A rather light-hearted article today by Pierre-Antoine Gourraud who tackles the fear of “Plunder”, where you will discover that OER are the opposite of a baguette … According to him, we are all plundering each other’s knowledge, and that’s fine, because “[Knowledge] does not run out. It multiplies.”
And no, we didn’t confuse with last week’s article by Javiera Atenas (@Javiera) and Leo Havemann (@leohavemann). We do indeed have two articles that refer to Gollum, which is not very surprising given our general theme. When we informed the authors (in a somewhat funny mail discussion), it was decided that to keep everything as is.
Open Educational Resources Under Siege: The Risk of Losing “My Precious” out of Fear of Plunder
Two articles chose the unhealthy relationship between Gollum, Tolkien’s fictional character, and his ring to illustrate the difficulty of sharing. Pierre Antoine Gourraud (Nantes Université, France) shares out of conviction. He is aware that science is built on people borrowing from each other and that participating in this science means plundering and being plundered.
That’s some kind of irony that two writers chose Gollum as a metaphor; I am thankful the editors kept them as I see a message there.
But I do not find it useful, it over exaggerates an OER as something immense monetary or power value. Is that not a bit of inflation? And also the making metaphor of educators as this creature, once an ordinary chap Smeagol. Does an OER corrupt to that degree?
What creates an illusion that an OER has monetary/gold power? I think it’s more the worry of ideas being stolen, of not getting credit.
I’ve long taken the approach of what I create is of no dollar value (different from knowledge value) so why not put the baguette out for anyone to take? If someone really can get rich from anything I made, I salute them.
As the author says there is so much more value in having out there so people can extend gratitude. And as far as getting credit or worry of theft, my approach is to share always first on my own site, where I can document myself as the person who created it, making it public and readily discoverable (we’ll present case of web search as problematic).
Ok this is open global educator forum and … Tolkien’s fans gathering … I would even say Tolkien hermeutics - here we are !
Gollum’s tragic descent into hatred was not solely the work of the One Ring—it was initially nurtured by a community rejection. He was a solitary guy at the margin of the Stoors’ branch of hobbits. He originally is thus, an outcast/marignal/out-of-the-box among his kin : Like Cain and Abel, his murder of fellow Déagol to seize the Ring sealed his exile, turning his childish bitterness into a festering wound. The Ring/this bitter feeling is the soil of plundering fear: A parasite of the soul, amplified this resentment, twisting his (professional) loneliness into paranoia (leading to jealousy and potentially violence). Tolkien’s genius lies in showing how contempt breeds corruption: Gollum’s monstrous alter ego thrives on the world’s scorn, while his fleeting weak humanity (Sméagol) surfaces only when met with loving alterity — like Frodon Saquet’s one.
His story is a dark mirror: the Ring doesn’t create malice—it weaponizes existing wounds (I would say that Educational institutions as all human institutions, may create these). Gollum’s arc proves that, in time of crisis, isolation and disdain are tempting feeling (and the Ring’s greatest allies of plundering fear) , turning victims into agents of their own destruction. In Middle-earth’s moral universe (and ours? ), even the weakest ("a wrecht like me ") deserve compassion because mercy alone can disrupt the cycle of vengeance the Ring demands !
Set you free from the Ring !
One more thing when you share OER like data ( unlike bread) its become more shareable !
Thank you Pierre-Antoine for a more nuanced undestanding of Gollum’s character, that explains it better than my superficial summary. This is so helpful:
as well as your pointing out the impact of the world in crisis around us.
Plus as a bit of search shows me (over my dim memory) how important bread was as Hobbit fare.
… According to him, we are all plundering each other’s knowledge, and that’s fine, because “[Knowledge] does not run out. It multiplies.”