UKOLN is supported by:

What Does Openness Mean To The Museum Community?

Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of BathBath, UKB.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk

Co-Author: Ross Gardler, JISC OSS Watch, University of Oxford

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/mw-2008/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/mw-2008/

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

Resources bookmarked using ‘mw2008' tag Resources bookmarked using ‘mw2008' tag

Mike Ellis

Eduserv

Bath, UK

Mike.Ellis@eduserv.org.uk

2

About The FacilitatorsBrian Kelly:

• UK Web Focus – a national Web advisory post• Based at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise

in digital information management, located at University of Bath, UK

• Advisor to HE and cultural heritage sectorsMike Ellis:

• Head of Web for the National Museum of Science and Industry for 7 years

• Now working at Eduserv, Bath• Interests include user generated content, Web 2.0,

ubiquitous computing and innovation and how to exploit these to gain maximum benefit for cultural institutions

BK

Intr

od

uct

ion

3

About This Professional Forum

Openness:• A positive term• Covers open standards, open source, open

content, open services and open culture

But:• What are the limitations of openness?• To what extent do we wish to embrace the

concept of openness?• How do we respond if we feel that openness

concepts may (a) be flawed (b) endanger our business models or (c) not be sustainable?

BK

Intr

od

uct

ion

4

About You

What responsibilities do you have?

Why have you chosen to attend this professional forum?

What do you hope to get out of the session?

BK

Intr

od

uct

ion

5

Benefits Of Open StandardsOpen standards can:

• Provide device- and application-independence• Avoid vendor lock-in• Provide an open marketplace for development• Maximise access to resources• Enhance interoperability• Provide architectural integrity• Provide long-term access to resources

Benefits are widely accepted by the development community:

• Mandation of open standards in procurement• Lists of recommended open standards

for digital library development programmes

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

BK

6

Benefits Of Open Source

Open source software can:• Provide freedom to use, modify and redistribute

software • Encourage competition which can increase the

quality, satisfaction and flexibility of software• Help to ensure that software remains valuable to

an organisation regardless of changing strategic objectives of any single software development organisation

• Ensure there is no incentive to attempt to lock-in a customer by using proprietary extensions to file formats or data standards

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

BK

7

Benefits Of Open APIs

Open APIs...• ..are systems which allow free sharing of data,

programmatically• Typically have open standards at their core, or

at least an open framework• Examples include RSS, REST, SOAP, OAI-PMH,

for data sharing • Usually have XML or JSON as interchange

format

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

ME

8

Benefits Of Open APIs

Why is this good?• Fundamental to the web now is user-centricity.

RSS etc. allow users to get what they want and how they want it

• Shared data inspires creativity: “we is better than me” – see the Frankie & Seb show...

• It frees us (and others) to use tools like the MIT timeline, Yahoo Maps, Google charts, etc – usually for no or low cost.

• Additional benefits like mobile version are “easy”• The more data the better!• Also – if we don’t do it, services like Google

images, Dapper etc will do it for us!

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

ME

9

Benefits Of Open Content

Open Content:

• Is content which can “got at” and shared• A hidden API or RSS feed isn’t “open”..• Word/PDF/Fax/email (etc.) isn’t “open”• Is often associated with CC licences• ...which means it is usually free • As per Open APIs, if you provide access

then you can see blossoming creativity• Throws up issues around income...

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

ME

10

Benefits Of Open Content

Open Content:

...is reusable content.

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

ME

11

Benefits Of An Open Culture

• Openness is a core component of web 2.0• If we can’t use the web to connect with our

users, then why use the web at all...?• Web 2.0 (actually, the web) is becoming

more and more about people and relationships

• A lot of what we’ve talked about this week is about or around Open Culture!

• e.g. “Web 2.0: where do we go from here?”

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

ME

12

Problems With Open Culture

Problems with user generated content:• Not all users are nice!• Users may prefer to listen to voice of

authority• Automated spam is an increasing

annoyance (email, blog comments, …)• Discussion often degenerates into flam

wars• May be legal implications• It’s expensive to monitor

Open culture – great in theory; flawed in practice

Lim

itat

ion

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

BK

13

Problems With Open APIs

Problems with making use of 3rd party APIs and services:

• They don’t do this for our benefit, but to make money

• The long-term business models are unproven

• They can change their T&C at any time• They can withdraw services cf Amazon

withdrawing their SOAP interface

Lim

itat

ion

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

BK

14

Problems With Open Standards

Open standards:• Can be too complex• Can be difficult to implement• May fail to be accepted in the market

place• Take long time to reach agreement• What is an open standard: PDF, RSS or

MS Word?• We can seek to deploy too soon, before

limitations, costs, etc. are understood (RDF?)

Lim

itat

ion

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

BK

15

Problems With Open Source

Open source software:• Has been over-hyped• Didn’t bring long the demise of western

capitalism!• May be issues related to:

• documentation • support• SLA • sustainability

• Source Forge as a dumping ground for failed Open Source projects

The discussion now is more about sustainability & fitness for purpose, whether OSS or proprietary

Lim

itat

ion

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

BK

16

Contextual ApproachContextual approach to open standards:

• Developed to support JISC’s development programmes

• Described at MW 2007• Based on annotated descriptions: ownership, purpose, maturity, risks, …

• Decisions on policies and compliance delegated to appropriate level

• Extended to include policies on open source software

Ad

dre

ssin

g T

he

Lim

itat

ion

s

BK

See “Addressing The Limitations Of Open Standards” and “Openness in Higher Education: Open Source, Open Standards, Open Access”

See “Addressing The Limitations Of Open Standards” and “Openness in Higher Education: Open Source, Open Standards, Open Access”

17

Problems With Open Content

Problems with allowing others to reuse content:• Undermines one’s business• Duplication of popular services but

neglecting of minority interests• This isn’t liberal; it’s privatisation (similar to

deregulation of public services)• The content owners are likely to be

unhappy• Why should Facebook, MySpace, … make

money from our content?Open content – like socialism great in theory; doesn’t work in practice!

Lim

itat

ion

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

BK

18

Open Content - Think About:

• Scarcity vs Scale...which for us?• The Long Tail and the Niche• How do we address notions of intention?

Answer: we can’t!• Power of marketing vs power of

commerce without marketing• Pirate Coelho. It worked for him!• Freemium, try before you buy?

Ben

efit

s O

f O

pen

nes

s

ME

19

Any Conclusions...?