Number 9 in my Top 10 Ed-Tech Trends of 2011 Series
When I made my 10 tech predictions for 2011 for RWW last year, I included the following:
6. Openly-licensed content - open education resources, open source, open data - will thrive, as more people question outmoded intellectual property laws. Nonetheless, there'll still be patent and copyright infringement lawsuits aplenty.
Looking back on 2011, I don't really feel like I can pat myself on the back about that prediction. I don't think I can cheer, "woohoo, I got it right." What I wrote was so very bland and vague. And while I can chronicle all sorts of interesting developments in openly licensed content this year, I'm not sure that verb I chose in December 2010 -- "thrive" -- is quite the right one for December 2011. Have we really seen intellectual property laws questioned this year (See: Andy Baio's article "No Copyright Intended")? Or are we seeing them re-inscribed (See: SOPA)?
That's not to say that 2011 hasn't been an important year for openly-licensed content, open educational resources, open source, open access. Indeed, it's been quite an interesting year for the adjective "open."