The Story of “O”
(as in Open Source)
Phillip Long
MIT
Thursday, May 13th, 2004 longpd@mit.edu
How many open source
developers does it take to change
a light bulb?
• 17 to agree about the license
• 17 to argue about the brain deadedness of the light
bulb architecture
• 17 to argue about a new model that encompasses all
models of illumination & makes it simple to candles,
campfires, pilot lights and skylights with the same
easy to extend mechanism
• 17 to speculate about the secretive industrial
conspiracy that insures that light bulbs will burn out
frequently
• 1 to finally change the light and 16 who decide that
this solution is good enough for the time being
• Peter Wayner, “Free for all; how linux and the free software movement undercut the high-tech titatns”, NY,
Harper-Collins, 2000
The e-decade
e-publishing
e-commerce
e-business
e-Bay
The o-decade
open systems
standards
open source
archives
open tools
open access
Meme -
"ideas should freely
spread from one to
another over the globe”
Thomas Jefferson
Liberation Technology1
1John Unsworth - Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 30, 2004
Dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Liberation technology is
not anti-business
Commerce across a
continuum of non-
exclusive commercial
rights
The Cast
Open Content
Open Standards
Open Systems
Open Tools
Open Access
Open Content
http://ocw.mit.edu/
“OpenCourseWare looks counter-intuitive
in a market-driven world. It goes against
the grain of current material values. But it
really is consistent with what I believe is
the best about MIT. It is innovative. It
expresses our belief in the way education
can be advanced – by constantly widening
access to information and by inspiring
others to participate.”
– Charles M. Vest,
President of MIT
Sept. 2001
Why Is MIT Doing This?
•Furthers MIT’s fundamental mission
•Embraces faculty values
•Teaching
• Sharing best practices with the greater
community
• Contributing to their discipline
•Counters the privatization of knowledge
and champions the movement toward
greater openness
Where We Are
701 Courses
Phase I Phase II Phase III
Pilot Expansion Steady State
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Courses 50 500 900 1250 1550 1800 1800
Publication • Design pub process • Inventory content and improve quality Each year:
• Implement technology • Enhance site features and functions • Add new courses: ~100
strategy • Add video materials • Revise existing: ~ 275
• Develop IP strategy • Plot new content capture tactics • Archive old: ~ 100
• Implement dept.
liaison program
Evaluation • Develop evaluation • Implement reporting strategy • Conduct annual evaluations
strategy • Conduct annual evaluations and focused studies and studies
• Conduct baseline
evaluation
Outreach • Partner with Universia • Facilitate other opencoursewares • Collaborate with consortium
(translation affiliate) • Partner with translation/distribution affiliates members
• Build awareness
• Foster learning communities
Publishing 700 Courses Open Content
•Site Highlights
•Syllabus
•Course Calendar
•Lecture Notes
•Assignments
•Exams
•Problem/Solution Sets
•Labs and Projects
•Simulations
•Tools and Tutorials
•Video Lectures
Access Data Open Content
Site Traffic Overview
Since
December January February March
10/1/03*
Page Views 20,604,427 2,680,794 3,311,611 2,884,061 3,025,412
Average Daily
*11,103 9,276 11,624 11,174 10,891
Visits
Average Monthly
*301,719 287,546 360,360 324,058 337,620
Visits
First-Time Visits *174,407 172,536 196,710 174,961 187,348
Monthly Repeat
*127,312 115,010 163,650 149,097 150,272
Visits
* Figures in italics are averages
