Open+Textbook+Authoring+Models+&+Platforms

=Intro= Q: What is this talk about? Is it about eBooks? websites? OERs? Open Textbooks? A: All of the above - it is important up front to understand that many of this distinctions are fictions based on the past that incumbents use to keep existing business models intact or that people adopt in coming to new technologies through old lenses

Like any new technology, ebooks CAN simply replicate the form of its predecessor, but they DON'T HAVE TO.

Digital technologies and computing have the tendency to
 * reify existing (hidden or implicit) practices while at the same time
 * liberating content from form and
 * freeing us from the conventional constraints of space and time

=Part 1 - Choices= Networks - one copy used by many; left in place; allows for collaboration Digital - its form is not its content; infinite copyability; infinite changeability/versions - it does not need to be "final" or "finished," iterable, new versions Openness - serendipity as operating principle; can't guarantee if you share openly it will happen, but CAN guarantee if you don't share openly, it WON'T
 * Affordances** - "a quality of an object, or an environment, which allows an individual to perform an action" (wikipedia)

Who Authors? Who Reads/Uses? How they Author? How they Read (form)? How they Read (interaction)?
 * Variables that these affordances allow us to consider**

__**Who Authors?**__ Single Author Multiple (Known) Authors Multiple Authors, some unknown Multiple Authors (including students)

My students? Any student? My co-instructors? Any instructor?
 * __Who Reads/Uses?__**

Written on one's own on the desktop (word) Written on one's own on the network (google docs) Written with another, but not collaboratively (google docs, wordpress chapters) Written with others, colloboratively and asynchronously (wiki) Written with others, collaboratively and synchronously (booki, etherpad)
 * __How they Author?__**

Online (web browser) In print (themselves, or bound via service or bookstore) eBook
 * __How they Read (form)?__**

__**How they Read (interaction)?**__ On their own? With others? Annotatable? Annotations Shareable? Outside of closed platform? Can they contribute? Comment? Fork/Derive?


 * Picking the solution that is right for you is a process of finding a balance between**


 * =  ||= your current practice and skill levels ||=   ||
 * = access to infrastructure and the technical realities of your setting (e.g. bookstore's ability to do print-on-demand, existing vendor/format requirements ||= [[image:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_onqn7tmdY-8/SoxW6kAR6DI/AAAAAAAAAFk/Qd_7OPuSIdU/s320/Earth_Symbol.jpg width="139" height="139" align="center"]] ||= the realistic potential for serendipity (nature of material, nature of discipline and networks/communities that exist around it and that you participate in or know about) ||
 * =  ||= the needs of your primary readership (and potential future one's where possible to anticipate ||=   ||

=Part 2 - Examples=


 * (for each describe potential outcomes, shortcomings and/or challenges and //ideally showing working examples/end products!!!//)**


 * 1. Desktop Tool (Open Office/Sigil) to eBook**


 * 2. Mediawiki / Wikieducator (& book creator & pediapress)**


 * 2a? Connexion?**


 * 3. Wordpress / Press Books (& digress.it / anthologize)**


 * 4. etherpad / booki (synchronous, book sprint)**

=Part 3 Misc Other stuff & Conclusion=
 * -ePub reader browser add-on (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/epubreader/)
 * GrabMyBooks browser add-on (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/grabmybooks/)
 * It's all about the (work)FLOW - cf Open Educator as DJ http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/Open+Educator+as+DJ+%28Final%29
 * More details on the unfolding BCcampus pilot project at http://opentextbook.troy.bccampus.ca/

detritus

Open License? Open formats? Openly accessible/findable? Forkable?
 * __Who Reads/Uses?__**

What is the primary goal in creating the Open Textbook?
 * Save money for my students?
 * Collaborate with other authors?
 * Offer a platform for students to further collaborate on?

What is the primary model for authoring the textbook?
 * A single author writing the book
 * Multiple authors writing individual chapters
 * Multiple authors co-authoring all chapters
 * Multiple authors writing individual chapters, reviewing/editing each others work

If collaborators are welcome, is the project open to anonymous or unknown collaborators?