Monthly Archives: December 2006

Dr. Couros, At Last!

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I’ve successfully defended my Ph. D. dissertation, and I’m incredibly happy. It feels absolutely terrific to be done!

I have a few minor edits to do, but I thought I would share the (just about) finished dissertation.

The Open Movement: Possibilities and Implications for Education.

This dissertation reports the results of a two-year long research study focused on describing and coming to understand the perceptions and beliefs of a group of educators immersed in open source culture (OSC)

I was lucky to have the help of great participants throughout this study, many who are mentioned by name in the dissertation. Thanks to all of those who participated and for helping me get through this important stage in my own education. I hope that this document is helpful to others, and I expect to have a LOT to say about my findings in the next few months. And of course, thanks to my committee and my advisor Dr. Cyril Kesten for getting me through this.

Happy holidays everyone!

The Open Source Automobile

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The open-source movement responsible for software like Linux and Mozilla’s Web browser, Firefox, is proving contagious: A German entrepreneur is applying the same approach to automobile design.

Former BMW employee Markus Merz, who now owns an automobile consulting firm in Dingolfing, Germany, calls his project Oscar, shorthand for Open Source Car.

See full story at Discovery.com.

Google Will Digitize Your Academic Journal Back Runs For Free

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Peter Suber’s Open Access News reports, “Google is offering to digitize and provide OA (open access) to the back runs of scholarly journals. ”

I think that this is great news for the academic community, that is, if the offer is taken up by publishers on a significant level. Of course, there are pros and cons. Be sure to read Suber’s full post to get a better idea of the specific issues involved.