Open Source Issues for Higher Education James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology Macquarie ELe

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Open Source Issues forHigher
EducationJames DalzielProfessor of Learning
Technology Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of
Excellence (MELCOE)Macquarie University
james_at_melcoe.mq.edu.auwww.melcoe.mq.edu.auChie
f Investigator,Australian Service for Knowledge
of Open Source Software (ASK-OSS)www.ask-oss.mq.e
du.auPresentation for Open Repositories 2006,
University of Sydney, February 3rd, 2006
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Overview

• About open source software (OSS)
• Adoption of open source in higher education
• OSS Case Study LAMS
• Introducing ASK-OSS
• Current OSS issues in higher education

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About open source software

• What is open source software?
• Formal definition provided by the Open Source
  Institute
• Formal accreditation of licenses - OSI
  Certified
• Typical elements of open source licenses
• Attribution
• Publicly available source code (typically without
  charge)
• Disclaimer of all liability/warranty
• Freedom to view, use, change and redistribute
  source code
• Some licenses require redistribution under same
  license

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About open source software

• A related term is free software (free as in
  freedom)
• Similar, but not the same definition, as open
  source
• Free software includes a focus on the ethics of
  sharing open source tends to focus more on
  pragmatics of adoption
• Sometimes collectively described as Free and
  Open Source Software (FOSS)
• While the license is central to defining open
  source, there are other important dimensions,
  such as
• Open development processes
• Open source business models/sustainability of
  open source
• Open source culture (meritocracy, open robust
  debate, etc)

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About open source software

• Open source software/free software has its
  origins deeply rooted in higher
  education/research
• Key role of universities and researchers in the
  earliest developments of software and the
  internet (MIT, Berkeley)
• More recently, both Linux and Apache (and many
  other projects) and OSS licenses have
  university/research related origins
• Today, some areas of higher education are open
  source, others are mostly closed, and others are
  changing
• Mainly open E-Research software (eg Grid),
  various infrastructure
• Mainly closed Finance/HR, Student Information,
  Desktops
• Changing Learning Management Systems (LMS),
  Browsers

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Examples of OSS in HE

• Desktop
• Limited operating system and office productivity
  adoption (but growing number of trials)
• Growing browser adoption since Firefox release
• Limited collaboration (email, calendar, etc)
• Various niche applications (eg, encryption)

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Examples of OSS in HE

• Infrastructure
• Apache web server dominant
• Linux operating system widely adopted
• MySQL and PostgresSQL becoming common databases
  for small-medium scale use
• Tomcat, JBoss, Zope and other similar systems
  becoming common for application platforms
• Perl/PHP/Python programming languages
• Various open source utilities common (Eclipse
  IDE, Squid proxy cache, CAS/Libproxy/etc for
  single sign on, OpenLDAP for directory, Federated
  Identity and Access using Shibboleth, etc)

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Examples of OSS in HE

• Core education applications
• Learning Management Systems Moodle, Sakai, .LRN,
  ATutor, etc
• Portal uPortal
• Content Management Systems Plone, Joomla,
  Lon-capa
• Community systems OpenACS/.LRN, Drupal
• Content authoring Reload, eXe
• Repositories DSpace, Fedora, EPrints
• Learning Design LAMS, Coppercore
• Others Blogs, Wikis, etc

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Examples of OSS in HE

• Summary
• Desktop limited OSS impact, some trials
• Infrastructure significant OSS adoption,
  dominant in some areas
• OSS Educational applications mixed
• Limited in some areas (Finance/HR, Student
  Information Systems, Library)
• Changing in other areas (LMS, CMS, Portal)
• Already dominant in some (Repositories, Learning
  Design)

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Case Study LAMS

• LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) is a
  new generation of e-learning software
• Based on the evolving field of Learning Design
• LAMS helps teachers/lecturers to create and run
  digital lesson plans
• Sequences of content and collaborative activities
• LAMS sequences can be shared and improved
• LAMS Community and open source teaching
• Originally developed as commercial software,
  shifted to an open source business model

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Case Study LAMS

• Why was open source a good decision for LAMS?
• Encourage rapid widespread adoption of the
  Learning Design approach and the LAMS software
• Foster open source development of new activity
  tools (as well as extend the core platform)
• Combines open source and open content approaches
• LAMS as open source helps inform future open
  standards development for Learning Design
• LAMS as open source helps avoid file format
  lock-in
• Non-profit foundation www.lamsfoundation.orgComm
  ercial services www.lamsinternational.comSoftwar
  e/resources www.lamsfoundation.org/CD/

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Case Study LAMS

• How will LAMS be sustainable?
• Dual organisational structure
• LAMS Foundation (non profit) for public funding,
  charitable grants, etc owns software, releases
  as OSS
• LAMS International Pty Ltd (services company) for
  paid services and support (eg, hosting, tech
  support, training, custom development, custom
  content, etc)
• Profits on services help support ongoing
  development
• LAMS chose the General Public License (GPL) to
  allow for the possibility of dual licensing (cf
  MySQL)
• Software free to all under the GPL
• Commercial software that wants to integrate and
  distribute LAMS can pay for a non-GPL license

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Case Study LAMS

• What do commercial software companies think of
  LAMS as open source software?
• The LAMS Building Block is a prime example of
  open source and Blackboard working together
  towards the common goal of enhancing education,"
  said Matthew Pittinsky, Chairman of Blackboard.
  "This new tool clearly demonstrates that open
  source and corporate developed/supported software
  do not and should not be mutually exclusive of
  each other but instead can work side by side to
  create an end result greater than the sum of the
  individual parts. It is tremendously exciting to
  work with LAMS to facilitate this kind of cutting
  edge functionality.
• Blackboard Press Release, 24/1/06

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ASK-OSS Overview

• DEST-funded project in the MERRI round of SII
• www.ask-oss.mq.edu.au
• Provides a national focal point for OSS
  assistance for E-Research
• Advice, management, governance and dissemination
• Modelled on the successful OSS Watch JISC
  Service at Oxford (also a partner for ASK-OSS)
• Complementary to, but different from, open
  content initiatives such as Creative Commons
• Software focus

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ASK-OSS Priorities

• ASK-OSS provides unbiased, pragmatic
  advice/guidance to researchers on
• selection of appropriate OSS for research
• choosing appropriate OSS licenses
• management/governance for OSS development
• (potentially) a national service for storage and
  community development of OSS (using GForge)
• NB Does not provide formal legal advice

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ASK-OSS Partners

• Lead Macquarie University (MELCOE)
• Experience with OSS from LAMS, MAMS, etc
• Open Source Law
• Specialist legal firm in OSS issues
• Open Source Industry Association (OSIA)
• Australias industry body for OSS
• OSS Watch (Oxford, on behalf of JISC, UK)
• UK Advisory Service for OSS

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OSS Issues in HE

• Business models and sustainability
• Eg, Can I restrict my OSS to non-commercial use
  only?
• No breaches no restriction on fields of
  endeavour (clause 6) of the Open Source
  Definition (OSI)
• Which license should I choose for my new
  project?
• Depends on your values, community and goals
• Eg, GPL is most widely used, but consider its
  reciprocity clause
• What is community source? Is it the same as open
  source?
• For Sakai, OSPI yes the difference is the
  development model
• My CIO wont consider OSS because there is no
  support
• Most OSS projects have active web support
  communities
• As an OSS system becomes widely adopted,
  commercial services arise to provide paid support
  contracts similar to commercial support
• Red Hat Linux, MySQL Network, Moodle Partners,
  LAMS International, etc