Wairagala Wakabi, e-Learning Initiatives Stand to Gain From CCs, Africa.com, May 27, 2005. Excerpt: 'African educationists have showcased some of the leading e-learning and curriculum sharing initiatives on the continent - making a case for the adoption of cc licences to increase the range of resources at their disposal. Most of the initiatives already operate on an open content model that gives users a wide range of rights to use and adapt materials. "There is an interesting opportunity for collaboration across the continent," said Derek Keats of the University of the Western Cape, adding that African education institutions needed to use existing talent to grow more talent. Keats introduced delegates to the African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources (AVOIR) project. The program involves the collaborative development of free software and other learning resources in African universities....Speaking on the same panel, Alan Amory of the Open Learning System of the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) said he regretted that the "neo-commodification" of research and learning materials threatened academic access to knowledge. Keats says information which was previously free has now been packaged in a restrictive way. The academic said they are looking to use cc licences to support tools that help cognitive and content development, as well as visualisation, research and publishing....Neil Butcher of the South African Education Portal (Thutong)...said: "cc gives us the power to protect the intellectual property of those taking part but also helps us to bring information out there into the public domain." '
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/28/2005 02:59:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
