GIZ online journal Global Connect just published an article on Global Knowledge Sharing, which quotes me quite a bit. So I reproduce here some lines, the entire piece is online here.
“… The example of Wikipedia gives us a taste of how we will likely generate our knowledge in the future: Radically different from the last 500 years, with an entirely new form of global networking and cooperation in areas such as culture, education, technology and business. The Internet plays a central role in this new form of knowledge generation. Anyone with access to the Internet, and who has language skills, can join the discussion on specific issues, plan, swap ideas and get together with like-minded people. It does not matter what social status, gender, age or ethnic background someone has, nor does their academic rank play any part. What matters is the input, and whether or not it holds up to the critical inspection of others and, in the end, works.
Such “open model” global knowledge partnerships hold tremendous opportunities for development cooperation. How global knowledge sharing over the Internet is already being used for sustainable development is something that Balthas Seibold knows. He is project manager of the group “Global Knowledge Sharing & Alumni” at GIZ and, in recent years, has been dealing with the topic of “Open Knowledge Sharing through Open Innovation”. Seibold cites the example of GIZ in the field of renewable energies: “On the GIZ developed online platform energypedia.info energy experts from Rwanda were able to re-create a gas tank for biogas production that was originally developed in Bolivia.
For more on how ICTs and the Internet can be drivers of open knowledge co-operation and a global knowledge commons , please check the following compilation of articles by GIZ Global Connect, which provides concrete examples and models such as energypedia and ict@innovation. The reporting was just released in three languages:
– English: Global Knowledge Sharing – “The Wisdom of Crowds”
– Spanish: La cooperación global en conocimientos como “la sabiduría de muchos”
– German: Globale Wissenskooperationen als „Die Weisheit der Vielen”
One word on ‘GIZ global connect’. This service addresses participants, alumni and partners of GIZ capacity development programmes. The website provides the GIZ community with information on alumni events, follow-up seminars, news, expert chats, network features, and a large community function enabling peer-to-peer networking though social networking tools. To join the community, check the registration info.
Full Article on GIZ Global Connect.