Open Educational Resources

In the report of OECD (Giving knowledge for free: The emergence of open educational resources), 'sharing digital learning resources over the Internet openly and without cost, as open educational resources (OER)' is mentioned as an emerging extraordinary trend. And in the report, lots of drivers, intentions and benefits are noted down. They have examined both from the individuals' side and from the institutions' side. Checking out the other reports and websites I have seen that OER is generally referred as a new trend.

However, what about all the past times? -I mean before capitalism. Did anyone pay to Edison in order to learn about his works or findings. Or did Edison pay for his background knowledge in order to invent light bulb? Should we consider the science of mathematics as an invention? Or does it already exist in the nature and the humans just discover it? So whose knowledge are these? Can it belong to strictly one person?

Everyone follows his or her predecessors. If I am writing this post for my blog on the internet, this is not just because a person, independent from his or her roots, created this. It is because the millions of years of background being constructed from the birth of earth. So who is selling whose knowledge to whom?

As Einstein said: 'Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. I am often worried at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them.'