Open Access
"Free" vs. "Open"
There is a lot of confusion over the differences between the terms "free" and "open," so this quest will provide basic definitions for both to help you assess which is best for your purposes.
When we use the term “free,” it typically means no financial exchange for the product or service. Some see “free” as in “freedom”; however, most people associate it with no charge, and this is usually the best interpretation of a service or resource that is labeled as "free."
How is “open” different? Open encompasses both "free" (as in no charge, as discussed above) AND free as in freedom to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute (the five R's).
To clarify, let us refer to the Open Content definition Links to an external site. from David Wiley. Wiley refers to open content as meeting the “5R’s:”
- Retain - the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
- Reuse - the right to reuse the content in its unaltered / verbatim form (e.g., make a backup copy of the content)
- Revise - the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
- Remix - the right to combine the original or revised content with other content to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
- Redistribute - the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)
By using these definitions as a guideline, you can see that free and open are really not one in the same, even though people will sometimes use them interchangeably.
Reference:
Wiley, D.(n.d.). Defining the open in open content Links to an external site..
Levels of Openness
The definition of “open content” provided by Wiley is the least restrictive definition you will find. However, as he mentioned on his site, there is not agreement as to what absolutely defines something as open. We have learned about creative commons licenses and can clearly see that they provide different levels of openness. They allow someone to share their work in a way that may not include all of Wiley’s 5R’s. There is much discussion around the commercial restrictions that are available. To further your understanding, please see this definition from Creative Commons Links to an external site. and the full definition of “open” from Open Knowledge. Links to an external site.
Open Access Journals
Another important dimension of open access is open access journals (research, data, etc.) Using the definition of open you just learned, traditionally, journals – especially scholarly journals – are not open access. That is, they are only available for pay through a usually expensive database subscription or equally expensive individual subscriptions to the actual journals or to the fees associated with accessing the articles in said journals.
While this is still the dominant model for dissemination of research, there is a recent, and growing, movement to free academic research from the confines of fee for access. For example, many journals are now available through the database of open access journals Links to an external site..
The following video explains more about this historic shift:
Open Access Explained! by Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics) CC-BY
Links to an external site.
Openwashing
The last concept in this quest is “openwashing Links to an external site..” This is most simply defined as claiming something as open when it really does not conform to the definition of open. It may, for example, simply be “free.”
To broaden your understanding of this issue, please read David Wiley’s blog post titled “Openwashing – the new Greenwashing Links to an external site..”
Image Credit: Open by John Martinez Pavliga Links to an external site., CC-BY Links to an external site.