Monthly Archives: January 2010

Campus Kindle Usage Put on Hold

Donald Melanson at Engadget is reporting that Pace, Case Western, and Reed College have all put Kindle usage on hold. The decision came as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, which had concerns about accessibility to persons with disabilities. There may be implications for open textbooks. From the post:

Assuming Amazon lives up to its promises, however, it looks like the Kindles could be put back to use as soon as this summer — and the universities in question will still be able to finish any pilot programs currently taking place this semester, just not expand their use.

Google Book Settlement News 1/14/2010

Eric Pfanner at the New York Times is reporting that France is considering a deal with Google Books. From the post:

The panel proposed a partnership in which taxpayer money would be used to scan books from the national library and other public institutions; those would form the backbone of an upgraded version of the government’s existing digital book project, called Gallica.

Producing a Book and Journal Openly

Leigh Blackall has a pair of new posts regarding publishing. The first post addresses publishing textbooks openly. The second is an idea for a federated open journal. From the journal post:

As always, I propose that we do not set up a silo type website that requires us to build a user base from scratch. Instead I propose that we think smart about how light we can make the journal’s actual website, and distribute functionality widely across various publishing and communication systems that people already use and prefer.

White House Still Seeking Comment on Open Access

Gavin Baker at Open Access News notes that the White House is still seeking comment on open access. The consultation ends Jan. 21.

U.S. Government Open Access Recommendation

Peter Suber at Open Access News is reporting on open access recommendations by the the Scholarly Publishing Roundtable. The group calls for more open access, but no mandates. From the post:

The group neither calls for an OA mandate nor offers an argument against OA mandates. It should have done one or the other.

Does Creative Commons Change Education?

Jane Park has a new post asserting that Creative Commons is fundamental to open education. From the post:

Imagine the world of OER without CC. The term “open educational resource” would be a vacuous or redundant term at best. “Open” would simply mean freely accessible. Without CC, individuals or organizations would continue to offer their resources under custom terms (aka a custom license*) or under no terms at all.

Open Education and Competence

Graham Attwell has a new post discussing competence as it relates to open education. From the post:

In the past few years it has become common to describe curricula in terms of outcomes, rather than the more traditional learning objectives.

Thanks to Stephen Downes for the link.

Penn. School District Considering Lesson Plan Copyright

Ed Mahon at Centre Daily Times is reporting that a Pennsylvania school district is considering asserting copyright over all teacher produced material, even material produced without district resources. From the article:

The proposed policy would include lesson plans, and states that any material written, created or developed with district support “shall be the sole property of the State College Area School District and is to be used only by students and staff of the district, unless otherwise reviewed and approved by the superintendent.”

Thanks to Techdirt for the link and commentary.

Farenheit 451 and Copyright

Jaime Boyle posted earlier this month noting that Ray Bradbury’s Farenheit 451 would have entered the public domain if copyright hadn’t been extended. From the post:

Clearly, the incentive of 28 + 28 years was enough to encourage him to write the book and the publisher to publish it. The evidence is that.. it happened. Retrospectively extending copyright is deadweight social loss — harm without benefit. But at least the book is available.

Thanks to Cory Doctorow for the link.

Flat World Knowledge Gives Away Books

Flat World Knowledge has issued a press release indicating that they are giving away $18,000 in free textbooks. From the press release:

While more than 40,000 students are already benefiting from free online access to Flat World textbooks, this week 200 educators at colleges and universities around the U.S. received two printed books to give away to students in their class.