Re: Open Book

[Robert Hopcroft <hopcroft@uswest.net>]

I want to clarify my own position on open source textbooks, but first
some background. As I've mentioned I'm very much into learning. Over
time I have collected some 1500 books. About 8 years ago I inquired
about the price of the 5 volume set of von Neuman's collected works.
When I found out the price was over a 1000 dollars, it became apparent
that I was never going to have the knowledge at my fingertips that I
wanted. While pondering this, I came across the FSF and GNU. What I
immediately realized is that these ideas apply to information in general
and I started thinking about how to make human knowledge available to
everyone. As I've said I have my own agenda which is the preceding.
Years ago I read the following which I'll reword in relevant terms: If I
give you my computer, I don't have it anymore. But if I give you my
knowledge, I still have it. The difference is that a computers are a
finite resource whereas knowledge is an infinite resource. When
knowledged is controlled, copyright etc. an infinite resource is being
turned into a finite one, an incredible waste. Anyway as I was thinking
it became apparent that it would take the educational system to
accomplish this goal. Teachers and students along with volunteers could
easily do it. A large piece has to come from the college level. This is
why I don't like the idea of restricting things to K12.  Participating
teachers and students could structure their school work so that it
became part of the project. Students looking for term papers or thesis
work could pick something that would contribute to the project thus
accomplishing something satisfying while fulfilling their school
requirements. Students learning a second language could translate while
they're learning. A child going home to the parents and saying, " Today
I did something for a million people.", is building self esteem. A
student helping on this list can get an education you can't buy anywhere
for any price. Everything is open. One can see how everything is done.
You can't see that in proprietary companies. Even proprietary companies
can see what we're doing. They need the handicap. The open method is
orders of magnitude more efficient. Somebody just asked about  the idea
of people wanting a particular piece of software contributing to a pool
of programers to write it for them. Such a program is mentioned in the
August Linux Journal page 100, see http://www.cosource.com. Several days
ago I heard on the news that the world population is predicted to
surpass 6 billion around September/October. So I was thinking, working
24/7, "How long would it take to spend one second with each person"? It
is almost 200 years. If one could enlist just a small fraction of these
people, what could be done. I'll have to continue this discourse
tomorrow.

Bob