E-Books and Open Education Resources (ERMs)

LBS 708: ICTs and Libraries Class on 25 April 2017

E-Books and Open Education Resources

There was no class for the week of 16 - 22 April because of the University recess period. However, we had a project that we are busy with and I started to brainstorm about the topic I will choose.

This week lesson focused on the components of ebooks. We touched at the definition of ebooks, challenges affecting SA e-books markets, students/researchers attitudes towards e-books, licensing and pricing models. 

E-books can be accessed from a number of mobile platforms, e.g. kindle, ipad, tablets, mobile phones, etc. Below is an example of an Amazon keyboard e-book reader (kindle).

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle

 

Open Educational Resources (OERs)

The information extracted from Anne Moon's OER Libguide define OERs as "Teaching and learning materials that are freely available online for everyone to use, whether you are an instructor, student or self-learner. 

OERs include: textbooks, full courses, course modules, syllabi, lectures, homework assignments, quizzes, lab and classroom activities, pedagogical materials, games, simulations, specialised search engines, and many more resources contained in digital media collections from around the world."For the list of OERs that are published on the UWC library LibGuides click here

Open Access (OA) & Institutional Repository (IR)

Open Access (OA) & Institutional Repository (IR)

What is Open Access (OA)

 A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access by Peter Suber http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/brief.htm

Open Access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What makes it possible is the internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder. OA is entirely compatible with peer review, and all the major OA initiatives for scientific and scholarly literature insist on its importance. Just as authors of journal articles donate their labour, so do most journal editors and referees participating in peer review.

OA literature is not free to produce, even if it is less expensive to produce than conventionally published literature. The question is not whether scholarly literature can be made costless, but whether there are better ways to pay the bills than by charging readers and creating access barriers. Business models for paying the bills depend on how OA is delivered.

Open Access Week October 23 - 29, 2017 | Everywhere

Copyright and Open Access

Copyright and Open Access

 This was my second lecture and we learn about the Copyiright.

Definition

The exclusive right given by law to authors, composers or publishers to sell, reproduce or publish a work during a stated period of time to protect their original works for their entire life PLUS 50 years afterwards (i.e. for the benefit of their heirs). When this period expires, works go into the public domain (“copyright free”).