gabrielgurley.com
Open-Licensed Instructional Guides for Learners
Frequently
Asked Questions
1. Can I redistribute copies of an eBook purchased for student instructional use? YES! Under the terms of the Creative Commons license I have issued for my materials, instructors who purchase a copy of an eBook can redistribute it (make copies) to their students without incurring a licensing fee for instructional use.
2. Can I print copies of individual lessons found on this site, or redistribute copies of a paperback edition purchased for student instructional use? YES! Just like the eBook editions, the terms of the Creative Commons license I have issued for my paperback guides and individual lessons found on this site allow instructors to redistribute it (make photocopies) to their students without incurring a licensing fee for instructional use.
3. If I can make photocopies copies of lessons found within the documentation section and paperback books made available on this site, why should I purchase additional copies or require students to obtain their own copy? There are several answers and several ways in looking at the issue. First, the learning materials are written and released under the generous Creative Commons licensing terms because of my experience as an instructor and my commitment for learning to be accessible to everyone. Therefore, if a student can’t afford to purchase learning materials, or has to choose between buying a book or buying a meal for themselves or their family, I would much rather the student have free access to the materials.
However, students and instructors should also consider the costs of reproducing the materials. The distribution costs of an eBook via school file server may be negligible if students and instructors can effectively learn by using an electronic guide. The photocopying of a 200+ page book becomes another matter, if you factor in photocopy costs per page, purchasing of a ring binder to store the pages, and the time and effort it takes to assemble the documentation into a ring binder. In such a case, it may be more cost effective to buy a professionally published, bound paperback copy. Moreover, the purchasing of any official author-published eBook or paperback copy ensures revenue to continue producing and making available open licensed learning materials for the future.
4. I have noticed at various online book retailers that there are two editions of your book being sold. Do you publish both editions and, if so, what are the differences in each? Shortly after I released “A Conceptual Guide to OpenOffice.org 3”, someone downloaded a copy of the eBook edition from the OpenOffice.org Documentation Site, uploaded it to CreateSpace (which is a print-on-demand company owned by Amazon), placed a new cover on the book with my name on it, and began selling reproduced paperback copies. That particular edition, which is now considered out-of-date, is still being sold. I do not have any affiliation with the person publishing this work or with CreateSpace, nor do I receive any proceeds from the sale of this reproduced version.
The second edition, “A Conceptual Guide to OpenOffice.org: Second Edition”, with the assigned ISBN number 978-0-9778991-7-3, is the edition that is published by myself and is considered to be the most current, up-to-date edition. Its book cover is unique from the older, reproduced version and also has a larger number of pages (282 pages for the reproduced edition vs. 364 pages for the Second Edition I publish). Proceeds from the sale of the edition I publish is used for the development of future learning materials, as well as the release of these learning materials under open licenses in cooperation with other open source projects such as the OpenOffice.org Documentation Project.
1. Can I redistribute copies of an eBook purchased for student instructional use? YES! Under the terms of the Creative Commons license I have issued for my materials, instructors who purchase a copy of an eBook can redistribute it (make copies) to their students without incurring a licensing fee for instructional use.
2. Can I print copies of individual lessons found on this site, or redistribute copies of a paperback edition purchased for student instructional use? YES! Just like the eBook editions, the terms of the Creative Commons license I have issued for my paperback guides and individual lessons found on this site allow instructors to redistribute it (make photocopies) to their students without incurring a licensing fee for instructional use.
3. If I can make photocopies copies of lessons found within the documentation section and paperback books made available on this site, why should I purchase additional copies or require students to obtain their own copy? There are several answers and several ways in looking at the issue. First, the learning materials are written and released under the generous Creative Commons licensing terms because of my experience as an instructor and my commitment for learning to be accessible to everyone. Therefore, if a student can’t afford to purchase learning materials, or has to choose between buying a book or buying a meal for themselves or their family, I would much rather the student have free access to the materials.
However, students and instructors should also consider the costs of reproducing the materials. The distribution costs of an eBook via school file server may be negligible if students and instructors can effectively learn by using an electronic guide. The photocopying of a 200+ page book becomes another matter, if you factor in photocopy costs per page, purchasing of a ring binder to store the pages, and the time and effort it takes to assemble the documentation into a ring binder. In such a case, it may be more cost effective to buy a professionally published, bound paperback copy. Moreover, the purchasing of any official author-published eBook or paperback copy ensures revenue to continue producing and making available open licensed learning materials for the future.
4. I have noticed at various online book retailers that there are two editions of your book being sold. Do you publish both editions and, if so, what are the differences in each? Shortly after I released “A Conceptual Guide to OpenOffice.org 3”, someone downloaded a copy of the eBook edition from the OpenOffice.org Documentation Site, uploaded it to CreateSpace (which is a print-on-demand company owned by Amazon), placed a new cover on the book with my name on it, and began selling reproduced paperback copies. That particular edition, which is now considered out-of-date, is still being sold. I do not have any affiliation with the person publishing this work or with CreateSpace, nor do I receive any proceeds from the sale of this reproduced version.
The second edition, “A Conceptual Guide to OpenOffice.org: Second Edition”, with the assigned ISBN number 978-0-9778991-7-3, is the edition that is published by myself and is considered to be the most current, up-to-date edition. Its book cover is unique from the older, reproduced version and also has a larger number of pages (282 pages for the reproduced edition vs. 364 pages for the Second Edition I publish). Proceeds from the sale of the edition I publish is used for the development of future learning materials, as well as the release of these learning materials under open licenses in cooperation with other open source projects such as the OpenOffice.org Documentation Project.