UNDERSTANDING

OPEN KNOWLEDGE

Creating Track for Stanford University Online

Education

Shirley Ingles-Cruz

DISCUSSION:

I. What does Open Knowledge mean in the context of Open Knowledge?

II. What is knowledge?III. What is Open Knowledge then?IV. What contributes to Open Knowledge?V. What are the challenges facing Open Knowledge?

“Universal access to all knowledge”-- greatest dream of Library of Alexandria

Information, knowledge, and culture are central to human freedom andhuman development. How they are produce and exchange in our societycritically affects the ways we see the state of the world as it is and might be … Inthe past decade and a half, we have began to see a radical change in theorganization of information production.

-- Benkler Yochai

I. What does OPEN means in the context of Open Knowledge?

OPEN means any users allowing access to use for any lawful purpose without barriers that are inseparable from those gaining access to the internet itself .

– Budapest Declaration OPEN means anyone can freely access, use, modify, and share for any purpose (subject, at most, to requirements that preserve provenance and openness). Open data and content can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any purpose..

– Open Definition

OPEN is synonymous with “free” or “libre” as define in the Definition ofFree Cultural Works which states that free cultural works are works orexpressions which can be freely studied, applied, copied and/or modified,by anyone, for any purpose.

OPEN is commonly referred to as “open content” or “open access”

The Open Definition was initially derived from the Open Source Definition(OSD), which was also derived from the Debian Free Software Guidelines(DFSG). “Open source” doesn't just mean access to the source code. Thedistribution terms of open source software must comply with the criteria setforth by the Open Source Initiative. The DFSG was initially designed as a set ofcommitments that has been adopted by the free software community.

The openness of the content could be best describe using the 4RsFramework of David Wiley, which has also become the guidingprinciples for open educational resources (OER): (Wiley, D. 2009)

1. Reuse– the right to reuse the content in its unaltered / verbatimform

2. Revise– the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the contentitself

3. Remix– the right to combine the original or revised content withother content to create something new

4. Redistribute– the right to make and share copies of the originalcontent, one revisions, or one remixes with others

II. What is Knowledge?

KNOWLEDGE is not static. It is a network of prejudices, opinions,innovations, self-corrections, presuppositions and exaggerations.

KNOWLEDGE is organization, not structure.

KNOWLEDGE is not intended to fill minds but rather to open them.

– George Siemens (2006)

Knowledge flow cycle1. Co-creation – The ability to build on/with the work of others opens doors for

innovation and rapid development of ideas and concepts.2. Dissemination – analysis, evaluation, and filtering elements through the

network.3. Communication of key ideas – (those that have survived the dissemination

process) enter conduits for dispersion throughout the network.4. Personalization – bringing new knowledge to oneself through the experience

of internalization, dialogue, or reflection.5. Implementation – understanding concept changes when acting on it, versus

only theorizing or learning about it.

Types of Knowledge1. Knowing ABOUT – news events, basics of a field, introductory concepts in a discipline2. Knowing TO DO – to drive a car, solve a math problem, code a program, conduct

research, manage a project3. Knowing TO BE – to embody knowledge with humanity (doing blended with

consistency and daily existence), to be a doctor or psychologist (mannerism, professionalism), to be an ethical person, to be compassionate, to relate, to feel

4. Knowing WHERE – to find knowledge when needed, web search, library, database, an organization, and increasingly, knowing who to approach for assistance

5. Knowing to TRANSFORM – to tweak, to adjust, to recombine, to align with reality, to innovate, to exist at levels deeper than readily noticeable, to think. The “why of knowing” resides in this domain

The quad-space of self occurs in the larger space of organizations andsociety; just as we exist in different domains: physical, cognitive, social, andspiritual, we exist in different spaces: self, collective, organizational, andsocietal.

III. What is Open Knowledge then?

Open Knowledge Foundationdefines OPEN KNOWLEDGE asany content, information thatpeople are free to use, re-use andredistribute – without any legal,technological or social restriction.

As George Siemens said,“knowledge set free enablesdynamic, adaptive, andpersonalized experience.”

IV. What contributes to Open Knowledge?

IV.1 Technological change, digital identity and connectedlearning

IV.2 Participatory Culture, Citizen Journalism andCitizen Science

IV.3 Intellectual Property and License

IV.4 Open access

IV.5 Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Textbooks

IV.6 Archives and Depositories

Atoms Bits

Scarcity Abundance

Consuming Creating

Standardization Personalization

Individuals Networks

IV.1 Technological change, digital identity and connected learning

The prevalence of open spaces creates participatory culture, encourages diversity and provides vast network possibilities. It is said that we shape our tools and our tools shape us.

Dr. Alec Couros, an advocate of OER, illustrates a significant shift in media:

New learning media and adaptation to technological changes

IV.2 Participatory Culture, Citizen Journalism & Citizen ScienceTechnological advances made the civil society become more engagedin creating more media as compared in the past. What is dominantamong the civil society today are blogging, re-posting,commenting, rating, and tagging that encourage citizens toparticipate and be more involved in online discussions and discourses.

