In the following paper, we want to outline how the design of an informational ecosystem on the
internet is shaping future education. For this, we will rely on the metaphor of an ecosystem which
leans on a concept that has gained some prominence in the world of IT business. So far, IT
companies often have tried to gain control over all elements of products, services and appliances
they offer, but now they increasingly seek to create a product world that attracts other suppliers to
offer additional goods that enhance the attractiveness of the initial product. The core company
and its followers to some degree develop a mutual dependency and responsibility for this
ecosystem that eventually gains value over time.
Inscribed in these ecosystems are tendencies to open as well as to close their boundaries. A
successful ecosystem, for example, must be open enough to encourage possible partners to invest
in the development of new products and services and it must be close enough to secure streams of
revenue and to keep its identity. With its variety of services, such an ecosystem should keep a user
within its boundaries and profit from lock-in effects which refers to the phenomenon that users –
once embraced – tend to stay within an ecosystem and not turn to other – maybe better –
products in a different ecosystem.
For this, we will explain ecosystems as infrastructures that make educational resources available
to teachers and students. We will differentiate weak and strong OER to show the implications for
the design of an informational ecosystem. Finally, mechanisms of open and closed informational
ecosystems for education are introduced and their relationship to OER and OE is discussed.