Hi Ken and Wayne,
Thanks Ken for the table, interesting! I agree with Wayne's comments. The NC restriction severely reduces the multiplier effect which is a key benefit of OERs. I've never understood the logic anyhow and put it down to the ubiquitous politics prevalent in large educational institutions plus general fear of the unknown. As Wayne points out, derivative works must also be free so even if a company were to commercialise an OER there's extraordinary downward pressure on price because it's share-alike. Commercialisation can really benefit the user - e.g. I might be very happy to pay a company for quality type-setting, binding and a hardcover or simply for having edited it or extended it so that it is fit for purpose for my needs. But the commercial entity can hardly exploit that opportunity as I'd simply commission someone else to do the editing and binding. Here's an example, we've created an OER course on employment law. It's designed for 100 hours of learning in a tertiary education environment. 100 hours of learning is not what a company wants their employees to have, more like 2-6 hrs. I'm more than happy that a private firm distills the OER package we created so that it is fit for purpose and that they receive a fee for their time. More people have access to the learning and the multiplier effect kicks in - i.e. the economy benefits.
Reuse is one of the fundamental reasons behind OERS so any barriers to reuse must be minimised.
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