As many of you know, I am a software junkie and I particularly like
the free, open source software: Linux, OpenOffice.org, concept mapping
software that people around the world have freely contributed their
time and talents to develop...

For a long time I have been thinking that it would be a really nice
idea to have a similar process for the free exchange and collaborative
development of educational materials for nursing education. Of course,
website hosting for such endeavors is very expensive because of the
potential storage of huge quantities of files and the transfer of
materials by large numbers of users as well.

Well instead of bemoaning fate I finally got it together to submit a
proposal to the largest open source software host - SourceForge.net.
At first, I didn't think they would approve the project because my
concept was too much 'data' and not enough 'software.'

But as I prepared the proposal I realized that it was foolish to think
of PowerPoint presentations, mp3 or mpeg lectures, Word class notes,
lecture materials, papers, digital images, sound files, etc as data
rather than 'software.' I rewrote the proposal to make it clear that I
viewed these potential submissions as software. I also added in that I
would encourage the offering of qualitative or quantitative research
tools - programs people may have prepared or had prepared for them
that really are 'software,' to the collection. I was still pretty
pessimistic about the chances that it would be approved... But it
seems that it was approved!!!!

Now, as a group, though not as individuals, we have kind of trailed on
the innovations in 21st century nursing front. But this opportunity to
begin to share and improve educational, practice, and research
materials is something I would like to think my Rogerian friends will
choose to jump on. If we could be the ones who really kickstart this I
think it could really put us 'out there,' as a group, in the world of
21st century nursing.

How does this all work? Materials submitted have to be free of
proprietary copyrights and restrictions and the originating
contributor needs to be willing to have their original submission
improved on. The objective is for people knowledgeable in specific
areas to contribute either original materials or to offer improvements
in materials others have contributed or improved on in the past.

In short, let's say that I had a lecture on lung sounds, but all I had
in it were descriptions of rales, crackles... You on the other hand,
because of your clinical practice, have been able to make a bunch of
sound files of various lung sounds. You revise the original PowerPoint
presentation to incorporate sound files for the appropriate slides
that give a good text summary while the sound files play. You submit
the new file with WAV sound files embedded which is a great
improvement over the original. Later on, someone else notices that the
sound files are WAV files (very inefficient) and converts the sound
files to mp3 files (very efficient). In the end, all of us benefit
from being able to use the latest version of the presentation as do
any other nursing educators, patient educators, nursing students, who
might want to make use of these materials in whole or in part. When
the original file was sent in, that submitter was noted and credited.
When you added the sound files to the Powerpoint file, your
contribution was noted and you were credited with your unique
contribution. When the WAV files were converted to mp3 files that
contribution was noted and credited as well.

The objective of course, is not to seek credit for your contributions
but to get the good feeling that comes from collaboration and an end
product that is better than it would have been, if it had even
existed, absent the opportunity for open source development.

Now I have a lot to learn about managing a project such as this. I
would like to think that some day hundreds or thousands of people will
contribute materials and that thousands or tens of thousands of people
will benefit. We all know there is a shortage of expert faculty and
most new nursing faculty are left pretty much on their own to develop
class lectures, learning exercises, handouts, powerpoints, lecture
notes, explanatory papers, etc. Wouldn't it be great if they had a
resource that was readily available, did not require permissions from
publishers, was constantly being reviewed by other colleagues and
improved upon? I personally think that one of the saddest things
happening in education today is hiding valuable resources behind
Blackboard and WebCT firewalls. But the other thing that really bugs
me is when book publishers provide canned lecture materials that are
either incorrect, have their stupid copyright notices and names all
over it, or present them as graphical files rather than as far more
efficient text files. You can't even make minor changes in those files
without violating copyright restrictions and the graphical images
cannot be changed at all.

I am certainly going to start contributing my own materials and I
really do hope that other people will be willing to join in. Guides on
curriculum design and development, course descriptions, class syllabi,
course reading lists, grading criteria are all things that every
school struggles to develop and maintain. Getting materials to compare
your own against or when doing reviews of curriculum could be so much
easier with the kind of resources that SourceForge has made available
to us.

Eventually, when I figure all the stuff out about site management I
will be able to describe how people can start making direct
contributions. BUT, I am more than willing to start collecting and
posting the material people are willing to submit.

I cannot begin to tell you how big an opportunity this could be - the
storage and transmission resources SourceForge is making available to
us are, for all purposes, virtually unlimited. All we need to do is
make good and wise use of them...

To fully understand the process of Open Source development, please
check out the copyright issues - here is a link to the GNU copyleft -
the most common shared copyright provision in the Open Source community.

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/

There is also plenty of room for other voices in this endeavor - I do
not know what it should look like, how it should be set up, nor do I
know how to review materials submitted and determine whether an old
version or a new version is preferable. All I really know is that I
think such a shared project could be useful and a lot of fun for
people who have something to share and like sharing.

From what I can tell, we could be the first educational project
approved by them which would, in itself, be quite a plum. This site is
not intended as a nursing theory site - it is intended as a
comprehensive site for the development of nursing education and
research materials across the spectrum of curriculum and practice.

Anyone who wants to help in any way to get it moving and keep it
moving is welcome to hop on board. Faculty, students, researchers,
practitioners... I have a very fast internet connection and can
receive email attachment files up to 20 MB in size or we can make
arrangements for other transfer procedures such as CDs or scheduled
file transfers. People who want to contribute materials are really
needed but so will be people who will just spread the word, review
submissions, suggest structures, reflect on the approach, and
encourage the process.

Remember: Opportunity knocks and the future calls - but you still have
to answer, show up, and participate...

Bear