By Scott Jaschik. A literature review on converting scholarly journals from subscription to open access has been published by the Harvard University Office for Scholarly Communication. Read more...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Opening up Education: A Support Framework for Higher Education Institutions
Andreia Inamorato dos Santos;Yves Punie;Jonatan Castaño Muñoz, European Commission Joint Research Centre, 2016/08/10
This publication (78 page PDF) is the "final outcome of the OpenEdu project". The document rolls up results from a number of studies, including MOOCknowledge, OpenCred, and OpenSurvey. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Peer production in an integral and intersubjective framework
Michel Bauwens, Integral World, 2016/08/10

There's a lot that's interesting in this paper and yet I think the most interesting work is in the first section where P2P (peer-to-peer) is defined. In the second section and thereafter we get into a type of metaphysics that doesn't interest me (but is of great interest to critical theorists). Just more taxonomy. But learning, inference and discovery are not states, as a taxonomic approach would suggest; they are processes. The third section looks at "intersubjective modes", which is more interesting, but I find it conflates between markets, which require a measurement system, and networks, in which only structure is important (there's a bit of a back and forth on whether reciprocity is required, without which of course markets can't exist). So, ultimately, can P2P be a "mode of production"? Maybe, but "participants cannot live from peer production, though they derive meaning and value from it, and though it may out compete, in efficiency and productivity terms, the market-based for-profit alternatives."

It's worth noting the parallel between this and the thesis in Patrick Watson's The Struggle for Democracy, which is essentially that democracy presupposes wealth.

• The Struggle For Democracy - Genesis
• The Struggle For Democracy - Reborn In America
• The Struggle For Democracy - Chiefs and Strongmen
• The Struggle For Democracy - The Tyrrany Of The Majority
• The Struggle For Democracy - The Rule Of Law
• The Struggle For Democracy - The Last Citizens
• The Struggle For Democracy - The First Freedom
• The Struggle For Democracy - The Price Of Democracy
• The Struggle For Democracy - A Soldiers Duty
• The Struggle For Democracy - Whither Democracy
• The Struggle For Democracy - Reflections On The French
• The Struggle For Democracy - The Curtain Rises. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Could Open Research benefit Cambridge University researchers?
Lauren Cadwallader, Joanna Jasiewicz, Marta Teperek, Unlocking Research, 2016/08/09

Good series from the University of Cambridge Office of Scholarly Communications on the challenges facing contemoporary scientific research. Here's the list of articles:

• The mis-measurement problem - 11 July 2016
• The authorship problem – 12 July 2016
• Reproducibility, retractions & retrospective hypotheses – 14 July 2016
• Does peer review work? - 19 July 2016
• Solutions? – 2 August 2016
• Could Open Research benefit Cambridge University researchers? – 3 August 2016

The last is the least interesting, as it mostly surveys the preceding five, and then takes a self-centered look at the issues. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lessons Learned From Building An Open Online Course

Chris Gaudreau, Torrey Trust, Weiyang Liu, eLearning Industry, 2016/08/04

I've seen these points raised before but I'd like to frame them with a question, which follows. The author asserts "the importance of using technology and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to provide personalized, flexible, and accessible learning opportunities." Here they are:

1. Provide Multiple Means Of Representation
2. Provide Multiple Means Of Action And Expression
3. Provide Multiple Means Of Engagement

So here's the question: are these principles equally applicable in the case of the single learner. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. OER universitas
OERu, 2016/08/04
Passing this along from OERu: "As a charitable organisation, YouTube has approved a Youtube for non-profits account for the OERu. We have met all the requirements to qualify for a custom url for the new channel, expect that we need 100 hundred subscribers. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. PKP Joins ORCID
Kevin Stranack, Public Knowledge Project, 2016/08/17
The Public Knowledge Project (PKP), which creates things like the Open Journal Systems software (OJP), has joined the scientific identity registration system known as ORCID. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lesson Plan Tool For Docs
OpenEd, Google Docs, 2016/08/17
What's interesting about the Lesson Plan Tool for Docs is that you can access a list of educational resources offered by OpenEd and import the reference to the resource into your document. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. New Models of Open and Distance Learning
Stephen Downes, Aug 18, 2016.

The combination of customization and personalization provide some, but not all, of the objectives set by new pedagogies. Students are limited by the capacity of the LMS. Community-formation is limited to the students enrolled in the course. More...