Standing on the shoulders of giants

"Imagine a world where anyone can instantly access all of the world's scholarly knowledge.... "

The idea that culture and idea's build on those that come before us is not a new one - going far back in time before Isaac Newton's famous use of the 'giants' quote.  What perhaps is new is the ambition to set free the great wealth of knowledge that is generated by our contemporaries and give us access collectively to it's rich resource. 

A small link on Michael Geist's blog takes me to the wonderful  Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics from whence the the quote above comes.  It's a veritable treasure trove on Open Access - with a hoard of useful links and facts.... Like:

•  that over 30 million scientific publications are now available through Scientific Commons - and..
• 20% of the world's medical literature is freely available 2 years after publication at PubMedCentral.

Our common legacy is the ideas we leave to those that come after us.  We are the giants that will let our children see further.  But even now the more we share, the more we can achieve.

Piratpartiet & The Pirate Party:  Against Intellectual Monopoly