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An alternative perspective on "openness".

The argument will be with us for a very long time. I think this is based on the side of the fence that one is sitting on. It is just like a case of what came first a chicken or an egg. The fact is Open has place to occupy in our learning space. The jury is still out there.

Thanks for sharing this well presented write up. Big question put forth is are we really getting the outcomes expected from the open society. Open vs. quality is a big issue. At times restricting access helps a great deal.

"What kinds of knowledge are we going to expect? How we going to incentivize to scientists to share?"

A radical vision of the open access and books: The Political Nature of the Book: On Artists' Books and Radical Open Access. Janneke Adema: http://tinyurl.com/kv5hg2f In this article we argue that the medium of the book can be a material and conceptual means, both of criticising capitalism's commodification of knowledge (for example, in the form of the commercial incorporation of open access by feral and predatory publishers), and of opening up a space for thinking about politics. The book, then, is a political medium. As the history of the artist's book shows, it can be used to question, intervene in and disturb existing practices and institutions, and even offer radical, counter-institutional alternatives. If the book's potential to question and disturb existing practices and institutions includes those associated with liberal democracy and the neoliberal knowledge economy (as is apparent from some of the more radical interventions occurring today under the name of open access), it also includes politics and with it the very idea of democracy. In other words, the book is a medium that can (and should) be 'rethought to serve new ends'; a medium through which politics itself can be rethought in an ongoing manner.

I read his book (Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science) and really loved it. It inspired this blog post of mine: http://www.scopeofscience.com/2014/04/the-need-for-open-science/ Highly recommend that book to anyone who enjoyed his ted talk - it is a quick read!

"MOOCs offer opportunities but are also pose the danger of further exacerbating existing educational divisions and deepening the homogeneity of global knowledge systems."

Very interesting! Thanks. "MOOCs and MOOC-type courses have added a new dimension to the educational landscape by strengthening the non-formal educational space and providing opportunities to experiment with the disaggregated components of the educational experience"

After watching the Willinsky video, this hit home even more. I think the value of quality education is extremely important, and creating a "global village" of learning is still in its growing pains. Having a face-to-face instructor/professor/facilitator lets you ask the questions that pop to mind and being in a classroom setting allows an idea to flow and develop into other ideas. There are a lot of social media tools that are familiar to a lot of students living in a Western culture, but those social tools are not always available to developing countries; many do not have access to schools or even have a computer - as this article indicates, MOOCs are certainly a venue that opens learning opportunities for those who do not have access to learning in a formal environment, but may have access to the internet. What I particularly found interesting were the various MOOC categories - Gateway: MOOCs for prepping to get into higher learning; Research showcase: promote an institute's research areas; Professional skills: MOOCs for those who need to "upskill" or specialize…and there are others. The main reason for taking this course was to improve my knowledge of what social media is out there (MOOCs are part of it), how it is being used, and how useful is this "new" media is within the publishing realm. It is a challenge.

I think that as more information we have about the deep web, much more knowledge we will have to really know that is really going on in the cyber space. Deep Web (also called the Deepnet, Invisible Web, or Hidden Web) is World Wide Web content that is not part of the Surface Web, which is indexed by standard search engines.

Muchos dicen que en la "red profunda" existen sitios con contenido desagradable, se debería tener cuidado, aunque existen proyectos como https://www.torproject.org/ que nos permiten navegar en la red profunda sin tener que sufrir riesgos (http://www.cnnexpansion.com/economia/2014/06/27/como-opera-la-deep-web-en-mexico), más vale prevenir. ---- Many say that the "deep web" sites with objectionable content exist, care should be taken, although there are projects like https://www.torproject.org/ that allow us to navigate the deep network without having to suffer risks (http: //www.cnnexpansion.com/economia/2014/06/27/como-opera-the-deep-web-en-mexico), better safe.

"We believe in affordable access to scientific tools, citizen science, and science literacy. We are working to put science back into the hands of the individual through cheap workshops, low membership fees, training, and designing cost effective tools"

This article relates to Module 1 and the lack of online privacy that we have with the increase of social media. This also affects intellectual property, and nothing is ever concealed or anonymous.

Libraries have long been a source of mostly free information for many people dating back to the Library of Alexandria. Early libraries used scrolls, but Tod Colgrove suggests that more learning may have taken place via person to person learning in those spaces, then from the scrolls themselves. 2000 years later, although we have vastly upgraded the technology and have an abundance of information at our fingertips, right now we are still learning from each other by taking part in this MOOC and sharing our information and knowledge so that we can learn from each other. Another important point Colgrove makes is that as long as librarians can come up with cutting edge ways to share knowledge, there will be a place for libraries in our schools and public places.

Libraries have a role to play in our lives and the libraries of the past did the same on our ancestors. They continue to undergo metamorphosis in response to the demands of the future. Viva the spirit and the resilience of libraries!