Dear friends,
edX has not yet settled on a licensing standard. Harvard is
developing its licensing policy this spring, and looking for community
input. They are supporting a weekend-long legal hacking challenge,
for creators, educators, developers and lawyers to work through the
legal/policy/social challenges implied by such regimes.
I highly recommend coming to this challenge; with a suitably free
licensing framework, edX could do much more than "provide a new source
of massive online courses" and truly revolutionize the sorts of
learning materials available to everyone.
The cost of participation is $30 (roughly the cost of the meals
provided), but fee waivers can be arranged on request. The
announcement/invite sent out to legal groups follows.
SJ
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The 2013 Hack IP Challenge will bring together students from across
the Boston Area to work on a tough legal/policy challenge over the
course of a weekend (February 22-24).
The topic: the intellectual property policy for HarvardX, the Harvard
division of edX, the online education platform. While HarvardX has
already begun offering courses, fundamental policies around what types
of intellectual property can be used and assigned, and how third
parties can use HarvardX materials remain unanswered.
These policies are being developed currently, and the decisions that
Harvard makes will impact the future of online education and the
entire higher education landscape. Students join teams to produce
model policies. They will hear from Professor Larry Lessig on Friday
night, work with coaches from around the Boston area and hear from an
expert panel on Saturday, and present their results to a panel
including Professor Zittrain and Jonathan Hulbert (of the Harvard
University Office of General Counsel) on Sunday afternoon.
You can learn more and sign up here:
http://hackip2013.eventbrite.com. Students can use discount code
"ILABHacksIP" (no quotes) for a discount on the weekend (Friday night
to Sunday afternoon. All meals are covered in the cost). If cost is an
issue, scholarship can be arranged on request.