Abstract
Governments appear to be in thrall to ‘open’. Social sharing and exchange has emerged as a new and significant factor that competes with conventional market modes of production. Higher education (HE) and its libraries are exploiting the shift in the information economy and increasingly exploiting the opportunities derived from open source software, open data and open content. However, being open is a means not an end. Re-use leading to impact is the goal and the evidence of re-use is patchy, and especially weak for open data. Commercial non-open approaches such as iTunes are reasserting themselves and finding that users will pay for the convenience even if there are open and free alternatives.
Highlights
Being open ‘Open’ is certainly in the air
Yochai Benkler, Professor of Law at Yale University, sees open source projects such as Apache and Linux as manifestations of a much wider and deeper shift in the information economy: ‘One of the aspects of this new economy is the rise of a new ‘mode of production’ – ‘social production’.’
The economy was characterized by what he describes as three major ‘transactional frameworks’ for exchange
Summary
Based on a breakout session held at the 34th UKSG Conference, Harrogate, April 2011. Governments appear to be in thrall to ‘open’. Social sharing and exchange has emerged as a new and significant factor that competes with conventional market modes of production. Higher education (HE) and its libraries are exploiting the shift in the information economy and increasingly exploiting the opportunities derived from open source software, open data and open content. Being open is a means not an end. Re-use leading to impact is the goal and the evidence of re-use is patchy, and especially weak for open data. Commercial non-open approaches such as iTunes are reasserting themselves and finding that users will pay for the convenience even if there are open and free alternatives
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