Proceedings ascilite Melbourne 2008: Full paper: Hirst & Brooks 428 Conflicting landscapes: Musing on the implementation of an open source collaboration environment David Hirst Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Centre La Trobe University Claire Brooks Borchardt Library La Trobe University This discussion of the implementation of an open source collaborative environment (MUSE) in a traditional institution during a period of upheaval not only explores the details of the evaluation of the first year of operation, but also the tensions around ownership, control and power. The paper reports on the implementation and seeks to address some of these questions: Can open source initiatives make a difference to the fundamental pedagogy of educational institutions? Can a modest change in IT solutions enable users to create their own learning and research spaces effectively? What factors would we do differently? In what ways does supplementing an existing large integrated system with another involve innovation in educational technology? Keywords: Collaboration environments, e-Research, open source, Sakai. Introduction In the landscape of educational technology the nexus between teaching and research, and between information systems for supporting learning, teaching, research and business activities is crowded, competitive and complex. The rapidly changing technological environment plus the interesting power relationships of managers, academics, and administrators means that, in general, innovation is confined to small localised areas of development and difficult to embed in the sweeping hills and dales of the vast traditional landscape. Occasionally a tsunami or earthquake precipitated by a new vice chancellor dramatically changes the existing landscape. In the resulting climate change it is important to reflect on what educational technology tools, processes and people are required for effective support for research, teaching and learning. It will be interesting to see how the university sector responds to the many and varied forces in the coming years - this paper is the story of a pilot implementation of an open source development in a traditional research intensive university in a time of great change. Background In May 2003, in a report on their review of the University of Melbourne’s learning management system, Baldwin and James highlighted the important dual demands of ‘ease of use’ for the majority of academics along with the capability of supporting very sophisticated educational procedures: The ideal is a system which is very easy to use at a basic level, yet allows – and indeed encourages – much more sophisticated and creative developments. In other words, it should be particularly appropriate for the estimated 80% of staff who are modest IT users yet not limit the opportunities for the 20% of staff who are more expert users. Ideally, it should encourage individuals to move from the former to the latter category. (Baldwin & James, 2003: 13) Their report recommended that the university implement Stanford University’s Coursework learning management system and that the University of Melbourne become a collaborating institution in the Open Knowledge Initiative (Baldwin & James, 2003). Coursework was an open source product with the advantage that the university would be able to build on its standards based framework to extend the functionality, and thereby contribute to a significant global project. The University of Melbourne had already invested over $12 million through its Multimedia and Educational Technology Development Grants Program to produce sophisticated and creative e-learning programs, and it didn’t want to lose these innovations that had been locally developed.