group of people who are willing to commit to making the change to OER a part of their daily lives, as well as at least a small amount of external funding. Above all, it requires a good understanding of the educational systems, textbook dynamics and the market, as well as how and how much public funding goes into the development and purchasing of educational resources. These experiences may offer something of a map for countries and organisations wishing to make a similar push for OER in their local context. But nothing can replace study of the local market and local investment in educational resources, or time spent building relationships at local, state and federal levels. OER is not something that can become policy through the efforts of one, or two, or even ten people. It demands the consciousness-raising of an entire set of communities — but it is very much achievable.
Notes 1.
“The initiative outlines four key commitments to be undertaken by participating governments: a) increase the availability of information about government activities; b) support civic participation; c) implement the highest standards of professional integrity; d) increase access to new technologies for openness and accountability. Until September 20, the OGP declaration had been endorsed by Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, UK, US, and Brazil” (Lemos, 2011).
2.
http://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2011/10/senado-aprova-fim-do-sigilo-eterno-de-documentos.html and www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/2791/en/brazil:-senate-approves-access-to-information-bill
3.
http://softwarelivre.org/furusho/blog/governador-sergio-cabral-do-rio-sancionou-ontem-a-lei-59782011sobre-odf
4.
www.capetowndeclaration.org
5.
The concept crafted by UNESCO in 2002 established that OER encompasses “[t]he open provision of educational resources enabled by information and education technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users” (see www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/ access-to-knowledge/open-educational-resources).
6.
An online community formed in January 2009 and having a great diversity of members, who are interested in OER discussion and development and who co-operate in OER and related projects development. The community is present in social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and mailing lists. One mailing list can be accessed at http://groups.google.com/group/rea-lista, and as of 7 November 2011 it had 140 members. The OER-Brazil Project also has a fixed presence on the Web through a variety of Web 2.0 channels, ranging from a website — which includes a blog, resources, a bibliography, policies, and an area for policy discussion (www.rea.net.br) — to Twitter (@reanetbr) and Facebook (www.facebook. com/groups/reabrasil). We also have a Flickr presence (www.flickr.com/photos/reanetbr) dedicated to related events and activities, and we are building a video channel to accumulate Brazilian experiences, for which we hope to gather international contributions. We built a hub within Wikimedia Brazil (http:// br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Rea), which acts as an incubator of spin-off projects from the Brazilian OER community; the success of this “hub” was its “death”, since OER projects are starting to pop up within the community without the need for a centralised structure. A series of materials and presentations (e.g., http://reabrasil.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/folder-rea2.pdf) were developed as supporting materials. We have also supported the development by Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) of an OER toolkit for teachers (http://educacaoaberta.org/wiki/index.php/Caderno_REA). Finally, as an additional way to put the spotlight on innovative community members and to exchange experiences, we have been developing a series of interviews, and plan to develop podcasts, chats and meetings.
7.
This discussion happened mainly through the following discussion lists: oer-forum@lists.esn.org.za — which as of November 2011 had more than 340 participants from around the world — and rea-lista@ googlegroups.com, a Brazilian discussion list.
8.
For a discussion of free software developments in Brazil, see Shaw (2011).
9.
“Open data principles”, at the Panton Principles website, http://pantonprinciples.org
10. www.soros.org/openaccess 11. http://portaldoprofessor.mec.gov.br
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