#234 Poster

Monday 16 April 15:00 - 17:15 Bar/Conservatory

The Obviousness of Open Policy

Cable Green, Creative Commons, US

Conference Theme: Impact

Summary: Publicly funded resources should be openly licensed resources. This talk explores how to get from here to open policies.

Abstract: We are in the midst of a revolution in education. The Internet, increasingly affordable computing, open licensing, open access journals and open educational resources (OER) provide the foundation for a world in which a quality education can be a basic human right. For the first time in human history we have the tools to enable everyone to attain all the education they desire. And best of all, we can share digital OER for the marginal cost of $0.
Yet before we break the "iron triangle" of access, cost and quality with new learning models, we need to educate policy makers about the obviousness of open policy. When the public buys something it should actually get what it paid for. Taxpayers frequently fund the development of curriculum materials and research through grants made by the government entities. Why should we, the public taxpayers, be expected to pay a second time before we’re granted access to the thing we’ve paid for once? Every taxpayer has a reasonable expectation of access to curriculum materials and research products whose creation their tax dollars supported. All taxpayer-funded educational and research materials should be openly licensed.
We need to help policy leaders understand the affordability and flexibility of the digital world, and how public investments in educational resources, data, research, and science must be openly licensed and shared for the public to get its full return on investment. In the end, all governments—national, state, county, and local—along with educational institutions should adopt a simple public policy: “Publicly funded resources are openly licensed resources.” This means that if public investment helps create an educational resource, then that content is published under an open license.
Because we know how to do this, and it is all but free to do so, I content we have a moral obligation and ethical responsibility to act. This talk will explore the arguments for convincing policy makers of the obviousness of open policy.