The blog post I wrote last week on the context, centrality and diversity of the Open Ed conference community sparked a lot more discussion than I expected, most of it on twitter, but also during a VConnecting session at the end of the conference. I even got an actual comment on the actual blog post, thanks pgogy! As might be expected, the decision to end the Open Ed conference in its current format generated a huge volume of tweets, headlines, blog posts, columns and articles. Mine was just one of dozens. However as the discussion has been distilled into more mainstream press reports, such as Inside HigherEd’s Open Education… Is Closed, a good deal of the nuance and diversity of those multiple voices has been lost. Perhaps that’s inevitable, but it’s also a little ironic, and as Maha Bali commented:
I find it majorly weird that @insidehighered wrote that article centered mainly on 3 men's views, totally ignoring what others had been saying about it on Twitter.
While you know I have all the respect for you, Rajiv, as a critical voice here, the tweets by others r public.
— ℳąhą Bąℓi, PhD مها بالي 🏵 (@Bali_Maha) November 7, 2019
This post by Mandy Henk, Being A Critical Voice, also really resonated with me, particularly with regard to how we understand power in the open community.
So for the sake of posterity, and for my own personal reflection, I’m collating the discussion around that blog post here, because sometimes it’s interesting to look back at the voices that get lost in the fray.
Oh, forgot about that thread as well. Been meta-pondering who gets centred in our narratives about open and how that plays out at conferences, which was a thread that also ran through #OER18
— Dr. Tannis Morgan (@tanbob) October 31, 2019
It's interesting for me as OpenEd19 and WordCamp US are overlapping.
I don't know which one I'd go to – in terms of openness.
And one has free childcare and costs 50 bucks
— Pgogy WebStuff (@Pgogy) October 31, 2019
Adding to my point here:https://t.co/O0IgK5fee8
… I think open community is already kind of fragmented into sub-groups, sometimes because of divisive behavior of centers towards peripheries.
Agree soc justice focus stronger in @OERConf & OEGlobal and OpenCon and more!!
— ℳąhą Bąℓi, PhD مها بالي 🏵 (@Bali_Maha) November 1, 2019
One for #OpenScot @LornaMCampbell , looking across the Atlantic, on the US OpenEd conference "how radically different the US context is to my experience of working as an open education practitioner in Scotland" https://t.co/kxKFzRMh5y
— Phil Barker 🐝 (@philbarker) November 1, 2019
Thanks for writing a wonderful article. One of the things about "open", paradoxically, is that there is almost always some claim of "centrality". I see it in abundance in the Open Source Software space as well. For sure "Open" means different things to different people.
— Lenandlar Singh (@Lenandlar) November 1, 2019
Thank you @LornaMCampbell for your generous and thoughtful observations. https://t.co/dzJnzw0nDY
— Laura Czerniewicz (@Czernie) November 1, 2019
Vconnecting session at #OpenEd19 has shout out to @LornaMCampbell blog post today about OpenEd conference and how it connects or not to other conversations around open ed in the world. https://t.co/ivGpAzJ3kv
— Virtually Connecting conversation not presentation (@VConnecting) November 1, 2019
Thanks @LornaMCampbell captures perfectly how I felt about “central node”.
— Anne-Marie Scott (@ammienoot) November 1, 2019
Thanks seconded… open centred and decentred
— Su-Ming Khoo (@sumingkhoo) November 2, 2019
I saw the exchange too, and felt that “open” and “community” will continue to generate tension until we look more carefully at structural privilege in global education systems. Your post is truly so helpful.
— Kate Bowles (@KateMfD) November 2, 2019
This struck a strong chord today having read @LornaMCampbell post, where she reminds us that we must beware the arguments for grand narratives about community and identity. Who is telling them? Where are they centered? What purposes do they serve? https://t.co/fn3o7T084s
— Anne-Marie Scott (@ammienoot) November 2, 2019
I found this post by @LornaMCampbell really helpful in thinking through some of the contradictions of open community. https://t.co/vpkqvvIhpa
— Kate Bowles (@KateMfD) November 2, 2019
For those of us in smaller educational economies, where even local textbook viability is challenging, open is indivisible from structural decolonisation. And this is too complex for one global community (yet) to fix. @Czernie #usnotUS
— Kate Bowles (@KateMfD) November 2, 2019
I want to second this. Open might be useful as a decolonisation tool, but the goal for many of us isn't around "open" or even affordability–it's making sure that the materials exist at all.
In the Pacific particularly, this is really important. As is a focus on physical books.
— Mandy (@mandylibrary) November 2, 2019
Lorna, thank you so much. I’m only back from some time away, so still catching up. but just want to say that I am so grateful for your voice, integrity & feminist leadership, always.
— Dr. Catherine Cronin (@catherinecronin) November 3, 2019
This wonderful blog by @LornaMCampbell captures so much of what I've been wrestling with in the last little while https://t.co/l2JORfgqSj
— Nick Baker (@nbaker) November 3, 2019
some contradictions – oh my. stopped in my tracks. so very much to say I'm not even sure how to begin.
in such a twisted world where money rules, it is no surprise that people view 'open' as something they own. If there is no door, 'open', how can anyone own it 1/
— laura ritchie (@laura_ritchie) November 4, 2019
a coalition? club? dang, I'm always on the outside of those. but I'm still open.
and the idea that it IS in one place or from one place?? The air is open. It's not MY air, UK air, diluted when it crosses continents. 2/
— laura ritchie (@laura_ritchie) November 4, 2019
because one person takes a rest does not mean 'open' crumbles.
OPEN DOESN'T HAVE WALLS TO CRUMBLE.
if it did, it wasn't open and, taking away the walls should make open stronger.
4. #OER #OER20 #OEGlobal #opened19
— laura ritchie (@laura_ritchie) November 4, 2019
A fascinating @LornaMCampbell read as ever. An issue that I wrestle with in the open space is that of 'ownership vs credit' being 'open' as an academic can result in loss of credit (many of unheard voices have suffered this) . How do we reconcile open, ownership and credit?
— PaulHollins (@PaulHollins) November 4, 2019
Insightful blog by @LornaMCampbell pinpoints key differences between the UK & US higher education sectors and how these differences relate to Open Education https://t.co/2ww5cHIVW5
— Allison Littlejohn (@allisonl) November 4, 2019
