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Knowledge should be free

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By Katherine Maher, Chief Communications Officer, Wikimedia Foundation.

Knowledge should be free, open, and collaborative. This is the idea at the heart of Wikipedia. It is what has made Wikipedia the largest collaborative free knowledge resource in human history, and one of the most popular websites in the world.

The Wikipedia vision is a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. For us to realize this world, collaboration is critical. At the Wikimedia Foundation we believe that we won’t reach the sum of all knowledge without the contributions of all people, so we are committed to expanding opportunities for people from around the globe to contribute to, and learn from, the Wikimedia projects.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014

Strive for excellence: on collaborative work in Debian

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By Francesca Ciceri, Debian user, developer and translator.

Debian is a free operating system which is being developed by hundreds of volunteers working in a collaborative basis worldwide. Francesca is one of these volunteers and kindly agreed to tell us about her experience within such a project. Her contribution was possible thanks to the collaboration of the MiniDebConf2014 and the University of Barcelona.

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Posted in Open Thoughts 2014
About the Question
How many peers does it take to change a light bulb?

Systems like Linux and websites like Wikipedia are paradigmatic of a particular way of open collaboration known as peer production. Peer producers choose their tasks freely and coordinate their work using open digital platforms. They share the fruits of their labour as part of a global commons, and everyone works according to their abilities and benefits according to their needs.

Is this an emerging form of communism? Or the future of liberal capitalism? Or is it simply a new mode of production? In this blog we want to explore both the benefits and the downsides of such way of working.

UOC/IN3 degrees