5.+The+Future






 * What will the future look like in the world of Open Content?**

In the future, we will likely see more companies publishing text books as Open Content. This is already done by a textbook company called, "Flat World Knowledge". The creation of the book is similar to other textbook companies. However, unlike traditional companies, they put the book online, and give it away for free! This of course raises the question, how do they make any money on their product? They actually sell print versions of the book in black and white or color. They also sell electronic versions; such as PDFs. Study materials are available for purchase as well. About fifty percent of the students who utilize their textbooks, also purchase materials from the company. They believe this is a sustainable business model. [|Visit The Future of Open Content is an Open Book]to learn more.

Around the world, more and more universities will offer free online learning. This will allow students from a variety of socio-economic classes to access higher education. In many areas, if a person cannot afford a computer, or the internet, he/she can still access these materials in public locations; such as the library. (19)

In the future, a larger percentage of books in the public domain will be available to read and/or listen to online. At a site called "Librivox", people from all over the world volunteer to record themselves reading books. Their goal is to create an audiobook for every book in the public domain. This is a great resource for audiobook lovers. Though this site does not contain new books, it does include some of the best literature of all time. Perhaps this will encourage more people to read the classics? (20)

The following screencast was created by David Wiley. He states, "The more open we are, the better technology will be". Mr. Wiley ascertains that we need to be much more willing to share information in the future, that content should be open. (3)

media type="custom" key="8592428"

As time goes on, more and more people will learn about what open content is, and all of the good that it can bring to the world. This will encourage many of them to share some of their knowledge as open content as well. This will create a greater collection of knowledge; which will be seen by more and more people. Which, will encourage more to share their knowledge with the world. And so, the cycle will continue...