OER Staffing Models

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Discussion

Stephen Downes:

"To a large degree, the production of OERs (and especially software) has been driven by volunteer staff. (Zalta, 2005)

This raises a set of new considerations when the sustainability of such initiatives is considered, as sustainability is now no longer merely ensured through appropriate payment. The incentives of volunteer staff are very different from those working for a paycheque.

Usually that motivation is altruistic, based on a desire that their work be used and shared. "The main motivation or incentive for people to make OER material available freely is that the material might be adopted by others and maybe even is modified and improved." (Larsen and Vincent-Lancrin, 2005) In other cases, more concrete incentives drive volunteer participation. Professors, for example, contribute their work to the public good in the hope of receiving tenure, promotions or recognition. (Kansa and Ashley, 2005) These non-financial incentives often require that the act of sharing resources take place in a community, as many of the factors that motivate sharing may only be produced within a community. Indeed, it could be argued that without an extant culture there's no motivation to share. (Fox and Manduca, 2005) A potential contributor would not feel a professional obligation to share, and perhaps more importantly, would not have personally experienced the value of sharing.

Volunteers, moreover, need organizing, and the form of organization must be such that it recognizes and promotes the volunteers' motivations for sharing. Thus, as Horton (2005) observes, a volunteer organization needs a clear overall vision, strategy, and roles for participants. For example, consider the manner in which the Apache Foundation - an explicitly self-styled "meritocracy" - organizes its volunteer staff (Apache, 2005). In addition to a lengthy list of vice presidents responsible for different products, volunteers serve roles varying from "developers' to "committers" to "users". Members who have developed significantly may become a "PMC member [which] is a developer or a committer that was elected due to merit for the evolution of the project and demonstration of commitment."

In volunteer-driven open resource communities, two major models of organization have developed: the Emergent Model and the Community Model. (Foote, 2005)

- Community Model

-- Reputation is a natural outgrowth of human interactions

-- Users are powerful, must be respected


- Emergent Model

-- Need reputation mechanisms like Ebay, Slashdot

-- Users are tiny, have no power (except in the aggregate)

These systems, thought of in combination, could be thought of as forming an Ecosystem Model (Stephenson, 2005) where "those creating, using and improving open content form an ecosystem." (http://www.downes.ca/files/FreeLearning.pdf)