The Università Aperta (open university) debate

The site at the end of the debate

The open university of the future will not just be an university where everyone can attend. Proposals have been made to the effect of defining an open university as one where teaching resources and scientific publications are open access, where the tools used are free software and open standards, where the network is open in the sense of the open internet and where patents (if it holds any) are used to promote access to innovation and knowledge. These principles were codified in the Wheeler Declaration.

Experimental debate does not mean debating for nothing: John Dewey and Norberto Bobbio (whose 100th birthday is this year) used to define politics and democracy overall as an experiment. The Biennale Democrazia adopted this philosophy by calling for the organization of a number of experiments in democracy.

Map of the debate on the principle

Università Aperta was one of these experiments, with true challenge to address: organizing a rich on-line debate on complex subjects with such a short duration (three days) and a physical meeting as its outcome where the debate results would be presented to university decision-makers.

The students and staff of the universities in Torino were invited to participate. The debate proceeded along three tracks, each using an innovative tool and/or process: a debate on the relevance of becoming an open university or not, a debate on the definition proposed in the Wheeler Declaration and a call for proposals of action.

Comments on the Wheeler Declaration

The exchanges on the principle of the open university itself used a discussion forum which users accessed through an interactive map of the debated topics and main arguments (using the Glinkr® tool developed by Sopinspace).

Participants could comment on the Wheeler Declaration by annotating its text using the co-ment® Web service also developed by Sopinspace. Finally, the proposals for action submitted by participants were collectively evaluated by means of a graduated scoring technique which we implemented in several contexts, here as a Drupal free software content management system (CMS) module. Glinkr and co-ment are also free software.

Evaluation of the action proposals

The participation to the debate was at a moderate level, mostly due to its short duration and to the fact that email invitations to participate sent by the universities reached email addresses which the students are only infrequently checking. The participation was nonetheless sufficient to generate quality exchanges with a diversity of view points: 1500 unique visitors in three days, 125 registered users, 300 contributions or proposal evaluations.

When the on-line debate reached its end, synthesis documents were produced for each debate track. In parallel, participants were invited to act as debate messengers. They were selected among those participants having signaled at registration time their willingness to be contacted to this effect. The role of the debate messengers was to present the debate results (expressed views and arguments, action proposals) in the final event, the university decision makers (president -rettore-, heads of the relevant thematic departments) reacting to these presentations.

Debate messengers

Università Aperta led to concrete decisions, the Politecnico di Torino having for instance committed to produce a scoreboard on where it stands in relation to the Wheeler Declaration criteria. The operation conducted during the Biennale Democrazia will be followed by other -wider-scale- actions, European debate on the role of universities in the global commons at the occasion of the finale conference of the COMMUNIA European network, prepatory debate for the young researchers track within the Euroscience Open Forum 2010 conference and probably a new event within Biennale Democrazia 2011.

Attached : the debate launch flyer distributed in universities in Torino.