[Open-education] Friday Chat: what is openness to you?

Fri May 2 13:47:48 UTC 2014

Last week we talked about having a Friday Chat or discussion on the 
list. There were quite a few suggestions on how best to do this. I was 
out at OER14 early this week (some really great sessions 
<http://education.okfn.org/oer14-outwards-and-onwards/>) and have been a 
little busy since so haven't had time to look in to any of the more 
exciting approaches in detail.

In an attempt to keep things going I've set up an etherpad 
<http://new.okfnpad.org/p/Open_Education_Working_Friday_Chats> 
[apologies Andre ;-)] and have dropped in some ideas for topics - please 
do add more!

Fred suggested we start with "what is openness to you?"

Thinking back, I studied an MSc in Information Management many moons ago 
and I remember a discussion we had in the pub after a lecture about the 
phrase "knowledge is power". We acknowledged that the phrase is often 
used in a very competitive way in the commercial space - for many of us 
it brought to mind bankers and trust fund managers - people who deal in 
secrecy and competitive advantage. When we dug a bit deeper 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientia_potentia_est> we realised that 
the phrase (attributed by many to Francis Bacon - though actually first 
used by his secretary Thomas Hobbes) is actually about the value of 
education, not about withholding information. Our discussions went on to 
consider whether which is the best path to knowledge - openness or 
secrecy? I was quite keen on openness...

I see openness as one of the tools that helps us find knowledge. For me 
openness is about a freedom that allows us to work together, rather than 
in isolation. In places like the UK openness is often a given, in other 
countries they have to continually fight for this right. Openness 
manifests itself in removal of barriers such as censorship, financial 
inequality, the inability to change, racism and other forms of 
oppression - it results in transparency and ultimately a better world.

So what about you? ;-)

Marieke

-- 

Marieke Guy
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