Knowledge commons

As a knowledge commons refers to the common property ( common property ) of the modern information society.

In this form of commons that are based on information as a resource to the Commons would fail to apply: Information not lose value if they are used frequently.

Term origin

The term knowledge commons came on, especially since the mid-1990s. In Germany it was introduced among others by Volker Grassmuck in 2000 in a workshop presentation titled The knowledge commons. In line with the Old High German word commons is referred to the historical and Switzerland also modern background. Grassmuck relies mainly on the theories of the Karlsruhe philosopher Helmut F. Spinner and the legal scholar Lawrence Lessig. 2012, the concept was further elaborated at the first international conference on knowledge commons ( First Thematic Conference on the Knowledge Commons ).

From an economic perspective, the concept of the knowledge commons is not correct, because knowledge is a public good with free access, that is just there is no use rivalry. For the Good "knowledge" may even exactly the opposite problem arise: here If property rights are defined, buyers can be excluded from the use (knowledge as a club good). This reduces the productive use of knowledge. Here it may be useful under certain circumstances, to ensure free access. However, it must be noted that the very fact the incentive for the production of new knowledge may be impaired.

Knowledge commons is also the name of a working group of the organization Attac, the propagated among other things, the right of free access to knowledge.

Common property and information

The knowledge commons forms the intellectual framework for free software and the open source and open content movement. The key for the free software point is the decoupling of the idea economy from the normal goods economy ( Spinner 1994), which can be correlated with the so-called knowledge communism of science (see Robert K. Merton ): With its publication, the knowledge is to common property of the research community. It may be freely reproduced, reviewed and further developed by colleagues and serve in the doctrine of free reproduction of knowledge holders in the next generation. Through these fertile conditions in the "special atmosphere " of the sciences, the parallel, collective efforts can produce results that could produce no individual and no single team. The individual scientist gets in the knowledge communism as recognition for the present his findings no cash payments - to be exempted from this requirement, bankrolled him the state - but a symbolic compensation in the form of professional reputation, as, for example, at the number of entries in Citation Index can be read. Instead of a monopoly exploitation rights, as granted the patent system for inventions of industrial value, here is the right to be named in the foreground.

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

" The fundamental act of friendship exists among thinking beings is to teach each other something and to share knowledge. This good will, the willingness to help our neighbor, is exactly what holds society together and what makes it worth living. "