Sense of the House Motion on Open Source Passed at CCCC

At this year's CCCC, CCCC-IP, the CCCC IP Comitteee, and the 7C's passed the Open Source Resolution Statement which grew from a Town Hall conversation during Computers and Writing 2005.

Because it was too late to enter it through the formal resolution process, Michael Day and John Logie presented a version of this statement as a Sense of the House Motion during the Saturday CCCC Business Meeting. Assisted by supportive comments from Cindy Selfe during discussion, the motion was passed. Following is the text of the motion:

I rise to bring forward a sense of the house motion supported jointly and unanimously by the Intellectual Property Caucus members attending the Conference, the CCCCs Committee on Computers in Composition and Communication, and the CCCCs Intellectual Property Committee (…)

• Open-source software is freely distributed software with open, accessible code that can readily be improved by communities.
• Open source software has the potential to control spiraling technology costs.
• Open source software allows for cutting-edge development in a controlled manner, which is essential for the improvement of teaching and learning.
• Open source software allows teachers and students to participate in customizing software according to the specific, situated needs of a program or institution.
• The open source development model parallels the academic model of knowledge creation and distribution.
• Open source software development encourages investment in teachers, students and instruction, rather than proprietary software packages.
• Open source software is often more standards-compliant than proprietary software.
• Open source is a set of principles in which collaboration, peer review and public knowledge are valued.

Therefore we ask whether the sense of this house is that the Conference on College Composition and Communication should

1. Support consideration of and strategic use of open source software whenever possible;
2. Explore use of open source software within its own organization;
3. Encourage and support CCCC members pursuing open source alternatives; and
4. Educate CCCCs members about the results of these initiatives, including associated costs.