Open Science Network in Ethnobiology

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." (H.G. Wells)

"What a great treasure can be hidden in a small, selected library! A company of the wisest and the most deserving people from all the civilized countries of the world, for thousands of years, can make the results of their studies and their wisdom available to us. The thought which they might not even reveal to their best friends is written here in clear words for us, people from another century. Yes, we should be grateful for the best books, for the best spiritual achievements in our lives." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

"Read the best books first, otherwise you'll find you do not have time." (Henry David Thoreau)

The what and why of Wings for Wisdom

The main goal of this group's activity is to set free the most important intellectual works of our time from the confinement of copyright. These are the kind of works that could vastly improve our understanding of ourselves and the world and guide our action to make it a better one. They can be books, movies, songs, or other forms of creative and enlightened endeavour. Why do we need to do so?

As H.G. Wells put it so succintly, time is running short, catastrophe is right before our very eyes more than it is before his. Our world needs a massive wake up call, soon, if not already too late. This can only be done if the voice of the wisest people on earth are heard and enacted upon by as many people as possible.

Unfortunately, the distribution of wisdom in our world is confined in the straitjacket of copyright. One must first get hold of the medium of wisdom, be it books or DVDs, preferably by purchasing them so the authors and publisher can have financial rewards for the work they've done. The problem is, not enough amount of the medium is produced for enlightening the largest number of people, and if there are enough of it, not everyone can afford to buy one.

The work-around for this problem, piracy, is not a respectable solution, and maybe, not even a solution at all, since it could destroy the wisdom generation and dissemination system of authors-publishers-distributors in the long run.

Libraries and rental shops are ofcourse helpful in solving this problem, but not nearly enough. For example, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which kickstarted the environmental movement of our time may not be available at every library. This is not mentioning the fact that in many parts of developing countries and most part of poor countries, libraries don't even exist.

Recent attempts by search engine giants: Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and by the Open Content Alliance in digitizing the collection of the world's biggest libraries and make it accessible for free via the internet also helps in this effort. However, it is not enough in the sense that, only works which copyright has expired is freely readable, while those which copyright has not expired can only be partially read. Project Gutenberg does the similar thing but minus recent copyrighted works. The Open Access initiative attempts to do the similar thing for academic journals, but not for the kind of work that layman readers would understand. Wikipedia's articles also help a great deal, but when compared to great books, still feels somewhat fragmented for someone who wish to learn thoroughly and holistically.

Thus, though we can understand and respect the good intention of the copyright system to create a win-win situation for the stakeholders of humanity's education enterprise, it is not enough, in terms of speed and distribution range. In mathemathical jargon, it is (still) necessary but insufficient in solving the educational equation.

So, what's the better solution?

Here, we propose that the content of these most important works, be released digitally under a free-to-use license such as the Creative Commons licenses. This does not imply that publishers must stop publishing and distributing the traditional way. It also does not imply that we must do so for all intellectual works. No, but only for, let's say, around 100 to 300 of them that would serve as a foundation for the kind of education our world desperately needs.

Thankfully, wise people of our of our time sets the precedents for others to follow. One of them is our very own WiserEarth founder, Paul Hawken, with his Natural Capitalism (2000). Next is Lester Brown with his Eco-Economy(2001), Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2003), Plan B 2.0 (2006). And the third is the people of the International Religious Foundation with their World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts (1991).

Along with the sales of the medium (in this case, book), they also release a digital version of the content (in PDF or HTML) free for everyone to download and read. Though they may not be rated amongst the most important works of our time, they're highly important and addresses some of the most urgent issues of our time: the restructuring of our economic system, the environmental crisis, and religious fundamentalism.

For the wisdom that rhymes, Sarah McLachlan's World on Fire sets a commendable example, both through the quality of her work, and through it's public release for everyone to see and listen, and then act upon (donate money or do something good). BigPicture TV also sets a good example of releasing talks and interviews video of some of the wisest people living today, for free on their website.

