Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Who Owns Knowledge?

Throughout my life I've enjoyed learning about many subjects and interests.  I like to broaden my thinking and understanding.  There's been many a time when I've ventured into a discussion to be told, "This is not your domain." As expected, that's led me to think.

Who owns knowledge?

There's been a lot of discussion about this on the Internet with the idea of the democratization of information, yet knowledge used without good understanding could be harmful or carry us down futile paths.

Who owns knowledge in your home, classroom, organization, government, world?  In thinking about knowledge as a commodity to own or share, what systems have you put in place to ensure that knowledge is treated with the care, transparency and thought it deserves?

In my microsphere of classroom, home and community, I value knowledge shared in truthful, respectful ways.  I desire protocols for knowledge sharing in organizations, classrooms and families--protocols that invite people to learn, share, debate, reason, discuss and decide in peaceful, purposeful ways.

Who owns knowledge, and what protocols are effective ways to share the knowledge we have?