Measuring use, reuse and repurposing of open content

Created by Stuart Yeates (University of Oxford) on October 28, 2005

A growing consensus tells us that content (which turns out to be pretty much everything we create) should be available for reuse under open content licences such as the Creative Commons. Another consensus tells us that we need to count every re-use or re-purposing because sooner or later someone will come along to measure the quality of our work, and will measure it quantitatively rather than qualitatively, because qualitative evaluation is hard. Those employed at the coal-face of education will be familiar with league tables of various kinds, but other forms of also exist.

What happens then, when these two principles conflict? What happens when someone takes what I am doing and re-proposes my blog as a blog within their own site for their own audience? (See here, here or here for examples). Short blog entries (those with no "read more" link) are carried in their entirety on these sites, giving readers no cause to go to either the educause or OSS Watch sites, so I have no idea (and no way of tracking) who is reading my entries from these sites.

By any sane measure of quality or success, I should be pleased and proud that my content is being reused in this way, because it suggests that other people think what I'm saying is valuable, but when the bean counters count my beans, I have no idea what they'll make of it all.

Creative Commons | Open Content

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Stuart, I think we're a long

Submitted by Catherine Howell (La Trobe University) on October 31, 2005 - 10:17am.

Stuart, I think we're a long way from resolving these issues. For employees in academic institutions who want to share their own materials, Creative Commons is a good solution. But as you point out, it doesn't solve the real cultural and legal problems surrounding re-use. The "small pieces loosely joined" model promoted by David Weinberger et. al. (like Weinberger's opposition to the DMCA) is frequently justified on the grounds of promoting free speech. I've argued elsewhere that I think this libertarian model is flawed. I believe Weinberger's model of "free" speech doesn't necessarily work for education. Non-authorised syndication of academic work, to say nothing of student blogs, poses an administrative problem, and a moral conundrum, that we haven't yet solved.

Credit for creative

Submitted by Henry E. Schaffer (North Carolina State University) on January 23, 2006 - 7:56pm.

Credit for creative contribution can be very important, even when there is no payment involved - and I think that Stuart and Catherine both cover important aspects of this. In the academic world credit/recognition can be even more important than the possibility of payment.

However the general handling of credit/recognition hasn't been handled particularly well even within institutions of higher education. My colleague Sarah Stein's Educause Review article discusses this and gives some cogent suggestions for improvement. The Media Production Model: An Alternative Approach to Intellectual Property Rights in Distributed Education draws on her experience in Media Production.

		Measuring use, reuse and repurposing of open content Created by Stuart Yeates (University of Oxford) on October 28, 2005 A growing consensus tells us that content (which turns out to be pretty much everything we create) should be available for reuse under open content licences such as the Creative Commons. Another consensus tells us that we need to count every re-use or re-purposing because sooner or later someone will come along to measure the quality of our work, and will measure it quantitatively rather than qualitatively, because qualitative evaluation is hard. Those employed at the coal-face of education will be familiar with league tables of various kinds, but other forms of also exist. What happens then, when these two principles conflict? What happens when someone takes what I am doing and re-proposes my blog as a blog within their own site for their own audience? (See here, here or here for examples). Short blog entries (those with no "read more" link) are carried in their entirety on these sites, giving readers no cause to go to either the educause or OSS Watch sites, so I have no idea (and no way of tracking) who is reading my entries from these sites. By any sane measure of quality or success, I should be pleased and proud that my content is being reused in this way, because it suggests that other people think what I'm saying is valuable, but when the bean counters count my beans, I have no idea what they'll make of it all. Creative Commons \| Open Content Stuart's blog Login or register to post comments 4985 reads Stuart, I think we're a long Submitted by Catherine Howell (La Trobe University) on October 31, 2005 - 10:17am. Stuart, I think we're a long way from resolving these issues. For employees in academic institutions who want to share their own materials, Creative Commons is a good solution. But as you point out, it doesn't solve the real cultural and legal problems surrounding re-use. The "small pieces loosely joined" model promoted by David Weinberger et. al. (like Weinberger's opposition to the DMCA) is frequently justified on the grounds of promoting free speech. I've argued elsewhere that I think this libertarian model is flawed. I believe Weinberger's model of "free" speech doesn't necessarily work for education. Non-authorised syndication of academic work, to say nothing of student blogs, poses an administrative problem, and a moral conundrum, that we haven't yet solved. Login or register to post comments Credit for creative Submitted by Henry E. Schaffer (North Carolina State University) on January 23, 2006 - 7:56pm. Credit for creative contribution can be very important, even when there is no payment involved - and I think that Stuart and Catherine both cover important aspects of this. In the academic world credit/recognition can be even more important than the possibility of payment. However the general handling of credit/recognition hasn't been handled particularly well even within institutions of higher education. My colleague Sarah Stein's Educause Review article discusses this and gives some cogent suggestions for improvement. The Media Production Model: An Alternative Approach to Intellectual Property Rights in Distributed Education draws on her experience in Media Production. Login or register to post comments
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