David Wiley has a fascinating read up at iterating toward openness about “The OpenCourseWars.” The post is a draft of a chapter he is writing for a book on open education, and it essentially theorizes one path for the future of OpenCourseWare and the open education movement.

Largely hinging around the complicated (and often contradictory) readings of the “Non-Commerical” clause of the Creative Commons license, his “history” theorizes where we might end up if that issue isn’t resolved. Interestingly, the final outcome is overwhelmingly positive (in my opinion), but it is preceded by a turbulent time of heavy-hitting lawsuits and even terrorist activity. You know what? My explanation isn’t going to do it justice. You just have to read it.

In the spirit of writing fake history, Wiley is even-handed in his analysis of all of the players — even those he admires. I guess there’s been some confusion as folks have misinterpreted his point. For a follow-up, read his post clarifying this issue of where he stands on OCW.

I’ve admired the work of Wiley and the Center for Open Sustainable Learning at USU for a while now. I hope I get to meet him and some of the COSL team someday.