Knowledge commons

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As a knowledge commons is shared intellectual property referred to ( common ) of the modern information society .

Landscape art in Austria (2013)

The term knowledge commons describes shared, intangible resources such as free software , the Linux computer operating system or free knowledge such as Wikipedia ( collective intelligence ). The term is derived from the medieval economy common land , in which land belonged to a community and was used jointly by its members.

Since knowledge commons are about a spiritual resource, namely information , the commons problem is irrelevant: In contrast to arable land or pasture land, information does not lose its value through more intensive use.

Origin of the term

Map of Wimbledon Common in London

The term knowledge commons came up in the mid-1990s. In Germany, among others, it was introduced by Volker Grassmuck in 2000 in a workshop presentation entitled Die Wissens-Allmende and disseminated by Attac . The German concept of the commons corresponds to the English commons ; it is therefore a conceptual formation analogous to English. Grassmuck mainly refers to the theses of the Karlsruhe philosopher Helmut F. Spinner and the legal scholar Lawrence Lessig . In 2012, the concept was further elaborated at the first international conference on the knowledge commons.

Common good and information

The knowledge commons also forms the intellectual frame of reference for free software and the open source and open content movement . The essential point for free software is the decoupling of the economy of ideas from the normal economy of goods (Spinner 1994), which can be related to the so-called knowledge communism of science (cf. Robert K. Merton ): With its publication, knowledge becomes Common property of the research community. It can be used, checked and further developed by others without restriction and can also be used in teaching and training without B. License fees apply. In the “special milieu” of science, collective, networked efforts can achieve results that exceed the work of individuals and individual teams. In knowledge communism, scientists do not receive any cash payments as recognition for their work - those involved usually receive their salary from state and sometimes private employers who release them for this scientific activity. Instead, there is a symbolic remuneration in the form of professional reputation , as it is z. B. can be read from the number of entries in the Citation Index . Instead of a monopoly right of exploitation , as granted by the patent system for inventions, the focus here is on the right to be named (see also intellectual capital ).

Even Richard Stallman refers to this centuries-old tradition of science:

“The fundamental act of friendship among thinking beings is teaching one another and sharing knowledge. This good will, the willingness to help our neighbor, is exactly what holds society together and what makes it worth living. "

- Richard Stallman

The Internet , the Unix derivatives * BSD and GNU / Linux , the GNU project and free and open source software are considered examples of such developments . The Wikipedia belongs here as an example of free content .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. the discussion and references in: Charlotte Hess, Elinor Ostrom: Artifacts, Facilities, And Content: Information as a Common-pool Resource , Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, 2001.
  2. ^ Workshop: Wizards of OS . Information wants to be Free at Interface 5, 7/2000.
  3. ↑ The term Wissensallmende is also the name of an Attac working group , co-founded by Oliver Moldenhauer .