, and policy makers with
information and expertise, and connecting policy opportunities with those
who can provide assistance.
Description of activities

The OPN supports the creation, adoption, and implementation of open
policies around the world. We will engage in the following activities:

   - Connect policy makers and other interested parties to expert open
   policy advocates and organizations who are able to provide assistance and
   support when open policy opportunities arise.
   - Identify and build new open policy resources and/or services only
   where capacity and expertise does not currently exist, by providing needed
   resources, information, and advice.
   - Provide a baseline level of assistance for open policy opportunities
   as they arise, to ensure no open policy opportunity goes unfulfilled.
   - Link to, catalog and curate existing and new open policies and open
   policy resources from around the world.
   - Connect open policy advocates and organizations on a listserv and
   monthly phone conference to maximize knowledge transfer and cooperation.
   - Build new constituencies and advocates in support of open policies.
   - Operate in a manner respectful of member organizations’ existing
   messaging, communities, and business models.
   - Release all content produced under the project under CC BY and data
   under CC0, in a fully transparent manner on the project website.

Guiding principles

We believe:

   - The adoption of open policies can maximize the return on public
   investments and promote a global commons of resources for innovative reuse.
   - Publicly funded resources should be openly licensed resources.
   - Open policies should require, as a default, licenses compliant with
   the Open Definition <http://opendefinition.org/>, with a preference for
   open licenses that at most require attribution to the author (such as CC
   BY) for publicly funded content and no rights reserved (such as CC0) for
   publicly funded data. We recognize that there may be limited exceptions to
   the default.
   - The OPN is a open network free for anyone to join as long as they
   agree to contribute and abide by the mission and guiding principles.
   - The OPN work is aligned with the recommendations of existing
   initiatives such as the Budapest Open Access
Initiative<http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/>
   , Paris Open Educational Resources
Declaration<https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/33089>
   , Cape Town Declaration <http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/>,
PantonPrinciples<http://pantonprinciples.org/>,
   and theWashington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public
   Interest <http://infojustice.org/washington-declaration>.

Join this project!

For the time being, the Open Policy Network is being led by Creative
Commons, but we envision that the coordination of the Network can be
transferred to another group after some time. *We are looking for
interested individuals and groups to join the network, and we’ll begin
monthly organizing conference calls soon. You can sign up to the Google
group <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/open-policy-network> now.*


*Institute for Open Leadership*
Background

The Open Policy Network is committed to facilitating adoption of open
policies around the world by improving access to resources and expertise
for advocates of open policies. Creative Commons will begin to host an
Institute for Open Leadership (IOL) to train new leaders in education,
science, and public policy fields on the values and implementation of
openness in licensing, policies, and practices. The Institute will be a
tangible project under the umbrella of the OPN.

The Institute for Open Leadership will select twenty applicants per
year–through a competitive application process–to participate in an
intensive weeklong training session with leading experts in open fields.
Each participant will develop an outcomes-based plan for a capstone open
project, and report on progress within one year. Through training and the
project period, participants will develop the skills, relationships, and
motivation to become leaders for openness in their institutions and fields.
The Institute complements and strengthens the OPN’s mission, and generates
open policy projects by training a new corps of leaders ready to inculcate
open policies and practices in their institutions and across their
professional communities. We will initially run two cohorts of the
Institute (2 years), though the goal is to make the Institute an annual
event.
Problem meant to solve

There is significant and growing demand for leaders to support open
initiatives in educational, cultural, and scientific institutions, as well
as governmental agencies. At the organizational level, our capacity to meet
this demand is limited. Yet we believe that there is strong potential to
transfer and scale leadership experience to new champions for openness, and
to systematically cultivate a broad network of leaders to meet the
increasing demand. There is also significant interest among discretionary
institutional funding programs (such as publicly funded national and
state/provincial grants) to learn about and adopt CC licenses. A new and
broader group of leaders could address this interest by reaching and
educating institutions and professional communities about copyright and the
benefits of open licensing and open policies.

