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Why Open Source Shouldn't Scare You

By: Peter Levy

10/1/2008

Five reasons why sharing your content makes sound business sense

Earlier this year, Wireless Generation's open source early-reading program, freereading.net, did something that shocked many in the educational publishing industry—it got adopted in the state of Florida. The state of Wyoming recently shared its entire middle school Spanish curriculum on Curriki. That site also shares large quantities of high-quality instructional materials, assessments, and professional development content from for-profit partners such as the online high school American Academy, Atomic Learning, and Merit Software. What's going on here? How can these companies give their stuff away for free? If content has no value, is publishing doomed?

Not by a long shot. What's unfolding is the first phase of open source as an educational publishing phenomenon. Just as open source software continues to incrementally gain market share alongside proprietary software, so too will open source educational resources grow next to proprietary curriculum. Publishers who ignore this evolution risk the fate of the music industry, nearly 10 years of steep decline. Forward-thinking publishers can take another tack. Here are five powerful business opportunities presented by the open source education movement:

1. New opportunities to build audiences and product awareness
   However many customers you have, there are many more who are unfamiliar with your work. Sharing some of your content through a popular open source site is an inexpensive way to build product awareness. What's more, the alternative copyright protocols, called "Creative Commons," mandate that any content must always be attributed to you when others use it, ensuring that your branding will never be lost.
2. New opportunities to build extensive professional services businesses
   
   When Wireless Generation chose to give away its freereading.net curriculum, they knew they could drive a robust business offering professional development services and ancillary products to support it. Increasingly, districts will be looking to publishers not only for classroom materials, but also for their expertise in building capacity to deliver the content more effectively.
3. New platform for truly customized content development
   In addition to professional services to help teachers teach, districts will also need ongoing help designing and realigning the curriculum to better address state standards, results of recent No Child Left Behind (NCLB) testing, and other district priorities. Publishers can leverage a large base of shared open content and blend it with their proprietary material to create customized solutions that provide far greater value to customers.
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