Democratization of knowledge

The term Democratization of knowledge can be used to describe the process by which information and knowledge is shared and constructed by a large group of people. In this case knowledge, guided by the principle of democracy, which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "Government by the people; that form of government in which the sovereign power resides in the people as a whole...," can be accessed, contributed to, and shaped by a large number of people. In recent years this process has been typified by the internet and such WebPages as Wikipedia. However, this process has been happening throughout human history in a number of ways through a number of mediums.

History

The process of the democratization of knowledge has been happening throughout history to varying degrees via varying mediums. The printing press was one of the early steps towards the democratization of knowledge. Another early example of this during the Industrial Revolution was the creation of libraries for miners in the villages of Leadhills and Wanlockhead in 1741 and 1756 respectively. Both of these advancements increased the spread and accessibility of knowledge but not necessarily the democratization of its creation. In 1920 the first commercial radio station, KDKA, was started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Radio contributed to the democratization of knowledge by spreading knowledge and opinions by making it publicly accessible. While the reliability of the knowledge one might obtain from this source can be debated, radio still increased people’s ability to access and share information. The internet took form in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s with the creation of the World Wide Web. While, because the usage is public and not limited, the reliability of the information on these sites could be debated, their formation is integral to the democratization of knowledge.

In the Digital Age

Wikipedia co-founder, Larry Sanger, states in his article, that “Professionals are no longer needed for the bare purpose of the mass distribution of information and the shaping of opinion.” Sanger’s article confronts the existence of “common knowledge” and pits it against knowledge that everyone agrees on.

Google Book Search has been pointed to as an example of democratization of knowledge, but Malte Herwig in Der Spiegel raised concerns that the virtual monopoly Google has in the search market, combined with Google's hiding of the details of its search algorithms, could undermine this move towards democratization.

Debate

It has been hotly debated whether the democratization of knowledge is a good thing. While most would not say giving large amounts of people widespread access to information is bad, they bring issue with how the democratization of knowledge affects the reliability of the knowledge. Besiki Stvilia, Michael Twidale, Linda Smith, and Les Gasser summarize this point in their research paper “Information Quality Work Organization in Wikipedia” when they say, “Although providing valuable information services to the users, the new information grid also poses new and significant challenges in many areas of information organization, including information quality (IQ).” Much of the debate over whether the democratization of knowledge is a good thing or bad can be summed up by debates over the value and accuracy of Wikipedia which serves as the perfect embodiment of the concept of the democratization of knowledge. This debate can be found on Wikipedia at the page The Reliability of Wikipedia, Academic Studies About Wikipedia, and Wikipedia. For further coverage of this debate, refer to these pages.

See also

• Ideagoras