Traffic Volume by Open Content
Geography
March 2004
Country Hits Country Hits
1 India 954,167 11 Brazil 340,281
2 Canada 859,782 12 France 334,190
3 China 822,206 13 Spain 318,292
4 U.K. 672,339 14 Indonesia 251,495
5 South Korea 448,975 15 Australia 240,689
6 Japan 421,334 16 Turkey 239,972
7 Germany 402,965 17 Colombia 196,504
8 Vietnam 401,498 18 Singapore 185,495
9 Taiwan 392,701 19 Mexico 165,221
10 Italy 366,484 20 Greece 164,496
Access Data Open Content
• Self-learners are 52% of visitors
– Average of over 6000 daily visits
– Most likely from North America (60% of North American
visitors)
• Students are 31% of visitors
– 3600 daily visits
• Educators are 13% of the visitors
– 1550 visits per day
– 55% of educators teach at 4-year colleges or the
equivalent
– Almost 49% have less than 5 years teaching experience
• Almost 70% of users have a bachelors degree or higher
Emerging Open Content
“opencoursewares”
• Other OCWs are beginning
to appear
• Some using MIT materials,
some using the format, some
using the idea
Dual Mission: Open Content
• Provide free, searchable, coherent access to
all MIT course materials for educators,
students, and individual learners around the
world
• Create an efficient, standards-based model
that other educational institutions may use to
publish their own course materials
Open Standards
Interoperability
Portability
Coordinated effort
end
Open Standards
Dimensions of Interoperability
UI/Application Frameworks
Service Definitions
Data Definitions
Technology Choices
Goals of Interoperability
Data Exchange/Synchronization
Enterprise Integration
Application Portability
Tool/UI Integration
Language Integration
Inter-Enterprise Resource Sharing
Etc…
Open Standards
Open Knowledge Initiative
http://sourceforge.net/projects/okiproject
"an open and extensible architecture that
specifies how the components of an
educational software environment
communicate with each other and with
other enterprise systems."
Open Standards
O.K.I. is:
• Service based architecture specifications
• Open Service Interface Definitions (OSIDs)
• Open source implementations
• Open source exemplar applications
• Educational Development Community
• Funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
CMI, MIT
Open Standards
O.K.I. Solution
• Focus on Service Based architecture
specifications (data/metadata specifications
are “doing fine”)
• Identify software infrastructure services
critical to eLearning applications
• Define interfaces to them. Don’t define how
to implement them!
• Open Service Interface Definitions (OSIDs)
Open Standards
OSIDs…
• Provide Architectural Model for software
interoperability
• Allow for easy mobility of application tools
among enterprise infrastructures
• Provide software developers with common,
yet flexible, specifications for collaboration
• Define boundaries between “user facing”
applications and critical services
(“MiddleWare”)
• Help to “Future Proof” against changing
technologies
Enterprise Applications
Monolithic Factored
Open Standards
Service Based Architecture
…
org.okip.service.shared.api.Thing things =
myFactory.getSomething();
Application if (null != thingss) {
for (int i = 0; things.length != i; i++) {
out.println(things[i]);
System.err.println(types[i]);
}
}…
OSID Example
public class Factory
implements
org.okip.service.Example.api.Factory {
Service
Implementation private static final blah blah bhal
private static final yada yada yada
e.g.
}…
authentication
Infrastructure
Open Standards
Boundaries
Opportunity: the
OKI license
encourages
derivative works
Code what counts
Borrow or buy the rest
Who will provide the services?
