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1. Knowledge in the Age of Abundance

   Tags: abundance· David Weinberger· DLD· DLD09· germany· knowledge· munich  -  0 comments

   David Weinberger (Harvard University)

   

   We'll talk about knowledge because it plays and important role in our society especially when it scarce.
   
   What knowledge is?
   In our society knowledge is simple. There's a single order and things follow that order. Knowledge evolved from the times of ancient greeks. Knowledge exists as a scarce resource. Another really interesting aspect is that it's not a case that the knowledge reflects the characteristics of its medium, the books.

   We are living in a world where connectivity became really important. So let's take the Amozon Kindle as an example to understand how books and knowledge are evolving. People have access to knowledge and are able to connect with other people at the same time.

   We are dealing much better with the abundance of crap than we do with the abundance of good stuff. Society is not build for the abundance of good stuff.

   People already have twittered this morning 7000 times - this system does not scale, control does not scale either.

   We changed our strategy: Let's gather everything, it is cheaper to include than to exclude.
   If you keep all articles on Britney Spears you will be scared to look at the results.

   Things worth knowing does not include everything. Yes you do miss stuff - but that is a good thing. It is a cleaning process.

   Links have their dimension too and are generous. From each webpage you have a high number of links. In this abundance era there's is an abundance of links. In the same ways works online contribution, think about Wikipedia. On Wikipedia acknowledge its own value. It's socializing with knowledge, talking with a human voice and not with a media voice that would make lose its authority.
   Rather than deciding how people should navigate, give them tools so they can decide. This results in a very messy system - but the messier it is the better because you get a far better reflection of what is out there and you don't destroy the relationships.
   We can't overestimate the relevance of links: they display (power) relationships. Wikipedia as a good example how everything is a hyperlink, it encourages discovery. Wikipedia does not tell you how to navigate but gives you the tools to work as you would like to work, so it is a far better reflection on our knowledge.

   So what characterize knowledge in this modern era? It's not just the network itself, it's about us, it's about humans. Today the Internet more profound reflection of our society.

   

   Andrea Vascellari
   Knowledge in today's environment. Session by David Weinberger.

   January 26, 2009
   12:08 PM