Phillip LongMIT

The Story of “O”

(as in Open Source)

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

The o-decade

e-publishinge-commercee-business

e-Bay

open sourceopen systemsopen standardsopen accessopen archivesopen tools

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

“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

http://ocw.mit.edu/

•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

Why Is MIT Doing This?

50 500 900 1250 1550 1800 1800

• Design pub process• Implement technology

strategy• Develop IP strategy• Implement dept.

liaison program

• Develop evaluationstrategy

• Conduct baselineevaluation

• Partner with Universia(translation affiliate)

• Inventory content and improve quality• Enhance site features and functions• Add video materials• Plot new content capture tactics

• Implement reporting strategy• Conduct annual evaluations and focused studies

• Facilitate other opencoursewares• Partner with translation/distribution affiliates• Build awareness• Foster learning communities

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Phase IPilot

Phase IIExpansion

Phase IIISteady State

Courses

Publication

Evaluation

Outreach

701 Courses

Each year:• Add new courses: ~100• Revise existing: ~ 275• Archive old: ~

100

• Conduct annual evaluations and studies

• Collaborate with consortium members

Where We Are

Publishing 700 Courses

•Site Highlights

•Syllabus

•Course Calendar

•Lecture Notes

•Assignments

•Exams

•Problem/Solution Sets

•Labs and Projects

•Simulations

•Tools and Tutorials

•Video Lectures

Open Content

 Since

10/1/03*Decembe

rJanuary February March

Page Views20,604,42

72,680,79

43,311,61

12,884,06

13,025,41

2

Average Daily Visits

*11,103 9,276 11,624 11,174 10,891

Average Monthly Visits

*301,719 287,546 360,360 324,058 337,620

First-Time Visits

*174,407 172,536 196,710 174,961 187,348

Monthly Repeat Visits

*127,312 115,010 163,650 149,097 150,272

* Figures in italics are averages

Access Data

Site Traffic Overview

Open Content

Traffic Volume by Geography

Country Hits

11 Brazil 340,281

12 France 334,190

13 Spain 318,292

14 Indonesia 251,495

15 Australia 240,689

16 Turkey 239,972

17 Colombia 196,504

18 Singapore 185,495

19 Mexico 165,221

20 Greece 164,496

Country Hits

1 India 954,167

2 Canada 859,782

3 China 822,206

4 U.K. 672,339

5 South Korea 448,975

6 Japan 421,334

7 Germany 402,965

8 Vietnam 401,498

9 Taiwan 392,701

10 Italy 366,484

March 2004

Open Content

Access Data

• 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

Open Content

• Other OCWs are beginning to appear

• Some using MIT materials, some using the format, some using the idea

Emerging“opencoursewares”

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

Dual Mission: Open Content

Open Standards

Interoperability

Portability

Coordinated effort

end

Dimensions of Interoperability

Service Definitions

Data Definitions

Technology Choices

UI/Application Frameworks

Open Standards

Goals of Interoperability

Data Exchange/SynchronizationEnterprise IntegrationApplication PortabilityTool/UI IntegrationLanguage IntegrationInter-Enterprise Resource SharingEtc…

"an open and extensible architecture that specifies how the components of an educational software environmentcommunicate with each other and with other enterprise systems."

Open Knowledge Initiative

Open Standards

http://sourceforge.net/projects/okiproject

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• Enable “marketplace” of software components• Are about Architecture, NOT Technology

Open Standards

Enterprise Applications

Monolithic Factored

Service Based Architecture

public class Factory implements org.okip.service.Example.api.Factory { private static final blah blah bhal

private static final yada yada yada } …

ExampleOSID

…org.okip.service.shared.api.Thing things = myFactory.getSomething();

if (null != thingss) { for (int i = 0; things.length != i; i++) { out.println(things[i]); System.err.println(types[i]); } } …

Application

Implementation

Infrastructure

Servicee.g.

authentication

Open Standards

Boundaries

Open Standards

Opportunity: the OKI license

encourages derivative works

Code what counts

Borrow or buy the rest

Who will provide the services?

