In November 2013 I’d given a presentation for Open Access week as I felt things should be framed in the broader context of openness. In putting it all together I learnt a lot. While there are a lot of facets to the Open Movements, the first recognised being open source, the sentiments of open science and open education have been around for a lot longer. Academic Journals began in 1665 started the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in England. International research data sharing occurred as early as 1882 with the First International Polar Year (wonderful to learn about this at eResearch Australasia last year). The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) started in 1964 sharing education and education research resources, later becoming an early adopter of CD ROMs and the web.
The presentation delved into openness and the concepts of freedom, creativity, human rights, and even the practicality of research and education at a global scale. These are less solid concepts but important motivations for the open movements.
One gem that I found is a presentation given by Heather Ford on iCommons explaining what a “commons” is, why they’re important for addressing global challenges, and they layers that make them work. Definitely worth reading and being inspired. Hopefully not something that’s been passed over in the rapid tend cycles of the internet.
My (retrospectively) posted presentation:
winton20131107-Open-Movement-v2