The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric

Abstract

We, the editors of this textbook, are excited to share this book with you. You probably have noticed right away that this is by no means a traditional textbook, and not only because it is digital; this work also differs from many of the digital textbooks you may have encountered in other courses. The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric is an Open Educational Resource, or OER, textbook. OER textbooks operate outside of the usual publication model of textbook production, the main difference being that the material is open, and it is free to use.That’s the economic side. Another defining feature of OER is content. Essays, stories, pictures, audio files, video clips, games, movies, music, art, the photos you snap with a smartphone, the contents of a voice memo you dictate and so much more are examples of intellectual property, ideas that originate from and can be attributed to the person or people who create them. In the United States and other countries, intellectual property is protected by copyright. Copyright literally protects the right to copy and distribute a piece of intellectual property; it also protects the ideas behind a piece, so that others can’t make a similar piece that reproduces a very similar version (also known as plagiarism), nor can they make changes or additions to the original without the express permission of the copyright holder (the altered piece is sometimes called a derivative work). There’s a lot more to intellectual property and copyright than this, but that’s enough to get the conversation started!