Openverse Receives Open Education Award for Excellence in Open Infrastructure
Openverse, a project under the WordPress umbrella, has been honored with an Open Education Award for Excellence in the Open Infrastructure category. The award was presented by Open Education Global (OEG), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting open education and increasing access and affordability in education. OEG’s annual awards recognize exceptional contributions to the Open Education community and its network of resources.
Out of over 170 applicants, Openverse was selected as one of the 16 winners. The award reviewers were particularly impressed with Openverse’s clear licensing and its user-friendly features, such as one-click attribution. They suggested that Openverse should be the primary recommended search engine for Open Educational Resources (OER) development.
One of the standout features of Openverse is its easy attribution function, which allows users to copy a full-formed Creative Commons attribution with just one click. This feature alone makes Openverse deserving of recognition. Additionally, the platform offers various filters that enable users to search for open content based on source collections, image orientation, and specific licenses. These features provide users with the necessary tools to find media that is clearly licensed and can be reused without any legal complications.
Openverse has made significant progress since becoming part of the WordPress project. Over the past year, the team has implemented several improvements, including the addition of usage analytics, major enhancements to the user interface, moving Openverse out of an iFrame, and the implementation of filtering and blurring of sensitive results (which is nearing completion). These technical advancements have made Openverse an even more valuable resource for educators and content creators.
As the team begins planning for 2024, they are actively seeking feedback from the community. Madison Swain-Bowden, a data engineer sponsored by Automattic for Openverse, emphasized the importance of collaboration in driving the project forward. The team welcomes ideas, suggestions, and proposals from users who have identified feature gaps or have suggestions for improving existing features. To contribute, users can publish a comment on the team’s blog post, which specifically requests feedback on Openverse’s future.
For those interested in learning more about Openverse’s current projects and those that are on hold, the team’s most recent monthly meeting notes provide detailed information. The team is committed to transparency and values the input of the community in shaping the future direction of Openverse.
Openverse’s recognition with an Open Education Award for Excellence in Open Infrastructure highlights its commitment to providing a user-friendly platform for accessing and utilizing open educational resources. With its clear licensing and easy attribution features, Openverse is an invaluable tool for educators, content creators, and anyone seeking openly licensed media. As the project continues to evolve and improve, it remains dedicated to meeting the needs of its users and supporting the growth of open education.
