WikiToLearn : Bringing academia to the Internet era - a revolution in knowledge sharing

Speaker(s): Srijan Agarwal (Koll)

Abstract:
The KDE community has always strongly believed in openness, in free and open source software. Today, we’re taking this mission one step further, by bringing openness to the most important intellectual production of humanity: knowledge itself. And we’re not doing it alone, but with the help of institutions and professors all around the globe.

What is WikiToLearn? WikiToLearn is an open platform where students, researchers and key people in the academia can create and refine notes and text books, tailored precisely to their needs, and giving them the power to customise the teaching beyond what traditional textbooks allow. Our philosophy inherits from the very foundation of how science works. We believe that “Knowledge only grows if shared” and we want learners to “Stand on the shoulder of giants!”

Why is it an innovation?WikiToLearn does not offer new knowledge. WikiToLearn offers a new approach to knowledge: it rediscovers and repurposes the attitude, now almost forgotten by mankind, that led our civilisation to take the huge steps that have brought us here today, with our endless heritage of knowledge. Without the collaboration and the communication among the people, without the free availability of knowledge, no big discovery would have been possible. This is what we are trying to restore. We are driven by the love for free knowledge, owned by no one and accessible to everyone. As volunteers, freely collaborating between us, we want to make this vision possible. Open source gains in this context a profound and significant meaning, merging naturally with our philosophy.Any content can be modified: this leads to a continuous development of the existing material, to the collaboration and communication among learners.Everything on WikiToLearn is freely accessible and can be downloaded: in this way knowledge is made available to everyone.

Why should I contribute?It is really important that users contribute to the writing and the improvement of the contents. This is the only way the project can be successful and be able to continue to grow. Your contribution, as small as it could be, is and will always be fundamental.Finding already existent, well organised and freely accessible material can be really useful. However, always bear in mind that you can find it only because someone decided to contribute to creating it.

Moved/Driven by what? Perhaps by our same vision: the desire to see, at last, a change in the approach to knowledge. Perhaps because so you can really feel useful and part of something great, with the power change the world.

Who can contribute?

Who "makes" WikiToLearn? - The project is promoted and coordinated by a community of people, often experts in their own field, who write, review and organise the content. WikiToLearn is a KDE project sponsored by Wikimedia.

(Type: Talk | Track: Internet, Society & Politics | Room: Einstein (Floor 2))

Event Page: http://2017.fossasia.org

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