I am putting more time aside to think about open. Since my retirement at the beginning of 2023 I have reduced my professional commitments in order to increase time available to spend with family. Mum passed away in September 2023 and I am nearing the end of the many additional tasks around her funeral, finanacial arrangements as executor of her Will and disposal of her home and belongings.

I am no longer Chair of the OESIG, having stood down to give others a chance after 8 years in the role. However I am still an open practitioner, albeit one without institutional affiliation. So when a little headspace became available I decided to return to messages in my inbox I had noticed but not yet engaged with. The OE Global Connect community is a space that I value and I was attracted to this post from Martin Dougiamas about the importance of choosing open tech. I was particularly taken by this statement:

“There is an ongoing war in the world between open and non open”

Having spent many years supporting technology choices both in my role at Warwick and in my training work for UNICollaboration I can fully understand this position and agree with the points Martin raises. Looking through the thread I also see many good points raised and discussed so I wondered how I could contribute to the discussion rather than just agreeing. Using my critical lens I could see that the voices in the discussion were not as varied as needed for such an important (to open narratives) conversation. I added that to the thread. I thank both @cogdog and @moodler for acknowledging my points and providing further context. Beware however the unconscious bias. The war on open is unlikely to go away, indeed “openwashing” is everywhere and the process of tech choices becomes ever more complex in an AI world where decision makers are actively looking to reduce costs by replacing human expertise and collaboration with computer generated curricula and course management. It is perhaps helpful to remind everyone of Martin Weller’s OER15 keynote:

Tech decisions are often, as is stated, spreadsheet driven and out of the hands of employees who may even be ignored or made to feel as though they are unwelcome to contribute to decisions because they “don’t understand” “don’t have the relevant expertise” or other dubious rationales. Gender is not the only distinguishing factor here, many are maginalised and excluded by those with power and may feel vulnerable or just have better things to do for the sake of their wellbeing rather than “speaking up”. Having lived my last few years in work coping with caring for an elderly parent as well as a disabled family member I can testify to the exhaustion that pushes people to stand back in some potentially demanding professional “war zones”.

So how can the open community help?

-By standing in solidarity with each other. There is power in numbers and emotional support goes a long way.

-By using such open spaces as this to include the widest possible cross section of our community

-By (as is stated in the thread) sharing experience and contextualising it so that the richness of our diverse settings is reflected.

No one should have to find themselves fighting this war alone. Together we can weave a closer fabric which can protect our future from domination by the few tech giants and provide greater sustainability of learning and teaching for all.