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ENOpen Knowledge

The philosophy of Open Knowledge

A rigorous journey through twenty-seven centuries of giving knowledge away — from the Library of Alexandria and the Encyclopédie to public libraries, free software, Wikipedia and open access — and how Open Knowledge deliberately joins that tradition.

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Contents8 materials

  1. 1The ancient impulse

    1. The library impulse: Nineveh, Alexandria, Baghdad

  2. 2The Enlightenment bet

    1. The encyclopedists and the Republic of Letters

  3. 3Knowledge as a public good

    1. The public library movement and Carnegie's gift
    2. Checkpoint: the long tradition

  4. 4The digital commons

    1. Free software, copyleft and the engineered commons

  5. 5Open culture, open education, open science

    1. Creative Commons, Wikipedia, OER and open access

  6. 6The gift

    1. The gift economy and the Open Knowledge manifesto
    2. Final exam: the philosophy of open knowledge