# OpenEd: Week 9, Wikinomics


[![](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51M9MTN5QFL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg)](http://www.amazon.com/Wikinomics-Mass-Collaboration-Changes-Everything/dp/1591841380/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7721236-6845635?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193626583&sr=8-1)It
was interesting to note that I had already read most of the books listed
by David Wiley on the curriculum page. I don’t know if that means I am
very up to date, or that I am too quick to throw myself at all the
“pop-social science best sellers” that are published? Either way, I
hadn’t read Wikinomics yet, and a professor of mine said it wasn’t half
bad, and generously lent it to me.

General impressions first; I wasn’t too impressed. Perhaps it’s partly
that none of these ideas are particularly new to me (although some of
the individual examples of how companies are using them were), and
perhaps to someone who has never heard about Wikis, networking,
collaboration, Web 2.0 etc, this could be a great book. However, it is
very clearly a business book, written for executives, and with a
language and writing style that I am not used to, and don’t particularly
like. I remember thinking the same thing about [The Fortune at the
Bottom of the
Pyramid](http://www.amazon.com/Fortune-Bottom-Pyramid-Eradicating-Publishing/dp/0131877291/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7721236-6845635?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193626843&sr=8-1)
by CK Prahalad, another book that I had been looking forward to reading.
It is exuberantly optimistic, and provides a whirlstorm of “case
studies” that have “revolutionized business”, but provides little
in-depth analysis or comparison. The book will not be a good guide to
those that are convinced about the merits of collaboration and opening
up, on how to implement it - which is our situation (I am assuming).

That said, I was able to extract a few points that could be valuable.

-   **Including for-profits**: This book is written from the perspective
  of a for-profit looking out, but nevertheless it writes a lot about
  how for-profits should engage in the open movements, and how
  producing and adding to the various knowledge commons can benefit
  the company as well. I would argue that commercial companies have
  contributed significantly to the success of open source, and most
  open source licenses, certainly the GPL, have never been
  anti-commercial. With the best OERs in the world, we still agree
  that we sometimes need to have human involvement, whether in
  classroom instruction, as an online mentor (which can be very
  taxing, something that Professor Wiley has experienced in this
  course).![](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1119/1147753958_8e4aebff02_m.jpg)I
  think it would only be a healthy sign if a huge industry of training
  companies grew up around OERs, that provided value added services -
  like hands-on instruction, mentoring and guidance by distance,
  follow up and setting deadlines, printing textbooks or DVDs, etc. If
  they then released all their material back to the commons, whether
  because they were compelled (through CC share-alike) or as a
  goodwill gesture to the community, the whole movement would benefit.
  This is a strong argument against the CC NC license on educational
  material.

  ![](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1098/1147753948_9e62ec4d53_m.jpg)(One
  thing I am curious about is the reach of the share-alike, what
  exactly does a derivative product entail? If I wrote a book, and
  inserted a picture, that whole book would be CC as well because of
  SA? What if I put together a folder of educational material, and
  included a CC SAed brochure? Etc.)

  An additional thought after reading about all these companies that
  opened up their internal processes to collaboration both from the
  internal staff, and from external customers, was the idea of a more
  open and flexible university. Some enlightened professors are great
  at engaging their students in defining the contents of the class,
  but generally both our programs of study (which courses we have to
  take to graduate), and the contents of them, are determined by
  individual faculty. Of course the over-worked, disengaged,
  GPA-chasing student body
  ![](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1427/1190865232_d7fa1a3904_m.jpg)today
  does not make this easier, but that is partly a chicken-and-egg
  problem. I would love to see the process of undergraduate teaching
  become as studied, as discussed and as public as research - where
  plans, processes and results are posted publicly and discussed
  publicly, where professors sit in on each others classes and give
  each other fair advice and criticism, and where the whole academic
  community (including students) are involved in finding and promoting
  best practices (without homogenizing or taking away local autonomy).

-   He discusses the practice of several companies banding together to
  produce a product that is beneficial to all of them as “basic
  research”, and I think this process is very similar to the idea that
  many US universities go together to fund the production of open
  undergraduate textbooks, or initiatives such as the [Stanford
  Encyclopedia of Philosphy](http://plato.stanford.edu/).
-   Finally, he mentions many examples of Web companies that open up
  their APIs and benefit from the incredible inventiveness and
  creativity of the community. I wonder if some of the Open Courseware
  repositories could do something to facilitate this, both by making
  the material itself easier to process (more XML/HTML and less PDF
  for example), and by providing open APIs so that people can access
  the material and present it in different ways.

I guess my three points were a bit top-heavy, but it was difficult to
find good insights since he focuses so much on what companies can do,
hopefully the above is somewhat useful.

![](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1339/1190865246_82c93568ab_m.jpg)I am
very glad that there is an open debate about this course now, and that
we have the Wikipage to talk in a more informal manner, although it is
not too much in use yet. I also notice that a lot of people have “fallen
of the wagon”, and it will be interesting to see this week, with one of
the more individual and creative assignments so far, how many hand in -
and then how the new curriculum works out, with one week for posting
your initial thoughts, and then one week for reflection and reading of
others postings. I am a bit dismayed that some of the initial material
that was more “generative”, like trying to persuade local colleagues to
implement open practices, have been removed, but I am thinking about
trying it anyway, hopefully with a colleague.

Stian\
 *(thanks a lot to [Tanakawho @
flickr](http://flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/) for the abstract
paintings)*