Much of this is a repeat of the news on the blog — but for the record here is the newsletter we sent out last week:
Registration for OCWC Global To Open Soon
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We are working out a few last minute kinks in registration for OCWC Global, but wanted let you know the registration will soon be open.
This year the conference will run from April 21-24, and will be held in Monterrey, Mexico, and the theme of the conference is “Content, Infrastructure, and Creativity.” You can read more about the conference themes and track here: http://bit.ly/LyHo.
And for those of you who would like to present, the Call for Papers is still open. To submit a paper proposal, see the wiki: http://bit.ly/LyHo.
We will send out an email as soon as the conference site is up and registration is open. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please mail them to mike@ocwconsortium.com.
New Fair Use in OCW Project Launched (from Garin Fons)
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All of us have been frustrated by problems with third-party rights for open courseware materials. We know that if we could clarify when fair use applies, we could vastly expand the utility of what we do. And we know that in other cases, creative communities have done that. For instance, documentary filmmakers now find that insurers accept their claims of fair use, because they created a code of best practices in fair use. Similarly, media literacy teachers now can teach without fear, because they created a code of best practices in fair use. These codes of best practices were coordinated by Profs. Peter Jaszi and Pat Aufderheide, through the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law at American University.
We need a code of best practices in fair use for open courseware. A group of representatives at some of the open courseware universities—MIT, Tufts, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Yale, Notre Dame, Berkeley, Creative Commons—have started a project to do this, in coordination with Jaszi and Aufderheide, and with financial support from the Hewlett Foundation and from each of our universities. Each of the eight participating universities’ staff has set aside some part of their workload for this job.
Are you interested in helping to shape a code of best practices in fair use for open courseware? You can participate at several levels. If you would like to become a researcher on the project, just let Lindsey Weeramuni (lweera@mit.edu), the project’s coordinator know. Do you have a story to tell? Write Jaszi and Aufderheide at socialmedia@american.edu and we’ll connect you. Do you think your organization would eventually like to become a signatory? Let Lindsey know and we’ll be in touch when the document has been crafted, for your participation.
We hope to complete this work by September 1, so that the 2009-2010 school year can be a great one for open courseware.
Other questions or comments can also be directed here at open.michigan@umich.edu.
Last Chance for Houston “Americas” Conference
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The OCWC regional conference in Houston will be held February 5-6 at Rice University in Houston, Texas. There’s still time for last minute registration. The registration information and agenda can be found here: http://cnxconference.rice.edu/.
Organizational Effectiveness Meeting
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Due to a generous grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the OCWC Board of Directors was able to gather for a 1.5 day Organizational Effectiveness Meeting prior at which we re-examined our Mission, Goals and Initiatives in light of recent surveys and interviews. We offer our thanks to all of you who participated in the survey and interview process, and particularly to Catherine Casserley, Susan D’Antoni, Shigeru Miyagawa and Victor Vuchic, who took the time out of very busy schedules to join us for the meeting. Facilitators Tom Mendelsohn and Julia Gittelman did an excellent job of facilitating our deliberations, and in the coming weeks you will begin to see formal documents emerging from this process.
Case Studies Wanted: OCW and Enrollment Reach
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Have you used OCW to expand your institution’s regional reputation, or to give a particular program a more national reach than it might otherwise have had? We’re putting together some new case studies, and while we have plenty from schools that started out with high national name recognition we have somewhat fewer from schools that used OCW to move into the national spotlight. We are particularly interested in schools that have used OCW to call attention to the excellence of specific programs within their institutions.
You don’t have to write much at all — just shoot us an email at mike@ocwconsortium.org to let us know you have a story to tell. We’ll give you a call, you’ll talk, and we’ll do all the writing. The case study will be featured on the blog, and will likely become a core part of slide decks we use for presentations.
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