Using Open Source Theory in the Classroom

Applying a Theory of Technology in an English Classroom

1st:
The idea is to get students to understand the theory behind the technology they use daily.
- Identify the technology they use (i.e. message boards, chat, text messaging, or for our purposes, open source culture)
- Explain what it technically is (Open Source = a set of principles and practices that promote access to the design and production of goods and knowledge)
- Explain what it does, and why it works (Open Source theory = the creative practice of appropriation and free sharing of found and created content)

2nd:
Once they understand the concept or theory behind it, help students learn to apply it to the course content.
- If Open Source is to open up your work to the public to work together for a better product, then Open Source poetry is to open up your work to the public to work together for a better product.
- Example: http://opensourcepoetry.org

RULES
Of course, there must be guidelines and restrictions. This is school, after all.

Open Source Classroom Rules

• Rule 1: You are free to use and combine your work to create something new. The argument is that two heads are better than one, that someone else's idea may have some flaws in it that you can improve upon and keep it going.
• Rule 2: You still can't violate copyright. This is a new movement, so any work or works that were created before or without this or don't specifically claim otherwise ARE copyrighted.
  
• Rule 3: When you make someone else's work yours, it doesn't stay yours. You have to "pay it forward." That is, you can't take something for free then sell it for money. You must leave it open to be changed again by someone else.
• Rule 4: In my classroom, the Open Source rule would apply only some of the time. When it is decided in class that the assignment will be open source, feel free to use anything that is already free. But when it comes to many assignments (certain essays, tests, etc) I need to evaluate YOUR personal work and you MAY NOT appropriate, include, use, or copy anyone else's. (Hopefully this would rule out essay-buying or internet copying)
  

Open Source in Other Content Areas

L.H.O.O.Q. by Marcel Duchamp

Open Source art?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriation_%28art%29

This is for our class project today. I took this right on campus.
ENGLISH CLASS PROMPT: Describe how your life is like a greenhouse.

How Things Explode

You make something small, then put it on Youtube and it explodes. That's what happened to an assistant professor at Kansas State University who made this really cool video explaining "Web 2.0", Youtubed it and BLAM, it's been seen by ... well, by a lot of people. It's quite cool. Check it out for yourself.



I especially like when it says that HOW we use the machine begins to teach the machine how we want it to work.

Also, read the news article that was written about him last february. Thanks, Thomas!

See, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

Steal This Poem

Open Source Poetry

Wow! I just Googled that again and what did I find but yet another intriguing debate on the subject. Well, since their conversation wasn't technically copyrighted either... I'll take the liberty of reprinting some of their opinions here:

Gurdit: "I like the idea of open source. I also make it a point to link back or mention every website/software/person whose help I have used on my website/other. I wouldn’t mind people copying portions/entire texts of my poetry/blog posts, as long as they have the decency not to claim it to be their own entirely, and perhaps to link back."

Slices: "True poetry lies beyond words, and words are public, anyway. Which goes to say… I don’t think you can really *steal* someone’s poetry, just the words - and copying those makes you a lousy poet in any terms…"

And I really enjoyed this one--

Harvey A. Ramer: "I draw everyone’s attention to the word “source” in the phrase “open source.” Hmmm. What is the “source” of poetry?

There’s a certain sense in which any true poet or gifted author is happy to share the source of their inspiration and working methods with anyone who wants to follow in their footsteps … that’s what I think pertains to the discussion of open source poetry.

Anyone engaged in a creative endeavor is entitled to payment for their work … it just so happens that with software, creating an open source code base and giving it away has financial rewards that are often commensurate with the risks. If there was no financial reward or potential to be had from open source collaboration, no business would undertake it. Personal and organizational partnerships would still form.

I said all that to say this: Poetry has no clear code base on which a poet can build economic value by giving it away. Like music, all the poet gains from giving it away is exposure for public events.

The world feels they are entitled to free creative works. They (we) are not!

Wow! Why did I type all this? :)"

Why? Because you just practiced what you preach. Wasn't this neat little comment a "creative endeavor"? And you just posted it without idea of payment of any kind. This is a free creative work. Maybe we weren't entitled to hearing it, but we did, and we enjoyed it. Does everything need to be motivated by money???

How To Take Better Pictures

I must confess... My dad's owned a book--complete with helpful instructional video--with this title for years, but I've never even looked at it. Well, today is the day... It's much easier to learn things online, anyway: the interactivity can't be beat.

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=10032&pq-locale=en_US

My only other confession is that lots of these "bad example" photos could've been taken from my own picture library. Well, now I know; things can only get better. (Whoa, whoa, whoa...)

And play around with the "online digital camera" they have. Way too fun!

Homework!

3rd Handout
"A picture is worth a thousand words"

How many times have we heard that? But "chliche" never really ruled out "truth." Students can always think of writing ideas from paintings. I especially love impressionistic works. Doesn't a rainy afternoon in France make you want to sip a hot drink and write a poem?


How the Web works:

Check out the following website:
http://www.learnthenet.com/english/section/www.html

Go to “The Animated Internet: How the Web Works.” Follow the steps to the end.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1. What is a URL? What do different parts of a URL mean?
Uniform resource locator

2. What is a server?
Where files are located and downloaded from onto your computer

3. What is a Web browser?
Program that assembles the web page onto your the screen

4. How does the Web work?
Information stored on servers is shared (networked, or webbed) onto your personal computer

Everything I've ever known to be true is a lie!

I use that quote all the time ("Moses" says it in the animated film Prince of Egypt) because it seems to apply to life all the time: we learn something, then realize that what we once thought were truths were actually not.

In my reading I'm finding that life, and writing, and literature, constantly ask us to relearn and unlearn what we've learned before.

When we learn something new -- and I mean really learn it, not just hear about it, but think it through and apply it to ourselves -- it changes how we think, how we interpret what we read, and what and how we write.

So in a way, you might say that whatever we learn affects and influences what we produce, especially our writing.

For example: I heard that Prince of Egypt quote and adapted and used it for my own writing. That makes it as much a part of this blog as it is of that movie. Did I steal that Prince of Egypt quote? Should I have to pay for the right to use it? Or is it, now that I've used it, technically mine as well? Must I first change part of it to make it truly mine? Or is the change of context alone enough?

This is the kind of thing open source brings to the table. What are your opinions on the subject? What would you change from what I've said? What might you add?

P.S. Here's what made me think of the quote in the first place (more on that later)

Lots of Links. Check 'em out. Join the discussion.

Open Source Poetry
http://osp.bbkstudio.com/

An Opinion on the Subject

Can you own a word?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/02/business/olympics.php

Maybe everything should be free.
http://creativecommons.org/

I'd never even heard of copyleft before this:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-copyleft.html