Open Education as a Public Good: From Lock-in to Democratic Infrastructure

This paper analyses the current conjuncture of digital education across three levels: (1) a landscape shaped by the confluence of right-wing authoritarianism and Big Tech ideology; (2) a regime shaped by proprietary platforms and vendor lock-in; and (3) a niche of open-source and OER communities working to build democratic alternatives. I argue that the transition towards Open Education as a Digital Public Good is not primarily a technical challenge but foremost a democratic one, requiring landscape critique, infrastructural policy, and institutional recognition of care work.