Knowledge Communities
6 Knowledge Communities Knowledge The goal of the book is to study the concept of communities of knowledge, which goes beyond the notion of communities Knowledge Communities of practice, as a way to analyze the structure of the emergent knowledge societies. If we believe that a complex society has EDITED BY to be integrated by various and heterogeneous communities, a knowledge society should be based on the plurality of commu- Javier Echeverría, Andoni Alonso, and Pedro J. Oiarzabal nities of knowledge. This was the main hypothesis behind the organization of the “International Conference on Knowledge Communities,” which is at the origins of this book. A selection of updated versions of the papers presented at the Conference is found in this volume. The Conference took place at the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, University of Nevada, Reno, on April 23–25, 2009, and was sponsored by the Center for Basque Studies. Our intention was to explore new modalities of innova- tion, in addition to those based on science (e.g., e-science), engineering, artistic communities as well as online communi- ties. To do so, we had to widen the concept of communities E of practice, resulting on the examination of the concept of DIT knowledge communities. Consequently, Knowledge Commu- E D BY nities analyze four broad types of communities: “Science,” ”Free Knowledge,” “Arts,” and “Online.” Seventeen scholars from multiple disciplines look at whether such communities Alonso, and Pedro J. Javier can generate real knowledge societies that could potentially contribute to economic, social and political advantages for the E whole of the population, facilitating technological develop- chevarría, Andoni ment and innovation.
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