Open SystemsHiroyuki Sakai

Iron Chef French – Fusion Cuisine

Sakai Project Core Universities: UMich, IU,

Stanford, MIT• 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

http://www.sakaiproject.org

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 licensing

Open Systems

Tool Portability Profile

Michigan• CHEF Framework• CourseTools• WorkTools

Indiana• Navigo Assessment• Eden Workflow• OneStart• Oncourse

MIT• Stellar

Stanford• CourseWork• Assessment

OKI• OSIDs

uPortal

SAKAI 2.0 Release• Tool Portability Profile• Framework• Services-based Portal

SAKAI Tools• Complete CMS• Assessment• Workflow• Research Tools• Authoring Tools

Primary SAKAI ActivityRefining SAKAI Framework,

Tuning and conforming additional toolsIntensive community building/training

Activity: Ongoing implementation work at local institution…

Jan 04 July 04 May 05 Dec 05

Activity: Maintenance &

Transition from aproject to

a communitySAKAI 1.0 Release• Tool Portability Profile• Framework• Services-based Portal• Refined OSIDs & implementations

SAKAI Tools• Complete CMS• Assessment

Primary SAKAI ActivityArchitecting for JSR-168 Portlets,

Refactoring “best of” features for toolsConforming tools to Tool Portability Profile

"Best of"

Sakai Core ProjectOpen Systems

Refactoring

Service Abstractions for Interoperability

Open Systems

App. 1

Applications

App. 2

Application Client Servers

Network Service A1

Network Service B

Network Service A2

Service Abstractions for Interoperability

Open Systems

App. 1

OSIDApplications

App. 2

Application Client Servers

Network Service A1

Network Service B

Network Service A2

Service Abstractions for Interoperability

Open Systems

App. 1

Imp. A – Protocol Connector (plus Local Business

Logic)

Imp. B – Protocol Connector

OSID ImplementationsApplications

App. 2

Application Client Servers

Protocol A

Protocol B

Network Service A1

Network Service B

Network Service A2

Service Abstractions for Interoperability

Open Systems

App. 1

Imp. A – Protocol Connector (plus Local Business

Logic)

Imp. B – Protocol Connector

OSID

Imp. C - Local Connector

Local Service C

ImplementationsApplications

App. 2

Application Client Servers

Protocol A

Protocol B

Network Service A1

Network Service B

Network Service A2

Service Abstractions for Interoperability

Open Systems

App. 1

Imp. A – Protocol Connector (plus Local Business

Logic)

Imp. B – Protocol Connector

OSID

Imp. C - Local Connector

Local Service C

ImplementationsApplications

App. 2

Application Client Servers

Protocol A

Protocol B

Network Service A1

Network Service B

Network Service A2

Data

Data

Data

Data

Sakai Architecture

App. 1

OSIDs

App. 2

App. 3

App. 4

JSR

169 Enabled P

ortal

JSR 168Portlet API

Open Systems

Sakai Educational Partners Program

• Facilitate adoption and development of tools for inter-institutional portability

• What’s a SEP get?– Strategic briefings– Project Roadmap input– Early Access

• Tool Portability Profile (TPP)

• Software/Tools• Developer training

– Community• Technical liaison • Implementation support

Open Systems

http://www.sakaiproject.org/partners.html

• SEP Costs

• Large institutions:– $30K ($10k/year for 3

years)

• Small institutions (<3000 students)– $15k ($5k/year for 3 years)

http://www.sakaiproject.org/conference/agenda.html

Open SystemsSEPP 1st Conference

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/content2/20040503155445 Open Systems

JISC Technical Framework

Sakai Technical Framework

Open Systems

LionShare

• Emerging from Napster + Kazaa + Gnutella

….. peer-to-peer with authentication

Open Systems

http://lionshare.its.psu.edu/main

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/

Open Systems

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

• Tufts Visual Understanding Environment (VUE)

Open Tools

Many Repositories…

IDC

I

BM

RemoteIDC

Institutional

Local

iMac

Many Repository Related Protocols…

IDC

I

BM

IDC

SOAPSRW

HTML

Z39.50

File System

DRI

Remote

Local

Institutional

iMac

Many Data Specs/Standards…

IDC

I

BM

IDC

SOAPSRW

HTML

Z39.50

DRI

Remote

Institutional

MarkDC

LOM

SCORM

METS

IMS CP

Local

iMac

File System

Federated Search

Open Tools

Gradebook

Open Tools

Sakai GradeBookOpen Tools

Open Tools

Open Tools

Open Tools

Open Tools

Reload

Chandler

Connexions

TWicki

Open Access - DSpacehttp://www.dspace.org

Fedora

• Cornell/Univ.of Virgina open source digital repository project

• Repository exposed via web service APIs & OKI OSIDs

• Associate services with objects

• Provides version control

http://www.fedora.info

Open Access

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?

Alt-i-lab 2004, in the Bay Area, July

Watch IMS website http://www.imsproject.org

@ MIT last year

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

Open Standards

Open Systems

Open Tools

Open Access

Reflect the application of

scholarship to the problem of learning

systems - that’s what higher ed

does well

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

(Questions - Your Turn)

Thank you.

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