The DOT4D initiative adopts an inherent social justice approach to its understanding and promotion of digital open textbooks. Within this context, "open textbooks" are:
- Digital, freely available collections of scaffolded teaching and learning content
- published under an open licence
- with affordances for integrated multimedia and third-party content
- published via platforms and in formats that provide affordances for content delivery on a range of devices, print and low bandwidth access strategies
- through collaborative, inclusive authorship, quality assurance and publishing approaches
- that can be leveraged in sustainable models of open textbook production for social justice and transformation.