What do we call this thing?

The name "OpenDSA" derives from the fact that this is an open-source project to create content, visualizations, and assessment activities for Data Structures and Algorithms courses.

OK, but what is an Active-eBook?

We needed a name for the artifact that we want to create. "eBook" usually refers to a static document, like a PDF file or what you read on a Kindle, and "eTextbook" is no better. "Hypertextbook" connotes an old '80s or '90s effort to create a plain document with hyperlinks within it.

A few of us came up with the term "Active-eBook" during a discussion at ITiCSE 2011. It is meant to connote the definition that we use for our target artifact: content with visualizations and assessment activities.

Since I am not really happy with that term either, I have taken to calling OpenDSA "a collection of interactive online tutorials".