Monthly Archives: July 2009

Sustaining Digital Resources

Posted on July 17, 2009 by | 1 Comment

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Wired Campus has a new blog post reporting on the recent release of case studies regarding sustainability and digital resources. The report was released by Ithaka S & R and was partially funded by JISC. From the blog post:

“Whether it’s an advertising model, whether it’s an endowment model, whether it’s a subscription model, you’ve got to figure out how to lower your costs,” Laura Brown, director of Ithaka S&R, told The Chronicle on Tuesday. The trick is “disciplining the way these projects think without knocking them out.”

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Editing Wikipedia for Mandela Day

Posted on July 17, 2009 by | 1 Comment

Heather Ford has a new blog post on encouraging people to edit Nelson Mandela’s wikipedia entry on Mandela Day. The editing is set to take place on the Afrikaans Wikipedia on Saturday. From the blog post:

The Afrikaans Wikipedia has a dedicated community in South Africa working together to build a rich indigenous language resource.

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UK Portrait Gallery Fights Wikipedia Over Images

Posted on July 16, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Joe Merante at Creative Commons is reporting that the UK Portrait Gallery is threatening legal action against Wikipedia because a user uploaded digital photos of public domain works. The information comes via Wikipedia signpost and Wikipedia user “Dcoetzee.” OEN did not find any information about the lawsuit on the UK Portrait Gallery’s website. From Merante’s blog post:

Restricting access via copyfraud or DRM defeats the purpose of the public domain, and damages the reputation and mission of the institution holding the original copies of these works. However, the NPG’s disappointing actions should not overshadow the many institutions working to make the public domain accessible to you, the public. The Commons on Flickr is a great example of 27 private and public institutions from all over the world who are making works available with “no known copyright restrictions”. Working with, not against, cultural institutions highlights some of the ways cultural heritage institutions and communities can work together to mutual benefit.

Also reported by Slashdot.

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Challenges at Indonesia Open University

Posted on July 16, 2009 by | 1 Comment

Anissa S. Febrina has an article at the Jakarta Post on challenges facing Indonesia Open University. The “open” in the university name comes from its open enrollment policy. Febrina indicates lack of infrastructure and minimal staff are ongoing problems. From the article:

You don’t have to think about it long to realize just how challenging it must be to provide distance learning in a country where Internet penetration is no higher than 15 percent and students are scattered across thousands of islands.

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Open Source Software vs. OER motivations

Posted on July 16, 2009 by | 2 Comments

Jenna McWilliams has a new blog post comparing the motivations for contributors to open source software versus open educational resources. McWilliams cites Christopher J. Mackie in Opening Up Education who suggests that OER, by its very nature, needs to be affliated with an institution or funder. From the blog post:

OERs require sustained, consistent dedication at all levels, from programmers all the way up to administrators and funders; and this type of dedication is difficult to attain…

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JISC OER Synthesis and Evaluation Project

Posted on July 16, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Twitter user “mrnick” pointed out the JISC OER Synthesis and Evaluation Project in a recent tweet. The wiki contains links to articles and presentations related to JISC OER, and OER in general. Although the wiki appears to have been up for a few months, some OEN readers may not be aware of this resource.

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OCW for Digital Photographers

Posted on July 15, 2009 by | 1 Comment

Thomas Rheinecker has posted a list of seven OCW resources for digital photographers. The resources come from OpenLearn, MIT OCW and News University. From the blog post:

These 7 excellent open courseware collections for digital photographers offer a well-rounded education regarding photography and digital photography in general. Whether you are an experienced digital photographer or if you are just beginning to explore this visual medium, you can improve your craft with all the information included in each of these collections.

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MIT’s Highlights for High School Recognized by Librarians

Posted on July 15, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Steve Carson is announcing on his blog that MIT OCW’s Highlights for High School has been recognized by the American Association of School Librarians as a landmark website. Carson reports that the Higlights for High School site has had over 700,000 visitors. From the blog post:

The AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching and Learning program honors websites, tools, and resources of exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning as embodied in the American Association of School Librarians’ Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. The Landmark Websites are honored due to their exemplary histories of authoritative, dynamic content and curricular relevance. They are free, web-based sites that are user-friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover and provide a foundation to support 21st-century teaching and learning.

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SCORE Initiative at the Open University

Posted on July 15, 2009 by | Leave a comment

“Lukebeaman” on the blog Open Air has a post on a new initiative – Support Centre for Open Resources in Education, or SCORE. SCORE will facilitate sharing knowledge between the Open University and other higher education institutions. From the blog post:

Universities need to harness these networks in order to develop students’ learning. This is where the OU comes in – we’ll be leading collaborations to develop OER resources and services, as well as to lower course development costs.

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Free Culture Workshop Submissions Announced

Posted on July 15, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Mike Linksvayer at Creative Commons is announcing that the Free Culture Workshop is accepting proposals until Aug. 9. The Free Culture Workshop is for persons engaged in research about the commons, licensing and related economics. The workshop will be held at Harvard on October 23. From the blog post:

It is tremendously exciting to see the commons attracting this research interest.

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