Prior to my previous post, I felt that the topic discussed is relatively wide and there would be different views from different people. I was right! Look at what I’ve learned today:
Ebrahim mentioned coursera, an online learning platform. Honestly, I was drawn to his post title “I got my degree for $0”. I couldn’t believe that this was true till I read this post. It seems like this is a rising trend – attending classes online, and now, you can even get a “degree”! I believe this would be able to help many students who cannot afford the huge sum needed for education. He also said:
I guess being an optimist I believe everyone should benefit from education regardless of your financial status, and the internet has given us the ability to do so if we let it!
Charmaine shared the alternative concept of Creative Commons. Which means the works are protected under the “some rights reserved” policy instead of “all rights reserved” policy. Interested users can therefore use the producers’ materials under their conditions. I think this is a really interesting and effective concept, which brings benefits to both parties.
It is beneficial for the users as they get to use the materials for free. As for the producers of the materials, they could be made known to the public and gain more recognition as their materials are spread.
Amanda brought up the issue of plagiarism if we allow content to be freely available. I agree that it will cause a problem and people may take the content of others and pass it off as their own material Hence, I felt that the Creative Commons policy may be able to help this problem.
So after some thought, I feel that having an open access would be beneficial for both parties as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
(302 words)
jeanne 