Sharing or withholding

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 Alec Couros presented the graduate students of EC&I 831 with an introduction to Open Education.

One of the first quotes he shared was that “Open Education is the simple and powerful idea that the world’s knowledge is a public good and that technology in general and the Worldwide Web in particular provide an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share, use, and reuse knowledge”  by William & Flora Hewlett Foundation.

After hearing this quote, I started thinking about all of the items we use, share and reuse.  We recycle plastics and papers, we purchase water bottles that we can reuse and, like Shannon Sanchuck posted, we even collaborate on ideas on how we can share books.

So why is it that some people are so protective over the knowledge they have?  Are they scared that someone will find fault in what they know?

What are you beliefs when it comes to knowledge being a public good?