Educating to Be Human Podcast

In today's episode of Educating to be Human, Lisa speaks with Matthias Kirschner, the president of the Free Software Foundation Europe and author of the children's book, Ada & Zangemann, a story that relates the joy of tinkering and highlights the values behind software freedom. Lisa and Matthias explore the roots of the modern open movement and why software freedom has always been about much more than just code; it's about our human desire to share, tinker, and collaborate. Matthias Kirschner is the President of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), a charitable organization that empowers users to control technology. In 1999 he started using GNU/Linux and realised that software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives. Matthias is convinced that this technology has to empower society not restrict it. While studying Political and Administrative Science he joined FSFE in 2004. He helps other organisations, companies and governments to understand how they can benefit from Free Software - which gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt, and share software - and how those rights help to support freedom of speech, freedom of press or privacy. He is also the author of the children's fable Ada & Zangemann – A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Pi.

In this episode of Educating to Be Human, Lisa Petrides is joined by Robin DeRosa, executive director of the Open Education Network, and Jim Luke, Professor of Economics (ret.) and founder of Open Learning Lab at Lansing Community College take stock of where open education has been and where it is headed. With decades of experience in Open Education between the three of them, they explore why open education matters, what learners gain when they help shape knowledge rather than simply receive it, and how institutions might change to support that kind of learning. They consider the commons as something people actively do together, and what it takes to care for shared resources in a landscape increasingly shaped by commercial pressures and emerging AI technologies. It's a thoughtful, wide-ranging conversation about the values behind open education: sharing, reciprocity, care, and the public good. It also asks what the movement has gotten right, what it may have gotten wrong, and why the work still matters. Whether you're an educator, a librarian, a student, or simply curious about who gets to access and shape knowledge, this conversation offers plenty to think about. Dr. Robin DeRosa is the Executive Director of the Open Education Network. Based at the University of Minnesota, the OEN is a collective of institutions and consortia that work collaboratively to make higher education more affordable, equitable, and engaging for learners. She has previously worked as a professor of literature and Interdisciplinary Studies, the founder and director of a faculty development center, and as the library director at a public university. Jim Luke is an independent scholar studying the institutional economics of technology, higher education, and of healthcare. He's a retired professor of economics, having taught at a three colleges and universities. He's the author of chapters in Higher Education for Good and Of Many Minds, among other works. He lives in the Detroit, Michigan, USA area.

In this episode of Educating to Be Human, host Lisa Petrides is joined by Lila Bailey, Senior Policy Counsel at the Internet Archive, to explore what it means to truly own something in a digital world, continuing this season's central theme of protecting and preserving open and decentralized access to information and knowledge. Together, they trace how human culture evolved as a communally shared experience - and how modern copyright law and digital gatekeepers have gradually closed off public knowledge, owned and created by the community. Lila unpacks the tension between traditional intellectual property, commercialization, and the foundational human drive to create, share, and remix ideas. Looking toward a more equitable future, Lila calls for efforts towards building public AI infrastructure - toolsets hosted by a diversity of entities such as libraries, schools, and civic institutions - that honor the ideals behind the "open" movement valuing community-built and -shared knowledge and culture. Key Topics Covered The Human Default: Why open sharing and collective culture long predate copyright law. Digital Ownership: How licensing agreements distort what it means to "own" books and media. AI & The Commons: Navigating corporate extraction, reciprocity, and the pushback against Big Tech data harvesting. Public Knowledge Infrastructure: The vital role of memory institutions like the Internet Archive in protecting public data and open source tools. Rebranding "Open": Shifting the conversation away from legal jargon to focus on shared human values, community, and equitable access. Lila Bailey is Senior Policy Counsel for the Internet Archive. A seasoned attorney and copyright expert, Lila leads the library's policy work.

In the Season 3 premiere of Educating to Be Human, we launch a series-long exploration of "open", in conversations with people who are working to ensure that public data, knowledge, and research remain open and freely accessible for all. Host Lisa Petrides is joined by sociologist and open science advocate Christopher Marcum, former Assistant Director for Open Science and Data Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In this conversation, Lisa and Chris trace the origins of open from its 17th-century roots and Robert Merton's 1940s ideal of knowledge as a non-excludable public good to the modern policies governing taxpayer-funded research today. Together, they confront the mounting threats facing open systems - from big tech monopolies and AI data scraping to the rise of closed digital gatekeepers - and explore why open infrastructure is as vital to a thriving society as physical roads and bridges. This episode challenges us to rethink how we protect public knowledge, sustain open infrastructure, and cultivate the human curiosity necessary to question the technological systems shaping our world. Christopher Steven Marcum, Ph.D., is an expert in federal data policy, open science, and scientific integrity who has served in key advisory roles across the Executive Office of the President. As Assistant Director for Open Science and Data Policy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), he developed transformative science policies, including the 2022 OSTP Public Access Memo and the 2023 Federal Scientific Integrity Framework, and spearheaded the White House designation of 2023 as the Year of Open Science. As Senior Statistician and Senior Scientist in the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, he directed an information policy portfolio covering data access, research security, information quality, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence across federal science and statistical agencies. In that post, he co-authored major Executive Branch information policies including OMB Memoranda M-25-05 on open government data access and M-25-21 on federal AI adoption, chaired the Federal Statistical Research Data Center Program Executive Committee, and represented OMB on key interagency bodies including the Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, the Aging Forum, and the Children's Forum. Currently an independent consultant, Chris serves as Senior Advisor for Federal Data Policy at the Federation of American Scientists and Senior Fellow at the Data Foundation. He is an elected fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a full member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society.

In Season 2 of Educating to Be Human, we asked questions about education: who controls what we learn? Who benefits? Who gets left out? What would it take to democratize education? And simply, why do we learn? Lisa spoke with people across disciplines - community organizers, faith leaders, educators challenging traditional systems, civil servants, and business leaders - to chip away at these questions from different angles. In this special episode, we revisit key moments from our conversations in Season 2, highlighting how our guests challenged us to think of what becomes possible when we center humans - not systems - in learning. This special episode features clips from interviews with: Wendy Millet, founder of Gallop Ventures; Atman Smith, founder of the Holistic Life Foundation; Stephen Ritz, founder of the Green Bronx Machine; Chris Freeland, Director of Library Services at Internet Archive Joanna Strober, founder of Midi Health; Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College and CEO of the Compton Community College District; Maha Bali, professor of practice at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the American University in Cairo and co-founder of Equity Unbound; Paul Kruchoski, former senior U.S. diplomat and a career member of the Senior Executive Service; Fr. Jon Pedigo, a longtime social justice advocate and activist, faith leader within the Catholic diocese of San Jose, and executive director of PACT (People Acting in Community Together); Kassandra "Kassi" Talbot, educator, social justice advocate, and principal of Pescadero Elementary School.