Open Systems
Hiroyuki Sakai
Iron Chef French – Fusion Cuisine
Open Systems
Sakai Project Core Universities:
UMich, IU, Stanford, MIT
http://www.sakaiproject.org
• Commitments
– 5+ developers/architects, etc. under project
leadership – no local responsibility for 2 years
– Public commitment to implement Sakai
– Open/Open licensing
• Project
– $4.4M in institutional staff (27 FTE)
– $2.4M Mellon Foundation
– Additional investment through partners (SEPP)
Open Systems
Sakai Project Deliverables
1. Tool Portability Profile
Specifications for writing portable software
2. Pooled intellectual property…best of
JSR-168 portal
Course management system
Quizzing and assessment tools, etc
Research collaboration system
Workflow engine
…modular & pre-integrated
3. Synchronized adoptions at Michigan,
Indiana, MIT, Stanford with open-open
Open Systems
Sakai Core Project
Jan 04 July 04 May 05 Dec 05
Activity:
Michigan Maintenance &
• CHEF Framework Transition from a
• CourseTools project to
• WorkTools a community
SAKAI 1.0 Release SAKAI 2.0 Release
Indiana • Tool Portability Profile • Tool Portability Profile
• Navigo Assessment • Framework • Framework
• Eden Workflow
"Best
• Services-based Portal • Services-based Portal
• OneStart • Refined OSIDs
• Oncourse & implementations SAKAI Tools
• Complete CMS
MIT
• Stellar of" SAKAI Tools
• Complete CMS
• Assessment
• Assessment
• Workflow
• Research Tools
Stanford • Authoring Tools
Refactoring
• CourseWork
• Assessment
OKI Activity: Ongoing implementation work at local institution…
• OSIDs
uPortal
Primary SAKAI Activity Primary SAKAI Activity
Architecting for JSR-168 Portlets, Refining SAKAI Framework,
Refactoring “best of” features for tools Tuning and conforming additional tools
Conforming tools to Tool Portability Profile Intensive community building/training
Open Systems
Service Abstractions for Interoperability
Application Client Servers
Applications Network
Service A1
App. 1
Network
Service A2
App. 2
Network
Service B
Open Systems
Service Abstractions for Interoperability
Application Client Servers
Applications OSID Network
Service A1
App. 1
Network
Service A2
App. 2
Network
Service B
Open Systems
Service Abstractions for Interoperability
Application Client Servers
Applications OSID Implementations Protocol A Network
Imp. A – Protocol Service A1
Connector (plus
Local Business
App. 1 Logic)
Imp. B – Protocol Network
Connector Service A2
App. 2
Protocol B
Network
Service B
Open Systems
Service Abstractions for Interoperability
Application Client Servers
Applications OSID Implementations Protocol A Network
Imp. A – Protocol Service A1
Connector (plus
Local Business
App. 1 Logic)
Imp. B – Protocol Network
Connector Service A2
App. 2
Imp. C - Local
Connector
Protocol B
Network
Service B
Local Service C
Open Systems
Service Abstractions for Interoperability
Application Client Servers
Applications OSID Implementations Protocol A Network
Imp. A – Protocol Service A1
Connector (plus
Local Business
App. 1 Logic)
Imp. B – Protocol Network
Data Connector Service A2
App. 2
Imp. C - Local
Connector
Protocol B
Network
Service B
Local Service C
Open Systems
Sakai Architecture
JSR 168 OSIDs
Portlet API
App. 1
JSR169 Enabled Portal
App.
2
App. 3
App.
4
Open Systems
Sakai Educational Partners Program
http://www.sakaiproject.org/partners.html
• Facilitate adoption and • SEP Costs
development of tools for • Large institutions:
inter-institutional
– $30K ($10k/year for 3
portability
years)
• What’s a SEP get?
