Opening Access to Knowledge

I really enjoyed last Tuesday's class presented by Alec on Open Education. In this session, one of the key discussion points was the question of what is knowledge? I was inspired to write my thoughts about knowledge by Blair's recent post. In Blair's blog, he discussed the history of knowledge, and how it has been passed down through oral tradition and then changed with the invention of ink and the printing press. Perhaps knowledge was seen as some coveted thing because it was very difficult to access centuries, and even decades, ago. The rich and powerful people were able to be the "keepers of knowledge" and would control who it was shared, or not shared, with. It is possible that groups in our society, including schools, are trying to maintain status through continuing to be the keepers of knowledge. Unfortunately, I think that if educational institutions maintain this viewpoint, and don't start believing in open access, they are going to become obsolete.

One of the main points that resonated with me was Tony Wagner's quote that I'm going to loosely paraphrase as "The world no longer cares what you know. It cares about what you can do with what you know." I think this shift is what really defines the Information Age. I really believe that as a society, we can all benefit if we keep in mind that knowledge should be shared. People don't work in a bubble. We all base our ideas off of other people's work. Just imagine the possibilities if everyone would share what they know! 

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