This dissertation is the first piece of empirical work I am aware of that demonstrates clearly that a distance learning program can simultaneously (1) provide a significant public good by publishing opencourseware and (2) be revenue positive while doing it.

The word has different meanings in different contexts. Our commonsense, every day experience teaches us that "open" is a continuous (not binary) construct. A door can be wide open, mostly open, cracked slightly open, or completely closed. So can your eyes, so can a window, etc.

Put simply, the fewer copyright restrictions are placed on the user of a piece of content, the more open the content is.

Reuse - the right to reuse the content in its unaltered / verbatim form (e.g., make a backup copy of the content) Revise - the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language) Remix - the right to combine the original or revised content with other content to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup) Redistribute - the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)

"People who come to public health are committed to really making a difference in the lives of people," he says. "By and large academics, especially in public health, realize that the availability of the content is going to have a beneficial effect."

Copyright is another challenge in running open-courseware projects, the meeting's participants say.

Many professors regularly use charts, graphs, or other illustrations they've culled from textbooks or other copyrighted works in slide presentations or handouts. Although using those illustrations in a classroom is allowed under fair-use provisions of copyright law, universities must get permission before putting the same materials online where anyone can see them.

David Wiley, also a leader of the Cape Town Declaration; Chief Openness Officer for Flat World Knowledge, a new approach to college textbooks offering rigorously reviewed textbooks online free of cost to students (http://www.flatworldknowledge.com); and Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology & Technology at Brigham Young University.

Read the Declaration

1. Educators and learners: First, we encourage educators and learners to actively participate in the emerging open education movement.

2. Open educational resources: Second, we call on educators, authors, publishers and institutions to release their resources openly.