– Strategic briefings • Small institutions (<3000
– Project Roadmap input students)
– Early Access – $15k ($5k/year for 3 years)
• Tool Portability Profile
(TPP)
• Software/Tools
• Developer training
– Community
• Technical liaison
• Implementation support
Open Systems
SEPP 1st Conference
http://www.sakaiproject.org/conference/agenda.html
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content2/20040503155445 Open Systems
Open Systems
Sakai Technical JISC Technical
Framework Framework
Open Systems
LionShare
http://lionshare.its.psu.edu/main
• Emerging from Napster + Kazaa + Gnutella
….. peer-to-peer with authentication
Open Systems
Segue & Harmoni -
Middlebury College
• Segue - PHP based CMS
– http://sourceforge.net/projects/segue/
– http://segue.middlebury.edu/index.php?&action
=site&site=mit-test
• Harmoni - next gen Segue
– http://harmoni.sourceforge.net/
Harmoni Architecture
http://sourceforge.net/projects/harmoni
Harmoni Basics
• Development Status: 1 - Planning, 2 - Pre-Alpha, 4 -
Beta
• Environment: Web Environment
• Intended Audience: Developers, Education, System
Administrators
• License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
• Natural Language: English
• Operating System: MacOS X, Windows, POSIX
• Programming Language: Java, Perl, PHP
• Topic: Front-Ends, CGI Tools/Libraries, Site
Management, Security, Software Development
Open Tools
• Tufts Visual Understanding Environment
(VUE)
Many Repositories…
Remote
IDC
Institutional
Local IDC
iM ac
I
BM
Many Repository Related
Protocols…
Remote
IDC
SOAP
SRW
Institutional
Local
DRI IDC
i M ac
Z39.50
I
HTML BM
File
System
Many Data Specs/Standards…
DC
Mark Remote
IDC
METS
SOAP
SRW
IMS CP Institutional
LOM
Local
DRI IDC
iM a c
Z39.50
I
HTML
SCORM
File
BM
System
Open Tools
Federated Search
Open Tools
Gradebook
Open Tools
Sakai GradeBook
Open Tools
Open Tools
Open Tools
Open Tools
Reload
Chandler
Connexions
TWicki
Open Access - DSpace
http://www.dspace.org
Open Access
Fedora
http://www.fedora.info
• Cornell/Univ.of Virgina open source digital
repository project
• Repository exposed via web service APIs &
OKI OSIDs
• Associate services with objects
• Provides version control
Open Architecture
Ed Tech Architecture Should…
• Make it easy for software developers to utilize
enterprise infrastructure, otherwise they
won’t.
• Make it possible for institutions to share and
collaborate on educational software
• Provide ability for integration requirement to
be more clearly specified in RFPs
• Mitigate technology change
• Support both Web and Client based
applications
• Driven by sustainability concerns NOT
research (Pioneers not Trailblazers)
Continuum of Open
• A growing ecology where open standards
builds markets
– Allowing open, community or proprietary source to
add value
– Business opportunities are expanding, shifting to
the services not just the products
• Be sanguine about what open standards
means to you
– The point is to get
• interoperability,
• portability, and
• persistence
Commerce across a
continuum of non-
exclusive commercial
rights
Where are these ideas
tested?
@ MIT last year
Alt-i-lab 2004, in the Bay Area,
July
Watch IMS website
http://www.imsproject.org
What does higher ed care
about?
• Choice
• Flexibility
• Sustainability
• Scholarship as a methodology
– The largest open source project has the Human Genome
Project
• Enabling investments - getting the web and the
desktop to work together
Are new ideas good
ideas?
Not always…
Open Content
Reflect the application
Open Standards of scholarship to the
problem of learning
Open Systems systems - that’s what
higher ed does well
Open Tools
Open Access
If higher ed innovates… where’s the opportunity?
It’s hard for individual institutions to support, maintain, or
incrementally advance products and services well;
(consortia?)
HE needs interoperable content;
HE needs partners not vendors
Thank you.
(Questions - Your Turn)
longpd@mit.edu
Some Open Source Links
• MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu
• CETIS http://www.cetis.ac.uk/
• Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org
• eduplone (Plone is an enterprise CMS based on Zope/CMF)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/eduplone/ and http://eduplone.net/
• IMS Global Learning Consortium http://imsglobal.org
• Open Knowledge Initiative http://sourceforge.net/projects/oki
• Opensource CMS http://www.opensourcecms.com/
• The Sakai Project http://www.sakaiproject.org
• Segue - Middlebury College - http://
• uPortal http://www.uportal.org
• DSpace Federation http://www.dspace.org
• The Fedora Project http://www.fedora.info
• Connexions http://cnx.rice.edu
• LionShare http://lionshare.its.psu.edu/main