OpenStax CNX

{{Infobox website

| name = Connexions (1999-April 2014)
OpenStax CNX (April 2014-)

| logo = OpenStax_CNX_logo_2018.png

| screenshot =

| collapsible =

| collapsetext =

| caption = Homepage in January 2015

| url =

| commercial = no

| type = Open Educational Resources

| registration = free

| language_count = 34

| owner = Rice University

| content_license = Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

| launch_date = {{Start date and age|1999}}

| dissolved = {{End date and age|2022|12|21}}

| current_status = Discontinued

| revenue = Foundation-funded non-profit

}}

Connexions, later known as OpenStax CNX{{cite web|last1=Woodward|first1=Ed|title=New Name and New Editor Demo|url=http://devblog.cnx.org/2014/04/new-name-and-new-editor-demo.html|website=OpenStax CNX Developer Blog|access-date=13 October 2015|date=April 3, 2014}} was a global repository of educational content provided by volunteers. The open source platform was provided and maintained by OpenStax, which is based at Rice University. The collection was available free of charge, can be remixed and edited, and was available for download in various digital formats.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/22/EDRTUJ346.DTL |title=Bringing open resources to textbooks and teaching |date= 22 January 2008 |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |first1=Jimmy |last1=Wales |first2=Rich |last2=Baraniuk}}

Founded in 1999 by Richard Baraniuk, Connexions was based on the philosophy that scholarly and educational content can and should be shared, re-used and recombined, interconnected and continually enriched. As such, it was one of the first Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives along with projects such as MIT OpenCourseWare and the Public Library of Science. The materials in Connexions are available under a CC BY Creative Commons license, which means that content can be used, adapted, and remixed, as long as attribution is provided.Kelty, C. M. (2008). Two bits. Duke University Press. In June 2020, the CNX platform was retired. Its contents remain available on the Wayback Machine.{{cite web|last=Williams|first=Daniel|title=Saying goodbye to CNX and hello to the next chapter!|url=https://openstax.org/blog/saying-goodbye-cnx | website=openstax.org|date=February 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813214648/https://openstax.org/blog/saying-goodbye-cnx |archive-date=2020-08-13 }}

Subject matter

Connexions contained educational materials at all levels—from children to college students to professionals—organized in small modules (pages) that can be connected into larger collections (books). Material was authored by people from all walks of life. Much content is created by university professors,{{Cite journal |last1=Wales |first1=Jimmy |last2=Baraniuk |first2=Rich |date=2008-01-22 |title=Bringing open resources to textbooks and teaching |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/22/EDRTUJ346.DTL |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080131233311/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/22/EDRTUJ346.DTL |archive-date=2008-01-31 |journal=The San Francisco Chronicle}} but the collection also contained very popular music content{{cite web |url=http://cnx.org/content/col10218/latest/ |title=The Basic Elements of Music |access-date=30 November 2010 }} created by a part-time music teacher.{{cite news |work=CNN.com |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/08/connexions.learning/ |title=Throw away your school books: here comes textbook 2.0 |date= 8 November 2007 }}

Connexions material was translated into many languages, aided by the open-content licensing.

Copyright

To ensure the legal reusability of content, Connexions required authors to license materials they publish under the Creative Commons Attribution License{{cite news |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/technology/15link.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1 |title=Don't Buy That Textbook, Download It Free |date= 14 September 2008 |first=Noam |last=Cohen}} (presently, version 4.0). Under this license, the author retains the right to be credited (attributed) wherever the content is reused. The author grants others the right to copy, distribute, and display the work, and to derive works based on it, as long as the author is credited.

Features

Connexions had content from all over the world in a growing variety of languages, not just materials from one specific school or university. It also collects materials to support education in K-12, community college, university, continuing education, and industrial training settings.
Connexions was globally accessible to anyone to not only read and use the materials, but also take them, customize them, and contribute them back to the repository or not.
Connexions was grassroots organized from the bottom up rather than from the top down like many other open education projects. Everyone is free to join and take on a leadership role.

Technical details

Three key factors enable the collaborative environment in Connexions:

Copyright licenses that preserve attribution but permit sharing: Creative Commons "attribution" licenses
Semantic markup of documents using XML (extensible markup language) so they can be searched for and combined. The markup language used is called "CNXML".{{cite web |url=http://cnx.org/help/authoring/xml#cnxml |title=CNXML – Connexions Markup Language |access-date=July 31, 2010 }}
Workspaces that facilitate collaboration by providing shared space, the ability to version materials and derive content from existing modules.{{cite web |work=Rhaptos Software Homepage |url=http://rhaptos.org |title=Open-source software developed and used by Connexions |access-date=July 4, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724153058/http://rhaptos.org/ |archive-date=July 24, 2009 }}

Funding

The Connexions project was started in 1999{{Cite web|url = http://cnx.org/about|title = OpenStax CNX: About Us|access-date = 27 November 2014}} and initially supported by individuals and Rice University. That support has been substantially supplemented by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.{{cite press release |publisher=Rice University Press Release |url=http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=11006 |title=Connexions wins $2M from Hewlett Foundation |date=15 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820090348/http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=11006 |archive-date=20 August 2009 }}

Notes

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20221202131252/http://cnx.org/ 2022 official website archive]
[https://openstax.org/general/cnx-404/ Directions to find archived OpenStax CNX content]
[http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/richard_baraniuk_on_open_source_learning.html TED Talk] Founder Richard Baraniuk discussing Connexions in February 2006

Category:American educational websites

Category:Rice University

Category:Open educational resources