Hi Richard,
You have raised key issues. On the one hand commercial publishing has done a sterling job of improving the quality and peer review of published texts not to mention widening the distribution channels for academic texts where Universities are not geared up to support this value-add to the model.
Why would we want to constrain new economic models that could widen access and distribution channels of free content? After all the user can decide whether they want to purchase a hard cover bound text when the source version is freely available?
I won't go down the MDG route - but one of our prime objectives is to reduce poverty. What rights do we have as authors of OERs to deny a small entrepreneur in the developing world the right to earn a living from free content? Opponents to this argument would cite the CC developing world license in defense, which I would argue is discrimination ;-)
You're absolutely right - the multiplier effect is the sustainability model for free content!
Cheers
- 908 reads
