The Free Knowledge Institute (FKI) is a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

founded in 2006 in the Netherlands. Inspired by the

free software movement The free software movement is a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for software users, namely the freedoms to run the software, to study the software, to modify the software, and to share copies of the s ...

, the FKI fosters the free exchange of knowledge in all areas of society by promoting freedom of use, modification,

copying Copying is the duplication of information or an artifact based on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it. With analog forms of information, copying is only possible to a limited degree o ...

, and distribution of knowledge pertaining to education, technology, culture, and science. The FKI coordinates and participates in projects concerning education, access to knowledge,

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

, and

open educational resources Open educational resources (OER) are Instructional materials, teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and Free license, licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" descri ...

Vision

Communication networks, and especially the Internet, have become the driving force of a revolution only comparable to the one that followed the invention of the printing press. In its years of existence, the Internet has given wings to our natural tendency to share information. However, still a dominant sector of society thinks that knowledge should be protected by several legal regimes commonly referred to with the term '

'. This term suggests that knowledge can be exclusively owned and neglects the differences between tangible and intangible goods: while tangible goods have a scarcity problem, intangible goods can be copied and shared without limit and, when shared, tend to increase their total value. A countermovement started in the 1980s with the rise of the Free Software movement and open standards, which have produced a tremendous wealth of free software applications and form the basis of the current internet. The principles behind

Free Software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

have inspired the unrestricted sharing and reusing of artistic and cultural works in the free content movement (including

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

) and the creation and use of free educational materials in the educational sector. In a similar way, the

Open Access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

movement promotes the sharing and open publication of research for advancing scientific knowledge. The Free Knowledge Institute believes that by promoting the use of Free Knowledge in the fields of Technology, Education, Culture and Science more individuals and organisations will profit from the benefits of sharing knowledge.

Founding principles

The Free Knowledge Institute has formulated a set of principles that it considers basic for being consistent with its vision. These founding principles take as a starting point the sharing of knowledge in the tradition of

copyleft Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...

and include the use of

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

, adherence to

open standards An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a prerequisite to use open license, non-discrimination and extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in the development. There is no single definition ...

, the importance of education, respect for diversity and different cultures, transparency and consensus.

Activities

In order to work towards this vision, the Free Knowledge Institute participates in political debates and activism to highlight the wrongs of certain policies and propose alternatives. For that reason the FKI works together in various networks and coalitions with other groups and organisations. With the Open Net Coalition, a collective warning has been formulated about policy proposals in the EU parliament threatening internet neutrality.

Projects

SELF Project

The SELF Platform aims to become a collaborative web platform with high quality educational and training materials about

and

Open Standards An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a prerequisite to use open license, non-discrimination and extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in the development. There is no single definition ...

. It is based on world-class Free Software technologies that permit both reading and publishing free materials, and is driven by a worldwide community.
SELF
(Science, Education and Learning in Freedom) is an international project that was initially financed by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

which has developed a platform to encourage creative cooperation and the sharing of educational materials and continuous training, paying special attention to free software and open standards. Inspired by the Wikipedia model, the SELF Platform is open to the contributions of all those who would like to bring their knowledge to it, and share this knowledge without restrictions,.

Free Knowledge, Free Technology Conference

The Free Knowledge, Free Technology Conference (FKFT) was an event that centered the production and sharing of educational and training materials in the field of Free Software and Open Standards. It was held first in 2008 in Barcelona and was organised by the SELF Project and the Free Knowledge Institute.

Free Technology Academy

The Free Technology Academy consists of an advanced virtual campus with course modules that can be followed entirely on-line. The learning materials are Open Educational Resources that can be studied freely, but learners enrolled in the FTA will be guided by professional teaching staff from the participating universities. The full master programme can be concluded at one of the universities. The project financially supported by the Life Long Learning Programme (LLP) of the

, is a collaboration between the FKI and various European universities and organisations like the

Open Universiteit Nederland The Open University of the Netherlands ( nl, Open Universiteit Nederland) is a Dutch institution for distance learning at university level. It is an independent government-funded university and uses a variety of methods, including written mater ...

(OUNL) from The Netherlands, the

Open University of Catalonia The Open University of Catalonia ( ca, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC; ) is a private open university based in Barcelona, Spain. The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan, Spanish and English in fields such as Psycholog ...

(UOC) from Spain and others.,.Free technology academy: a European initiative for distance education about free software and open standards, Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education, 2009, http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1562877.1562904

Free Culture Forum

The

Free Culture Forum The Free Culture Forum (FCForum) was an international meeting of relevant organisations and individuals involved in free culture, digital rights and access to knowledge. It took place in Barcelona every annually from 2009 to 2015, jointly with ...

was an international encounter on free culture and knowledge that took place in Barcelona from 30 October to 1 November 2009. It took place jointly with the second edition of the oXcars. During the Forum 200 organizations and individuals linked to free culture expressions discuss on the privatization of the creation and the intellectual property and its incidence in the access to the knowledge and the creation and distribution of the art, knowledge and culture. The Forum ended up with the definition of
"Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge"
The first edition of the Forum was organised b
ExgaeNetworked politics
and the Free Knowledge Institute.

References

External links

Official WebsiteTechnology News
Organisations based in Amsterdam Computer law organizations Foundations based in the Netherlands Privacy organizations Internet-related activism Intellectual property activism Knowledge sharing 2006 establishments in the Netherlands Access to Knowledge movement Organizations established in 2006