How does Connections draw inspiration from the open source movement?

Connections applies the principles of open source to educational content by modularizing content, making it easy to access and modify. It aims to create a global repository where information is open for anyone to view, contribute to, and be updated rapidly.

What are the 'rip, mix, and burn' actions in the context of Connections?

In Connections, 'rip' refers to extracting and using content, 'mix' refers to the ability to create customized courses or textbooks by combining different modules, and 'burn' refers to generating physical outputs like PDFs, CDs, DVDs, or print-on-demand books.

How does the 'publish on demand' model change textbook economics?

The 'publish on demand' model, facilitated by Connections and powered by services like Coupe, drastically reduces the cost of textbooks. This disintermediates traditional academic publishing, making educational materials more affordable and allowing for up-to-date, personalized content.

What is the role of XML in the Connections platform?

XML is a key enabler for Connections, treating each piece of content like a 'Lego block.' This allows for easy recombination into various learning formats (web courses, books), facilitates semantic markup for formulas (like MathML), and enables rich metadata for interlinking ideas.

How does Connections address intellectual property and content sharing?

Connections utilizes Creative Commons licenses, particularly attribution licenses, to ensure content is safe to share legally. This allows authors to make a broad impact with their work while providing clear guidelines for use and distribution.

What is the 'lens' concept for peer review and content curation in Connections?

Lenses are a social software approach where users can access the Connections repository through specific filters, such as institutional portals (e.g., University of Michigan) or professional organizations (ACM, IEEE). These lenses help direct users to content deemed appropriate by that specific group, acting as a form of curated peer review.

How does Connections differ from a wiki in terms of content editing?

While Connections allows users to technologically edit any contributed content under the Creative Commons license, it has mechanisms to encourage collaboration and dialogue over conflict. Users can 'fork' content to create their own versions, and original authors are notified, promoting a more structured approach than typical wiki editing wars.

Key Moments

Connexions - Building Communities and Sharing Knowledge

Google Talks

Education4 min read54 min video

Aug 22, 2012|205 views|1

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Key Moments

TL;DR

Connexions is an open-source platform enabling collaborative creation, modification, and distribution of educational content.

Key Insights

The 'rip, mix, burn' concept from the music industry can be applied to educational content to foster a more vibrant and interactive learning environment.

Connections aims to break down barriers in traditional publishing by allowing anyone to contribute and customize educational materials.

The platform utilizes XML for modularity and semantic markup, enabling the creation of reusable and customizable learning resources.

Creative Commons licenses are crucial for facilitating legal and open sharing of educational content, promoting impact over royalties for authors.

Connexions supports diverse content creation, including customized textbooks, translated materials, and interactive simulations.

A social software approach with 'lenses' is being developed for quality control and content discovery, allowing community-driven curation.

THE PROBLEM WITH TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING

The current educational publishing industry is characterized by a disconnect between authors and users, creating a system where only a select few can contribute knowledge. This model often results in materials that are outdated by the time they are published, expensive for students, and fail to foster a vibrant, interactive learning community. Barriers exist not only in content creation but also in integrating knowledge across disciplines and grade levels, leading to siloed information.

INSPIRATION FROM MUSIC AND OPEN SOURCE

Connexions draws inspiration from the 'rip, mix, burn' culture of the music industry to reimagine educational content. Just as music allows for easy copying, modification, and integration of ideas, Connexions aims to enable similar freedoms for educational materials. By adopting principles from the open-source software movement, such as modularization and open intellectual property, Connexions seeks to create a collaborative ecosystem for knowledge.

A GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE ECOSYSTEM

At its core, Connexions is building a 'commons' or 'knowledge ecosystem' where anyone, anywhere, can create, modify, and distribute educational content. This platform moves beyond traditional barriers, allowing K-12 teachers, students, and general readers to become authors. It supports a global community of learners and creators, aiming to make knowledge accessible and adaptable across different languages and contexts.

THE POWER OF XML AND SEMANTIC MARKUP

The foundation of Connexions' flexibility lies in its use of XML. This technology transforms each piece of content into a modular 'Lego block' that can be recombined in myriad ways. Semantic markup, such as MathML, ensures that formulas and concepts are not just images but contain actual mathematical meaning, allowing for true interaction and reuse across different learning machines (courses, web content, books).

