Another reason to support open access textbooks: with the current system, student access to texts is very much limited by economic factors. It is hard enough to ask a student to pay for one math textbook! But with open access, a student could have access to a wide range of texts. If a student finds that they just can’t get a concept in the prime text for a course, they can easily look for another text that would explain the same concept in a different way.

Or, it could be a learning object that a student needs to refer to; another potential of the electronic medium. Having access to a wide variety of learning objects, not just a few included with one textbook, would likely be the best service to students.

Another means for support the development of open access textbooks, that may work better in some institutions than others: support textbook writing and/or peer reviewing as part of the requirements for tenure. After all, the main support an author needs to write a text is usually the time. This might fit best in institutions with a stronger focus on teaching rather than research.

Yet another thought: textbooks might be well-suited to being written as wikis. In some cases, it might make sense to have students actually write or revise the text.

The complexity of sharing scientific databases: Under US law, pretty much anything you write down is copyrighted. Scrawl an original note on a napkin and it’s protected until 70 years after your death. Facts, however, are another matter – they……