Open Source and Open Standards, the thirteenth installment of the Impact of Open Source Software Series, was posted on September 19th, 2007, by Rob Abel who serves as CEO of the IMS Global Learning Consortium 1 (IMS GLC), a non-profit member consortium that have been focused on developing specifications and standards for interoperability exclusively in the learning sector for now over eleven years. Thanks Rob for a great posting!
In his posting Rob starts by introducing his experience in open source software and open standards. He also references a recent study that he has been involved with about current and prospective use of OSS in higher education. Rob follows his introduction with 4 postulates that summarize some of what Rob has learned during the past few years. He provides a brief description and some examples for each of his postulates. The postulates serve as points of departure for further dialog.
- Postulate number one: Open source reference implementations are extremely critical in achieving adoption of open standards for software interoperability.
- Postulate number two: Standards organizations are pretty much the only way to get a level playing field when it comes to new open source applications for learning - however, that won't happen unless the open source projects/communities are active participants.
- Postulate number three: Whether open source or proprietary, it's all about the boundaries of customization.
- Postulate number four: Open source can be strategic to the goals of educational organizations but I currently only know of one case in which it is.
Rob completes his posting by reinforcing his and IMS's commitment to addressing some of the larger issues associated with open standards and open source software for education.
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