Open Work
Definition
An inclusive definition
for all kinds of Work.
This project is maintained by Open@RIT
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GitHub Pages
Why Are We Using The Term
Open Work?
Goal of Open Work
People produce and collaborate on all different types of Works within academia and beyond. Different
types of Works can be released and developed among communities of practice in different ways.
To treat each type of Open Work as its own silo hinders the ability for these Works to be used
interchangeably among each other.
We use the term Open Work to talk about a larger theory of practice in which Works of all types are
developed, distributed, and collaborated upon.
Open Work Definition Version 0.1
Definition of Open Work
An Open Work delineates the meaning of “Open” with respect to work products and projects that are released into the public domain or under a license recognized by an entity such as, but not limited to, the Open Source Initiative (OSI), the Free Software Foundation GNU, the Creative Commons (CC) or the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) with the intent of promoting a robust community of collaboration around the work itself and other work that it may interoperate with.
Definition of Open Work
An Open Work delineates the meaning of “Open” with respect to work products and projects that are released into the public domain or under a license recognized by an entity such as, but not limited to, the Open Source Initiative (OSI), the Free Software Foundation GNU, the Creative Commons (CC) or the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) with the intent of promoting a robust community of collaboration around the work itself and other work that it may interoperate with.
Definition of Work
A Work is any piece of copyrightable material. This could be software, writing, music, and
many other things.
See below for common types of Open Works.
Definition of License
A License, in this context, is a document describing the terms and
conditions that one is
allowed to use a Work.
A License is necessary for any Work to be considered
Open unless that work is Public Domain.
Definition of Open
As with most definitions of Open, our definition specifically focuses on the licensing and
redistribution of a Work. That work must be available and licensed so anyone can view it,
redistribute it, and modify it openly, in compliance with whatever license has been applied to it.
For more details on the exact definition of Open - See the OKF's definition of “Open.”
Definition of Public Domain
When a Work has no copyright, it is available to the public. This means that no individual has
any ownership over that work. A Public Domain Work cannot be Licensed as there is no
copyright holder.
A Public Domain Work is considered one form of an Open Work.
The Roots of "Open Work"
The intellectual “Family Tree” of the term Open Work includes examples from technology, science, and the arts.
Technology
Distribution
Religion: Arguably the first “Open Hardware” license, from the manual/instructions for the
Sandin Image Processor) (1976-1978)
CopyLeft: Li-Chen Wang's Palo Alto Tiny BASIC (1976)
Free Software, the FSF and the GPL: Richard Stallman et al beginning
in 1984-Present
Open Source: The
term coined by Christine Peterson and the
creation of the Open Software Initiative,
1998
Literature and the Arts
Umberto Eco's “The Open Work” is art with “two constituents: a multiplicity of meanings and the participation of the audience."
Science
The intellectual “Family Tree” of the term Open Work includes examples from technology, science, and the arts.
Types of Open Work
