What it means to be open
‘Open’ is a word used to describe many things, such as open source software, open publishing, and open educational resources.
Thomas Jefferson said, “A candle loses nothing of itself in lighting another candle.” This is Candles in Love by by Nevit Dilmen, licensed under CC BY SA 3.0
Wiley (Open Education and the Future, 2010) explains that in its core, ‘open’ means sharing, and although I agree with this definition I feel that it bears saying that although things that are open may also be free, ‘open’ and ‘free’ do not mean the same thing. In that same presentation, Wiley proposes that something is ‘open’ if it conforms to the 4 Rs of Reuse; later (CN-1333 Open Course, 2012) he added a fifth one:
- Reuse
- Revise
- Remix
- Redistribute
- Retain
What are some examples?
These are examples of software that are both free and open:
- Mozilla Firefox browser
- Apache HTTP Server
- Linux operating system
- GIMP graphics editor
- Joomla content management system
The projects hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation are examples of open projects, such as:
- Wikipedia online encyclopedia
- Wiktionary multilingual online dictionary
- Wikimedia Commons collection of open images, sounds, and videos
- Wikivoyage travel guide
- Wikibooks library
- See also: I’ve made a list of other free and open resources you may like to use; see my essay, Free!
Although open resources are often free, free resources are not necessarily open. There are many great, free resources on the Internet that you can use for free, but you cannot apply the 5 Rs, such as some of the photos on Flickr, or some of the videos on YouTube. Unfortunately, some companies have used the word ‘open’ in a deceptive manner (this is sometimes called open-washing or fauxpen). One example of this is the Open Education Alliance (Udacity) . They provide career-related training, but you cannot apply the 5 Rs to it. This is free content but not open content.
How can you know if it a resource is open?
Usually, open resources are distributed with a Creative Commons license. There are several different ones, and they spell out exactly what you can do with the open resource. You can even have a copyright on a resource that is distributed with a Creative Commons license.
What’s in it for me?
We can benefit from making our work open. Weller (2014) defines several reasons people adopt an open approach:
- They want to increase their audience by removing barriers that prevent people from seeing their work
- They want to increase the reuse of their work
- They want to increase access by removing any formal requirements to accessing their work
- They want to increase experimentation
- They want to increase their reputation among their peers
- They want to increase revenue, for example by providing a freemium pricing scheme
- They want to increase participation by allowing others to join in the work and conversation
References
CN-1333 Open Course (2012), The extended argument for openness in education.
Open Education and the Future (2010) YouTube video.
Weller, M. (2014) The Battle for Open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory, London, ubiquity press. Available at http://www.ubiquitypress.com/site/books/detail/11/battle-for-open/.