UNESCO's first openly licensed publication brings together the background papers and reports from the first three years of activities in the UNESCO OER Community. It is an indication of the commitment of the Organization to the sharing of knowledge and the free flow of ideas.

Open Educational Resources are digitalized materials offered freely and openly for use and reuse in teaching, learning and research. They offer a solution for extending learning opportunities. The goal of the OER movement is to equalize access to knowledge worldwide through sharing online high quality content.

Since 2005, UNESCO has been at the forefront of building awareness about this movement by facilitating an extended conversation in cyberspace. A large and diverse international community has come together to discuss the concept and potential of OER in a series of online forums. Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace provides an overview of the first steps of this exciting new development: it captures the conversations between leaders of some of the first OER projects, and documents early debates on the issues that continue to challenge the movement. The publication will provide food for thought for all those intrigued by OER – its promise and its progress.