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

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All:

I am enjoying this discussion!

I was formally introduced to the philosophy of openness when I happened
upon a local Linux User’s Group (an informal club where people who are fans
of the Open Source Linux Operating Systems gather). I may have been in my
early twenties at the time and I don’t think I had really ever put much
thought into alternative systems of creating products and services. I
always assumed that companies made things, people bought them, and that was
that. I liked the idea that people could come together and create something
that was aesthetically pleasing and functional, and that it could be
created by volunteers doing what they loved without anyone being forced or
coerced to participate.

I was always interested in the human aspects of openness. When I was
looking for a research topic to study in my doctoral work in Instructional
Design, I eventually landed on openness as I learned more about the many
areas that the philosophy had been applied to. I looked more deeply into
Open Source Software and started seeing how it was being implemented in
higher education in the US. I also learned about the differences that Andre
was referring to.  I saw Open Access research as an interesting alternative
to the standard journal systems, and later found OER, open textbooks, and
similar open content to be interesting as well. One of the more prominent
Instructional Designers in our field, David Wiley, has done a lot of work
in this area. I was also intrigued with how the open concept worked in a
learning environment, especially around the community aspect. When MOOCs
took off and then became exploited, I was really a bit bummed out. I think
this is part of what Darco was referring to when he talked about the term
being inflated. I was happy that the concept was getting attention, but I
was really concerned that the hype was going to give people a bad taste for
the openness. There were also a lot of people proselytizing the concept and
over-proimising it’s benefits without evidence. On top of this, it was
extremely difficult to nail down just what openness was all about at its
core. From a research perspective, this gave me some issues.

I kept digging around and eventually found the open education movement from
the 1960s and 70s, which featured open plan schools, respect for learners
as humans with autonomy, and many of the same issues that are apparent in
todays open movement. I kept digging, and eventually settled on the idea
that openness, at least as it applies to products, systems, and services,
is all about implementing transparency (visibility, access, etc. broadly
within the system or service) and freedom (ownership;the ability and the
right to interact with the various pieces of the system). I went with this
for a good while. I really like it, and I have published a little bit with
these concepts, but my thinking has evolved a bit more through my
dissertation work so that I now think of openness as a more human-centered
concept. I think that really, what openness is all about, is attempting to
design or redesign systems, products, etc. so that they benefit as many
people as possible, without sacrificing the functionality of the original
system or product.

I know that was a long email, but I am passionate about the subject (and I
think you all are as well)!! I will say that I am a good bit more reserved
about openness than a lot of its proponents. I think there is a definite
place for it alongside traditional systems, and I think that it has
absolute benefits, but I don’t think that openness should necessarily be
the standard, nor that it is good in all areas. For me, it is something
that should be practiced, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator
(lift?), but does not imply that we should do away with the dominant system
(the lift). I think this is a response to the power issue that Marieke and
Pat brought up. It can be an ideological topic, but it can also have real
implications for innovating, especially in education.



-- 
best,

Fredrick W. Baker III

e-mail:      fredwbaker at gmail.com
Phone:      251-281-8517
Skype:       fredwbaker
Twitter:    @FredWBaker
WWW:     FredWBaker.com

University of South Alabama
College of Education
UCOM 3800, Mobile, AL
36688

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
something, build a new model that makes the existing model
obsolete."~Buckminster Fuller






On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Andre Jaenisch <ryunoki at openmailbox.org>wrote:

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>
> Since Leonhard missed it, I'm replying to this thread again to enable
> him to join the question.
>
> Leonhard, below you can find former contributions by Darco and Pat to
> the question Marieke asked.
>
> Feel free to reply on this email :)
>
>
> André Jaenisch
>
> Am 02.05.2014 19:49, schrieb Darco Jansen:
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Thank you Marieke for starting this discussion. And thanks for referring
> to removing barriers as a key issue.
> >
> > Openness in open education for me is about removing all unnecessary
> barriers to learning and provide people with a reasonable chance of success
> in education. This implies 'openness' in the sense not only of no financial
> cost, but also open accessibility, open licensing policy, freedom of place,
> pace and time of study, open entry, and open pedagogy.
> >
> > For me personally I see an inflation of the term openness, as everyone
> is using open now. Open has become a business term, it opens doors.
> Consequently openness can be anything. MOOCs are open as they are free
> online available? (no for me). OCWC changed their name to Open Education
> Consortium, and now they are now an expert consortium of all apects in open
> education? (no for me)
> >
> > But who cares.... Openness is not a absolute term, it is refers to
> something being closed. And not everything can and must be open, as
> discussed in latest book on Open Development by Smith and Katherine:
> "However, no open model is ever universally open, nor can it ever be. "The
> constraints of people , existing social systems, and the contours of the
> open model all provide limitations to who can participate, and how. Time,
> distance, language, culture, past experiences, and so on, affect
> individuals' ability to access and participate meaningfully."
> >
> > So, for me openness is about removing barriers but such that it it
> creates success for as much as people as possible And that is not only
> barriers at entrance, of by improving design (e.g. by pedagogy) but also
> how open development approaches can increase success for many.  As such it
> is connected to a social mission, to equity, to social inclusion, etc.
> >
> > Enjoy your weekend,
> >
> > Darco
> >
> > Sent by iPad
> >
> > Op 2 mei 2014 om 18:59 heeft "Pat Lockley" <
> patrick.lockley at googlemail.com<mailto:patrick.lockley at googlemail.com>>
> het volgende geschreven:
> >
> >
> > To me, openness is, like you mentioned based on power. Hobbes and his
> leviathan are quite apt.
> > I don't feel it has to be about knowledge or education, but the humble
> acceptance that some other can improve or gain from your work in ways you
> can't possibly imagine, and to prevent them from doing so, is to denigrate
> your work, almost explicitly criticise it, and to leave me thinking you
> must be a little arrogant.
> >
> > On 2 May 2014 14:47, "Marieke Guy" <marieke.guy at okfn.org<mailto:
> marieke.guy at okfn.org>> wrote:
> > 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
> > LinkedUp<http://linkedup-project.eu/> Project Community Coordinator |
> skype: mariekeguy | tel: 44 (0) 1285 885681 | @mariekeguy<
> http://twitter.com/mariekeguy>
> > The Open Knowledge<http://okfn.org/>
> > Empowering through Open Knowledge
> > http://okfn.org/ | @okfn<http://twitter.com/okfn>| OKF on Facebook |
> Blog | Newsletter
> > http://remoteworker.wordpress.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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> >
> >
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> >
>
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