Tonight’s Open Ed 2021 session was the recording for “Open is Insufficient: How Innovative Re-Use of Content Can Extend Institutional Reach.” Kenneth Feldt is the managing partner at the Electric Book Company. This is the second or maybe third presentation with Feldt I watch. Feldt focused on the value of reusability for content providers and requirements for content. Electric Book Company has been in media and publishing for several years and tries to balance technology with the human aspects of education. The idea Feldt shared was: a website with review materials for a college-level course. The resources should be accessible without paywalls, commercially viable, mobile and desktop friendly, and include a messaging component, according to Feldt. They also want it to be student-driven. They referred to OpenStax and how their additional content is available as XML files. Feldt demonstrated a mobile-friendly annotation system that allows users to annotate the text and message instructors. Another feature was integrating quality reusable video to provide another perspective on the topic. Electronic Book Company has included a feature to collect searchable videos. Feldt emphasized that the content should be structured in a way that is independent of the presentation type. They shared examples like XML, DITA (Darwin Information Type Architecture), and Paligo. The schema should be consistent in order to be scalable. Feldt mentioned the importance of clear videos with superb audio to improve audio to text conversions. Feldt ended by stating “OER- It’s Time For Some Envelope Pushing” and shared the electricbook.net website. I am now curious about their offerings and what this company does in the coming years.
