Given the stakes, there is a compelling case for co-operation between boards of education. Only by exploiting our strengths successfully in global markets can we achieve enough multimedia strength to retain access to our own market. Business cases for the development of Canadian multimedia and learnware applications must be global business cases. Competitive Influences Many public education organizations across the province are developing products and services with which they intend to generate revenue. Boards of education, community colleges and the Independent Learning Centre of the Ministry of Education appear to be concentrating on curriculum development.
Databases appear to be the product of choice for some provincial agencies.
In some cases, government funded database initiatives appear to overlap one another. Getting Paid for Learnware Development Organizations which are developing learnware and curriculum materials are concerned that they may not be able to recover their investment. It is apparent that teachers and boards are of two cultural dispositions on the matter of remitting copyright fees for reproductions of curriculum documents. On one hand, unlicensed duplication of curriculum materials is widely practiced and tolerated as a minor transgression. On the other hand, teachers, boards, colleges and agencies fear that there is no assurance their stakeholders can recover investments in curriculum development because of the rampant unauthorized reproduction of curriculum materials.