My reaction to #GoOpen was one of my more popular posts of the modern era (I have been a blogger for many years). I am not backing away from the sentiments I expressed, but I think I should clarify. My position is that depending on free is a bad long-term strategy. I ask only that readers examine their own behavior and evaluate their personal willingness to generate resources requiring considerable effort at no cost to the consumer. I am not claiming individuals with such altruistic tendencies do not exist (I offer my own effort as an example), I am claiming the assumption that this component of formal instruction should not be assumed to be free. Note that open resources could be paid for by a third party (states could sponsor textbooks). Much like endowed chairs as a way to bolster the human resources of state universities, I question whether such resources will be common.
I am not questioning whether quality open resources exist. For this interested in this topic, I refer readers to this research study ironically made available at no cost to the consumer by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
http://edr.sagepub.com/content/43/7/341.full
