Business Models for OER and researching Web 2.0

Definitions of business models

framework for creating economic, social or other forms of value

Means by which a company can sustain itself

For OERs...

Make free in different ways and with different methods of support, pay from alternative revenue sources, etc

Open source software business models

Chang et al. 

Downes models for OERs - concept of open entails at a minimum no cost to the consumer or user of the reosurce, nonetheless costs something in funding or serice to create and distribute resources 

Need new funding models (endowment, membership, donation or converstion, contributor pay, sponsorship, institution, governement, partnership and exchanges), technical models, content models and staffing models

Clarke, 2007 - Who pays, for what? to whom? and why?

Implications for researchers in Web 2.0

What are the design implications of these different financial models?

How does the financial models that resource are built on impact on the ways in which people interact and engage with resources?

Will technology developments change these models?

What are the differences between models of open source software and of OERs?

What happens when we get to OER saturation point?

Is a financial model the appropriate way to think about OERs? Can we quantify the social values of our resources rather than the economic value?