Milestones
In November 2010, Dr. Anthony Brandt was awarded an "Access to Artistic Excellence" grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for his innovative music appreciation course in Connexions. "Sound Reasoning" "takes a new approach : It presents style-transcendent principles, illustrated by side-by-side examples from both traditional and contemporary music. The goal is to empower listeners to be able to listen attentively and think intelligently about any kind of music, no matter its style. Everything is listening based; no ability to read music is required." The module being completed with grant funds is entitled "Hearing Harmony". Dr. Brandt cites choosing the Connexions open content publishing platform because "it was an opportunity to present an innovative approach in an innovative format, with the musical examples interpolated directly into the text."
In December 2010, open textbook publisher Flat World Knowledge was recognized by the American Library Association's Business Reference and Services Section (ALA BRASS) by being named to the association's list of "Outstanding Business Reference Sources: The 2010 Selection of Recent Titles." The categories of business and economics open textbooks from Flat World Knowledge's catalog were selected for this award and referenced as "an innovative new vehicle for affordable (or free) online access to premier instructional resources in business and economics." Specific criteria used by the American Library Association BRASS when evaluating titles for selection were:
A resource compiled specifically to supply information on a certain subject or group of subjects in a form that will facilitate its ease of use. The works are examined for authority and reputation of the publisher, author, or editor; accuracy; appropriate bibliography; organization, comprehensiveness, and value of the content; currency and unique addition to the field; ease of use for intended purpose; quality and accuracy of indexing; and quality and usefulness of graphics and illustrations. Each year more electronic reference titles are published, and additional criteria by which these resources are evaluated include search features, stability of content, graphic design quality, and accuracy of links. Works selected are intended to be suitable for medium to large academic and public libraries.
Because authors do not make money form the sale of open textbooks, several organizations have tried to use prizes or grants as financial incentives for writing open textbooks or releasing existing textbooks under open licenses. Connexions announced a series of two grants in early 2011 that will allow them to produce a total of 20 open textbooks. The first five titles will be produced over an 18 month time frame for Anatomy & Physiology, Sociology, Biology, Biology for non-majors, and Physics. The second phase will produce an additional 15 titles with subjects that have yet to be determined. It is noted the most expensive part of producing an open textbook is image rights clearing. As images are cleared for this project, they will be available for resuse in even more titles. In addition, the Saylor Foundation sponsors an ongoing "Open Textbook Challenge", offering a $20,000 reward for newly-written open textbooks or existing textbooks released under a CC-BY license.
The Text and Academic Author's Association awarded a 2011 Textbook Excellence Award ("Texty") to the first open textbook to ever win such recognition this year. A maximum of eight academic titles can earn this award each year. The title "Organizational Behavior" by Talya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan earned one of seven 2011 Textbook Excellence Awards granted. Bauer & Erdogan's "Organizational Behavior" open textbook is published by Flat World Knowledge.
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