CREATIVE COMMONS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

To ensure content is safe and legal to share, Connexions leverages Creative Commons licenses. These licenses promote impact and broad dissemination by allowing users to share and adapt content, provided they attribute the original author. This model addresses the desire of academics to make an impact rather than solely focusing on royalties, facilitating the creation of a truly open repository.

FROM DIGITAL CONTENT TO PHYSICAL BOOKS

The 'burn' aspect of Connexions allows for the generation of physical objects like CDs, DVDs, or paper textbooks. These printed materials are modularly organized, community-authored, and personalized, offering a significant cost reduction compared to traditional textbooks. This publish-on-demand capability is seen as a disintermediation of academic publishing, making knowledge more affordable and up-to-date.

EMERGING USE CASES AND GLOBAL REACH

Connexions is being adopted by various institutions and projects worldwide. Examples include a consortium of electrical engineering professors building a unified textbook, graduate students translating content into Spanish, and organizations translating materials into Asian languages. Furthermore, initiatives like Teachers Without Borders and partnerships with organizations like AMD and the government of Vietnam highlight the platform's global reach and diverse applications.

ENSURING QUALITY AND COMMUNITY CURATION

To manage the open contribution policy and potential for low-quality or illegal content, Connexions is developing a social software approach using 'lenses.' These lenses allow for community-driven curation and discovery, enabling institutions or professional organizations to create portals that highlight content they deem high-quality or relevant to their specific perspectives.

CONTRIBUTING CONTENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Making content contribution easier, Connexions offers tools like a WYSIWYG XML editor (Etna) and converters for Microsoft Word and OpenOffice documents. Future developments include enhanced translation tools, improved workflows for peer review, distributed infrastructure for global accessibility, and advanced semantic search capabilities, particularly for mathematical equations and dynamic content.

THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE OF OPEN CONTENT EDITORS

The rise of open content platforms like Connexions is expected to transform the educational publishing industry. While some roles may shift, new opportunities are emerging in services around open content, similar to the open-source software industry. Publish-on-demand companies and specialized service providers are positioned to thrive in this evolving landscape, offering value through quality control and support.

Mentioned in This Episode

●Software & Apps

●Companies

●Organizations

●Concepts

●People Referenced

Common Questions

Connections aims to break down the barriers in the publishing and educational industries that disconnect authors from users and fragment knowledge. It seeks to foster a vibrant, interactive, and community-driven environment for educational content, similar to the 'rip, mix, burn' culture found in music.

Topics

AI & Machine Learning Technology & Innovation Educational Technology Digital Publishing Knowledge Sharing Open Access Education Open Source In Education Content Management Systems Creative Commons Licensing Textbook Economics Reforma

Mentioned in this video

Companies

F5 Networks

Technology company co-founded by Joey King.

Zama Networks

Technology company co-founded by Joey King.

Apple

Mentioned for its advertising slogan related to 'rip, mix, burn' culture.

Texas Instruments Japan

Company involved in a translation project for Connections materials into Japanese and other Asian languages.

National Instruments

Company contributing technical training materials to Connections and developing a LabVIEW player for simulations.

AMD

Company partnering with Connections on the '50x15' project to bring internet connectivity and hardware to remote areas.

Coupe

An on-demand publisher that produces textbooks generated from Connections content at a significantly lower cost.

Lulu Press

An on-demand publishing company founded by Bob Young of Red Hat, operating in the open content space.

Etna

The world's first WYSIWYG XML open-source editor, being beta tested by Connections for easier content creation.

Organizations

Rice University

The university where the Connections project originated and where Rich Baranick is a professor.

University of Washington

University where Joey King was a senior research scientist and obtained his PhD.

Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute

Institute in Tokyo where Joey King is a fellow.

Southwestern University

University from which Joey King holds a BA with honors.

Ohio State University

University contributing content to Connections, specifically in electrical engineering.

University of Wisconsin

University contributing content to Connections, specifically in electrical engineering.

