[Open-education] Friday Chat: what is openness to you?
Marieke Guy
marieke.guy at okfn.org
Sat May 3 19:31:18 UTC 2014
Wow - some seriously great answers!
I guess a few people are familiar with the term 'open washing' - the
idea of adding the term to 'open' to something a little dubious that
isn't really that open at all - here mentioned in an article about data
release
<http://blog.okfn.org/2014/03/10/open-washing-the-difference-between-opening-your-data-and-simply-making-them-available/>.
So for many openness is a scale (rather than a binary opposition) - see
Darco's Smith and Katherine quote. There have been attempts to map this,
such as this one by Sunil Abraham
<http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/24244/beyond-property-rights-thinking-about-moral-definitions-openness>
- just wondered if people had seen any other useful representations?
Marieke
On 03/05/2014 01:06, Fred Baker wrote:
> 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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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><mailto: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><mailto: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
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> >
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--
Marieke Guy
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