As open movements approach mainstream status, there is a vastly increased
need for more leaders who share the values of open licensing, the
understanding of openness best practices (e.g. open technical formats,
modular design, and accessibility standards), and the desire to guide some
portion of this ecosystem. The IOL will relieve the strain on existing
leaders and resources by recruiting and training a new group of experts who
can meet the demand for expertise on open licensing, pursue new
opportunities for publishing and using open content, and directly
influencing policy decisions in institutions and across fields of work.
Activities

*Application and selection process*
Creative Commons will solicit applications from interested persons around
the world to participate in the Institute. We will select a maximum of
twenty participants each year for two years. We plan to target persons who
are mid-level managers and/or potential leaders who are not currently
involved in the open movement, but who are moving toward leadership
positions in their institutions or fields of work over the next 5-10 years.
The selection criteria will include an evaluation of which candidates the
committee estimates will have the highest impact when they return to their
home institution/government. All applicants will be required to propose a
capstone open project they will complete after attending the IOL. These
projects must be properly scoped and must contain a strong open policy
component and contribute to increasing openness within their institution
and field.

*Prerequisites*
Once selected, participants will be required, prior to attending, to
complete any two online School of
Open<https://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-open/> courses
(e.g., copyright and open licensing, open education, open science, etc.).

*Immersive training period*
The IOL will be held at an appropriate conference facility or university
campus. All participants and instructors will stay in the same
accommodations and spend the majority of time together, creating the
potential for informal discussions and relationship building. Institute
instructors will be drawn from the top experts/leaders in the fields of
open access, open science, open educational resources, open culture, etc.
Each day of the week-long workshop will feature a concentration on open
licensing and policy in one of the fields and include time for participants
to consult directly with the instructors on their own open project plans.

*Capstone project work*
By the end of the workshop week, participants will have polished and
expanded their proposed capstone projects and have integrated open policy
aspects more thoroughly based on their newly acquired expertise and the
assistance of the instructors. The point of the capstone project is for the
participant to transform the concepts learned at the Institute into a
practical, actionable, and sustainable initiative within his/her
institution. Capstone open projects can take a variety of forms depending
on the interests of the participant and the type of institution where the
project will be implemented. Common features of a successful capstone open
project will be to:

   - Increase the amount of openly licensed materials in the commons;
   - Increase awareness among colleagues or related stakeholders about the
   benefits of openness;
   - Propose an open policy within the participants’ institution with an
   action plan to implement the open policy;
   - Demonstrate measurable results and complete report after 12 months
   that analyzes project progress, challenges, and sustainability.

An example of a successful capstone open project might be a librarian at a
university that is able to foster an open access policy at their
institution whereby university faculty agree to contribute publicly funded
research into the university repository under open licenses.

*Reporting*
In addition to the written reports (shared under CC BY
4.0<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>),
there will also be a webinar scheduled 12 months after the Institute to
share the outcomes of each participant’s project. All webinars will
continue fostering the development of a new open leadership cohort.
Timeline

   - March-May 2014: Cohort #1 application period
   - July 2014: Cohort #1 week-long institute
   - November 2014-January 2015: Cohort #2 application period
   - March 2015: Cohort #2 week-long institute
   - July 2015: Cohort #1 12-month follow up webinar & open projects
   completed
   - March 2016: Cohort #2 12-month follow up webinar & open projects
   completed

We’re excited to get these two exciting initiatives up and running, and we
look forward to working with many individuals and organizations to make
them a success. Many thanks to the William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation<http://www.hewlett.org/> and
the Open Society Foundations <http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/> for
funds to kickstart these projects!



Cable Green, PhD
Director of Global Learning
Creative Commons
@cgreen <http://twitter.com/cgreen>
http://creativecommons.org/education
* reuse, revise, remix & redistribute*

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