OER ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES, AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES
There are other threads of activity that will empower the OPLI initiative including:
- The three-decades-old research and development knowledge base of the computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) community.[1]
- The increasing prevalence of “service-oriented architecture” that among other things is a paradigm for discovery and re-use of software objects and for organizing and using distributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains.[2]
- Initiatives of the Mellon Foundation,[3] Moore Foundation,[4] Getty Foundation, and others to create open source software services and middleware for academic enterprise, including international virtual communities. They are now considering scholarly middleware, workflow engines, user interfaces (especially for accessibility in the FLUID project), and software bus initiative for academia that may directly support OPLI.
- The Second Life[5] phenomenon—an open-ended virtual world created by San Francisco–based Linden Lab. Second Life gives its users (referred to as residents) tools to shape its world. Second Life combines features from social networks, multiplayer online games, and e-tailers; it lets people adopt new personas called avatars in its 3D world, where they can interact with others for entertainment and business purposes. Millions of dollars exchange hands every week in member-to-member commerce in Second Life. Companies including IBM, Dell, Starwood Hotels, & Resorts Worldwide, and American Apparel are setting up shop in Second Life to sell and promote their services.
- Research, development, and deployment of numerous virtual organizations in international e-science/cyberinfrastructure initiatives, including those supported by the U. S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Figure 6 illustrates the virtual organization framework for the NSF activities and some of the various names for such organizations in use by international distributed research communities.
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