FWK, the open source textbook publishing company, has come out of private beta! Find out what all the excitement is about at http://flatworldknowledge.com/.
As a quick recap, FWK textbooks are much like traditional textbooks in that they are:
- beautiful looking printed books,
- written by world-class authors,
- supported with all the supplementals and teaching aids (like an instructor manual, slides, and assessments) teachers expect, and
- available as review copies (for teachers),
FWK textbooks are UNLIKE traditional textbooks in that they are:
- licensed CC BY-NC-SA,
- always available in full-text online for free,
- offered in a variety of additional, affordable formats (paperback black-and-white ($30), full-color ($60), audio book ($30), individual book chapters as audio ($3), etc.),
- supported by a variety of study aids available at the student’s option (NOT forcibly bundled with the book)
I’m SO excited about FWK because we’re going to show the world that extremely high quality open educational resources can be produced and disseminated in a way that is sustainable over the long term. Jump over to the Catalog page, choose a book with a Feb 2009 publication date, and click “Start Reading” to see what I’m talking about.
Very exciting. I’ll be referencing these books in some of my writing.
It’s interesting that FWK books include the NC clause. Didn’t you say in a lecture that you weren’t sure why people choose that when there is so little chance that a corporation would “steal” their work? Or is FWK not like the rest of us and at more of a risk of the big-bad corporations profiting from their work?
OK, so I went back and listened to some of your 4th lecture on licenses, and I hear you say that perhaps NC should only be an option for corporations because they have the interest of not being put out of business.
I see your logic, but I don’t agree that an individual’s right to control their creations is not equal or superior to the right of corporations to control theirs.
David, looks pretty cool especially your position as COO. Will be in Provo next Fri the 13th (no not the movie ;)). Got time for lunch to get caught up at noon?