[okfn-discuss] The Four Principles of (Open) Knowledge Development (v0.1)

Mon May 8 19:20:54 UTC 2006

hello,

I found your principles well defined.  owever, I think that it is good to put 
in explanation of collaborative that it assumes to be accessible to all 
including people with disabilities.

Best wishes,

vedran

On Monday 08 May 2006 13:06, Rufus Pollock wrote:
> I've been talking for a while about the 'other' aspects of open
> knowledge -- i.e. those other than licensing and here's a first stab at
> getting my thoughts down on paper. Comments/critiques/additions
> *greatly* appreciated.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rufus
>
> PS: in the spirit of open knowledge development I should probably wiki
> this ;) but for me -- probably as for many of you -- the mailing list is
> still the low-level tool of choice for iterating text such as this
>
> The Four Principles of (Open) Knowledge Development
> ***************************************************
>
> Introduction
> ============
>
> Open knowledge means porting much more of the open source stack than
> just the idea of open licensing. It is about porting many of the
> processes and tools that attach to the open development process -- the
> process enabled by the use of an open approach to knowledge production
> and distribution.
>
> The Four Principles
> ===================
>
> Open knowledge allows (and requires for its success) a development
> process that is:
>    1. incremental
>    2. decentralized (and asyncrhonous)
>    3. collaborative
>    4. componentized (and 'packagized')
>
> Incremental
> -----------
>
> Incremental implies a process that allows for lots of gradual
> improvement and contribution. Like all of the the four principles this
> applies to the development of closed as well as open knowledge. However
> it operates more powerfully in an 'open' situation where the boundary
> between participants and non-participants is porous and it is easier for
> 'just anyone' to get involved.
>
> Decentralized
> -------------
>
> Open knowledge allows for a decentralized (and asynchronous) development
> process. This greatly reduces rigidities and also allows for a far wider
> participation in a given project. At the same time it demands a more
> sophisticated set of development tools and processes.
>
> Collaborative
> -------------
>
> Just like code, knowledge can be developed by a single individual but
> its real strength is that it can be developed collaboratively. The
> collaborative aspect of open knowledge is strongly related, and
> dependent upon, the the principles of decentralization and
> componentization.
>
> Componentized
> -------------
>
> This probably the most important feature of (open) knowledge development
> as well as the one which is, at present, least advanced. If you look at
> the way software has evolved it now highly componentized into
> packages/libraries. Doing this allows one to 'divide and conquer' the
> organizational and conceptual problems of highly complex systems. Even
> more importantly it allows for greatly increased levels of reuse.
>
> The power and significane of componentization really comes home to one
> when using a package manager (e.g. apt-get for debian) on a modern os. A
> request to install a single given package can result in the automatic
> discovery and installation of all packages on which that one depends.
> The result may be a list of tens -- or even hundreds -- of packages in a
> graphic demonstration of the way in which computer programs have been
> broken down into interdependent components.
>
>
> Conclusion
> ==========
>
> We are currently at a point where, with project such as wikipedia, we
> have powerful examples of the first three principles in action but
> little or none on the on the fourth.
>
> In the early days of software there was also little arms-length reuse
> because there was little packaging. Hardware was so expensive, and so
> limited, that it made sense for all software to be bespoke and little
> effort to be put into building libraries or packages. Only gradually did
> the modern complex, though still crude, system develop.
>
> The same evolution can be expected for knowledge. At present knowledge
> development displays very little componentization but as the underlying
> pool of raw, 'unpackaged', information continues to increase there will
> be increasing emphasis on componentization and reuse it supports. (One
> can conceptualize this as a question of interface vs. the content.
> Currently 90% of effort goes into the content and 10% goes into the
> interface. With components this will change to 90% on the interface 10%
> on the content).
>
> The change to a componentized architecture will be complex but, once
> achieved, will revolutionize the production and development of open
> knowledge. Along with the other three principles of incrementalism,
> decentralization, collaboration it will characterize the process of open
> knowledge development.
>
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