Should collaborative knowledge be free by default?
The "You've been selected to answer..." feature on LinkedIn raises some thought-provoking questions about the nature of knowledge-sharing on closed platforms.
Have you participated in LinkedIn's "You've been selected to answer..." series? Is it just me or does something about it feel a bit off to you too?
Don't get me wrong; I appreciate LinkedIn's effort to foster knowledge-sharing. And the idea and interface being pretty much derived from Quora almost guarantees participation. And, to be honest, I am vvery much appreciative of the ultimate result of the whole thing viz., a collaborative knowledge base and insights from some of the best experts in the business.
However, I can't help but feel a slight unease with the process.
Perhaps it's because I believe that all this knowledge being shared is incredibly valuable information. And, more importantly, it was freely contributed by individuals without expectation of a reward or ay such thing!
IMHO, it should be openly accessible to anyone interested and not just confined within the walls of a single platform...
After all, the internet was conceived to help make the free exchange of knowledge happen, wasn't it? Enclosing such a high-value collaborative effort behind paywalls and login barriers seems antithetical to the spirit of an open internet.
Or am I just being overly idealistic about it?
In any case, to ensure transparency, I've decided to simultaneously share these thoughts on this blog here. But, tell me, what are YOUR thoughts on this? I'm curious to hear different perspectives...
Note: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- begone AI bots!