The involvement of the civil society to the cyberspace, social media inparticular, gives rise to what they called “cyberutopianism” – thosewho use technology to propagate their political views and beliefs.

Citizen journalism is reshaping the world – even ordinary citizensbecome involved in journalism, reporting issues that were overlookedby professional media/reporters.

Citizen science on the other hand encourages volunteers to beinvolved in assisting to some scientific researches and studies.

Citizen Journalism & Connectivism

IV.3 Intellectual Property and License

The author

has the right

to his work

FOREVER

The idea that

an IDEA CAN

BE OWNED

IP encompasses the three (3) complex strands of jurisprudence:

Some INITIATIVES to resolve restrictions:

Intellectual Property in terms of Open Knowledge initiativelooks at the issues of “public domain” – free for anyone touse, and “fair use.”

The basic purpose of Open knowledge is for learning andresearch as a means to widen the reach of openeducational resources (OER).

Creative Commons advocated for OER as teaching,learning, and research materials that are in the publicdomain or have been released under an open license thatallows free use and repurposing by others.

Open Publication and Creative Commons licenses are two of the knownlicenses granted for works to facilitate free use of OER.

• Open Publication LicenseThe Open Publication works may be reproduced and

distributed in whole or in part, in any medium physical or

electronic, provided that the terms of this license are adhered to,

and that this license or an incorporation of it by reference (with

any options elected by the author(s) and/or publisher) is displayed

in the reproduction.

• Creative CommonsIt is the commonly used license in the OER community.

Creative Commons helps you share your knowledge and creativitywith the world. Creative Commons develops, supports, and

stewards legal and technical infrastructure that maximizes digital

creativity, sharing, and innovation.

Some INITIATIVES licensed under Creative Commons

IV. 4 Open AccessOpen Access Africa 2012 states that “Open-access” should be free forre-use immediate research articles which are available online.Veletsianos, G. and Kimmons, R. assumed that openness is seen as aneffective vehicle for achieving scholarly goals due to its affordability,accuracy, accessibility, sustainability, dissemination and effectivepedagogy.

Comparisons:

Open Access Toll Access Getting new ideas by sharing Collaboration Publish for impact Focus on quality

Fear of losing ideas Competition Publish or perish Focus on quantity

IV.5 Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Textbooks

UNESCO Forum chose the term “open educationalresources” to describe their efforts to develop a universaleducational resource available for the whole humanity.

The goal of OER advocates is to increase access toknowledge in order to improve the quality of and reducecosts of education through a collaborative efforts andcooperation among individuals, groups, or institutions.

Nicole Allen offers three campus advocacies to solvetextbook crisis such as Students advocacy, Librariesadvocacy, and Institutions advocacy.

Some advocacies and initiatives:

IV.6 Archives and Depositories

With the over abundance of information via the Internet,how are these vast information being managed andavailable to the humanity?

Keepers of information are faced with archiving, andmetadata indexing and harvesting concerns.

The Open archive Initiative (OAI) haddeveloped a protocol metadataharvesting, known as OAI-PMH, as aninteroperability standard for contentdissemination for easy access anduniformity for data exchange.

Some of these depositories:

•HOPE – Harvard Open-Access Publishing Equity•COPE – Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity

V. What are challenges facing Open Knowledge?

V.1 Information overloadsV.2 Global perspectiveV.3 Future of Open Knowledge

V.1 Information Overload

Technological advancement made publishing, either online or inprint, faster as compared in the past.

The rise of the Internet has brought about the rise of abundance ofinformation made available online virtually free for anyone andaccess to these information are virtually possible instantaneously.However, people are now faced with the dilemma of choosingwhich information can best serve their research needs.

Dr. David Levy, a computer scientist and professor at theUniversity of Washington, said that “the problem withinformation overload is actually focusing or concentrating tocertain thing in order for it to be fully understood and effectivelyengage with others.”

The reliability to control and filter the flow of information hasbecome a major concern. Stanford University has suggestedalternative filters which include:

Using technological tools as filters

• Specialized databases– Google Scholar, which attempt to filter out

non-scholarly content from web searches• Subject-specific indexes

– PubMed for medical research or ERIC for educationresearch

Relying on the community as a filter

Developing one’s own information literacy skills

V.2 Global Perspective of Open Knowledge

International Initiatives for Open Access:

• Budapest Open Access Initiative– supports the creation of open repositories of scientificdocuments and the edition of electronic journals

• Bethesda Declaration– statement on open access publishing

• Berlin Declaration– Open access paradigm as a mechanism for havingscientific knowledge and cultural heritage accessibleworldwide

• IFLA Declaration in Library Science– favors open access for academic research publications

• Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development– acknowledged that access to information, and the skillsto use it effectively, are required for sustainabledevelopment

V.3 Future for Open Knowledge

Knowledge Unlatched is a not-for-profit collaboration oflibraries from around the world to share the costs of makingbooks open access. Its vision is a healthy market that includes freeaccess for end users. Its mission is centered on “opening access toscholarly books.” KU is helping stakeholders to work together fora sustainable open future for specialist scholarly books.

A very good example to say that Open Knowledge has a greatfuture ahead is the Knowledge Unlatched.