9 Keeping Track of Changes

Provenance

When adapting or adopting OER, it is imperative to track the provenance of the resources as they are modified and remixed.

Keep a record of all changes and additions

As the author, you retain copyright of all new material you create. This means that even if the new material you create is released under an open license, as the author, you will receive attribution for your contribution.

As you edit and make changes (text and images) and/or add new material, such as a chapter or section within a chapter, keep a list so these additions/changes:

• Can be included as part of the Copyright Notice
• Can be accurately attributed to you, the author
• Minor changes, such as fixing grammatical or spelling mistakes, don’t need to be documented.

Remixing

If you add material from another openly licensed work to your adaptation, especially text, record the source and where it is used in your adapted version. This information is needed for the wording and placement of each attribution statement required for each open CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution) licensed work you use. For more information, see Attribution Statements.

Provenance document examples

Below are examples of provenance documents that could be used to track changes and attributions when adapting OER. The term “Collegial collections” can refer to resources adopted/adapted from a colleague or inter-departmentally – these resources are often openly shared within a faculty team (or department) but are not openly shared in an OER repository.