It is important to note that these works are recent and actual, not the kind which copyright has expired (prior to 1930). In doing so, they augment the strict commercial copyright system with a wiser way of disseminating knowledge and wisdom. This is so because the former approach somewhat 'confine' the content in the medium and make them available only so far as the physical distribution network goes and only for those with enough money to buy, while the latter liberate the content via a democratic medium which increasingly become widespread and affordable for the world's majority: the digital medium of cyberspace. It is also important to note that the tools to participate in the digital world and economy, like the One Laptop Per Child project and Asus Eee PC is increasingly becoming eaffordable. Internet connectivity cost is also decreasing worldwide.

In short, those people put wings on the wisdom they synthesized, and let it fly around the world not only through traditional distribution routes, but also through the cyberspace to enlighten minds, hearts and actions, as widely and as quickly as possible. Their action sets example for others to follow, and this group is dedicated to accelerating and multiplying this act of liberating wisdom.

What will we do?

First, we shall find a way to determine the most important works, say 100~300 of them, that represents the whole range of issues and solutions that are must-learn for people who wish to change the world and their lives for the better and to make it more just and more sustainable. This would employ the wisdom of crowds, and WiserEarth provides the gathering place for just the right kind of crowd.

Second, we shall find a way to set free the content of these works for everyone to use for free. The Creative Commons with their range of licenses would be more than enough to solve the legal part of the equation. We must however find smarter ways in solving the financial part of the equation--of how to support the work done by authors and publishers, because they are the backbone of high-quality creative and enlightening endeavours. A kind of global fund similar to those that exist to produce and disseminate malaria and AIDS medicine comes in mind. But other alternatives are thinkable.

The primary target of this effort would be excellent works that is old enough and maybe out-of-print but still within the copyright effective term (say, from the 1960s to the 1980s). These are the kind of works that are still highly relevant to the dynamics of our time such as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) and E.F. Shumacher's Small is Beautiful (1973). The next goal would be to liberate newer and more relevant works, such as Thomas Homer-Dixon's The Upside of Down (2006), Worldchanging.com's book Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (2006), or Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest (2007).

Though books will be our primary target in the near future, further ahead or simultaneously, multimedia works in the form of photographs (like the image of Earth first seen from outer space or the collapse of the Berlin wall), educational movies (most probably documentaries, but not limited to it, such as This is What Democracy Looks Like and the End of Suburbia), spirit-uplifting songs, along with their video clips, and educational podcasts (including audiobooks such as those at Librivox, Project Gutenberg Audio and Open Culture, but broadened to include recent copyrighted works) will be our target.

Third, we shall organize these works into a learning resource pool accessible by anyone, so that every person who wish to educate themselves have instant access to the knowledge and wisdom they wish to emulate in their lives. WiserEarth is perfect for this role, as a repository of wisdom and a virtual learning space and community. A condensed version of the issues and resources categorized in WiserEarth's Area of Focus accompanied by the resources Wings for Wisdom envisioned to set free, would be a perfect match for an introduction course in creating a just and sustainable world.

The distribution method can mimic or learn from the highly successful example of the open-source software world's Ubuntu Linux which ships the installation CD for free to any country in the world with their ShipIt initiative, as internet connectivity--needed to download the large installation files--is still very expensive and not affordable for the world's majority. Or when connectivity price becomes affordable enough and the speed becomes fast enough for the world's majority, we can simply use services like YouTube and WiserEarth upcoming "upload files"/"file-hosting" feature.

Your part

Wings for Wisdom thus aims to put wings in the wisdom synthesized from our tumultuous history by the noblest human beings so they are free to enlighten all of humanity in the hope of winning the race between education and catastrophe.

If you resonate with this idea, help us succeed in this effort by refining and clarifying this idea, and make it come true one step at a time by doing the following actions:

Join Wings for Wisdom @
http://www.wiserearth.org/group/wings_for_wisdom/

Improve, refine or make detailed suggestion to the idea of Wings for Wisdom @
Brainstormings #1 : What do you think of Wings for Wisdom?
(The latest discussion results would be reflected in this article)

Start making a list of book recommendations @
Name 10 Books that Wings for Wisdom Should Set Free
(Read the first post for a guide in making the list)

Or simply tell this idea to your book-lover friends.