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From the bookshelf: Who Owns Academic Work?
One of the best general backgrounders to intellectual property issues in higher education I’ve come across is Who Owns Academic Work? by Corynne McSherry. It was published in 2001, and so predates the open education movement, but it’s a great exploration of the intellectual property battles leading up to that point.
What I enjoy most about the book is the breadth of it. Rather than simply being a legal history of intellectual property, it explores the epistemic underpinnings of the concepts of the author and intellectual property. It then uses this framework to explore many of the controversies surrounding ownership of academic work, including ownership of course materials. It’s a great book for developing a deeper understanding of just why universities would choose to give educational materials away for free.