University of Michigan

University contributing content to Connections, specifically in electrical engineering, and later mentioned for its portal lens.

Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education

Institution in Latin America using translated Spanish engineering content from Connections.

Teachers Without Borders

Organization in 84 countries that will integrate its teacher certification materials into Connections.

UC Merced

New University of California school committing to put science and engineering curricula into Connections.

Panyang University of Science and Technology

University in Pyongyang, North Korea, where Connections will be deployed to support its curriculum.

University of Texas at El Paso

University where graduate students initiated a project to translate engineering content into Spanish for Connections.

Hewlett Foundation

Foundation supporting projects like Connections and the 'are' project, interested in portals for educational content.

MIT OpenCourseWare

An open content project, contrasted with Connections as Connections is a global repository, not limited to one institution's material.

Wikipedia

Mentioned as an example of user-generated content that is increasingly used in scholarly work, similar to Connections content.

Government of Vietnam

Country deploying Connections nationwide to support engineering and science education, linking English materials with Vietnamese summaries.

Creative Commons

A licensing framework that enables the free sharing and use of content, applied to Connections to ensure legal sharing of educational materials.

ACM

Professional organization that could develop lenses for peer review and content curation within Connections.

IUB Bremen

A collaborator developing a MathML search engine for Connections.

CVS

A version control system used by Connections to track all changes to content, allowing for historical review and specific version locking.

Concepts

Connections

An education project aiming to enable the creation, ripping, mixing, and burning of educational content, inspired by the music industry and open source principles.

Open Source Movement

Inspiration for Connections, emphasizing modularity and open intellectual property for collaborative development.

Open Access Movement

Related movement that Connections draws inspiration from, focusing on making information freely available.

50x15 Project

AMD's project aiming to bring 50% of the world internet connectivity by 2015, partnering with Connections to deliver educational content.

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

A concept discussed in relation to presenting the same material from different perspectives, a possibility envisioned for Connections content.

Holocaust denial

A severe form of misinformation discussed in the context of content moderation and the challenges of maintaining a 'commons'.

People

Joey King

Executive Director of Connections, previously an investment banker, technology entrepreneur, and research scientist.

Kitty Jones

A music teacher and mother who contributes music content for children to Connections, exemplifying a 'shutout' becoming an author.

Glenn Brown

Second executive director of Creative Commons, mentioned in the context of the organization's presence at Google.

Software & Apps

LabVIEW

Software developed by National Instruments that will be integrated with Connections content for interactive simulations.

Project Gutenberg

A digital library offering free eBooks, and the source from which some public domain content like Shakespeare is uploaded to Connections.

delicious

A social bookmarking tool that inspired the concept of social software and lenses for content curation within Connections.

Red Hat

A company that provides services around the open-source Linux operating system, serving as a model for potential businesses around open educational content.

Rapose

Customizations of Plone software used by Connections, also available as a content management system for other organizations.

Chemistry Markup Languages

Emerging markup languages intended for representing chemical structures and organizations within Connections.

Plone

An open-source software content management system that forms the base for Connections, along with Zope.

XML

The core technology enabling modularity and reusability of content within Connections, facilitating customization and semantic markup.

MathML

A semantic markup language used in Connections to encode mathematical formulas, allowing for interoperability with tools like Mathematica.

Microsoft Word

A common word processing software whose documents can be converted into XML for use within Connections.

Mathematica

Software that can import and manipulate mathematical formulas encoded in MathML from Connections.

Faculty of 1000

A for-profit lens providing access to curated biological and medical science content.

Zope

An open-source software package that forms the base for Connections, along with Plone.

CN XML

The XML markup language used by Connections, designed to be easy to use and similar to HTML.

GXN.org

The website address for Connections, where all content is freely available.

Flickr

A photo-sharing platform that inspired the concept of social software and lenses for content curation within Connections.

Linux

An open-source operating system around which an entire industry has developed, serving as an analogy for the potential industry around open educational content.

Legislation & Policy

GPL

A license category (like BSD) that inspired the use of Creative Commons licenses for open-source software, and subsequently for educational content.

BSD Licenses

A license category (like GPL) that inspired the use of Creative Commons licenses for open-source software, and subsequently for educational content.