Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability
COVID-19 has shone a bright light on a number of failings and weaknesses in how current economic models handle information and knowledge. Some of these are familiar issues that have long been understood but not acted upon effectively – for example, the danger that current systems of intellectual pro...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Global Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2059479820000216/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811155696912171008 |
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| author | Martin Hensher Katie Kish Joshua Farley Stephen Quilley Katharine Zywert |
| author_facet | Martin Hensher Katie Kish Joshua Farley Stephen Quilley Katharine Zywert |
| author_sort | Martin Hensher |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | COVID-19 has shone a bright light on a number of failings and weaknesses in how current economic models handle information and knowledge. Some of these are familiar issues that have long been understood but not acted upon effectively – for example, the danger that current systems of intellectual property and patent protection are actually inimical to delivering a cost-effective vaccine available to all, whereas treating knowledge as a commons and a public good is much more likely to deliver efficient outcomes for the entire global population. But COVID-19 has also demonstrated that traditional models of knowledge production and dissemination are failing us; scientific knowledge is becoming weaponized and hyper-partisan, and confidence in this knowledge is falling. We believe that the challenges that COVID-19 has exposed in the information economy and ecology will be of increasing applicability across the whole spectrum of sustainability; sustainability scholars and policymakers need to understand and grasp them now if we are to avoid contagion into other sectors due to the preventable errors that have marred the global response to COVID-19. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:38:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-af6afcce05be4f12b3e1e0e70b81d621 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2059-4798 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:38:52Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-af6afcce05be4f12b3e1e0e70b81d6212023-03-09T12:43:40ZengCambridge University PressGlobal Sustainability2059-47982020-01-01310.1017/sus.2020.21Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainabilityMartin Hensher0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6444-6827Katie Kish1Joshua Farley2Stephen Quilley3Katharine Zywert4Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaLeadership for the Ecozooic/Economics for the Anthropocene Projects, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaCommunity Development and Applied Economics Department, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USASchool of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, CanadaSchool of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, CanadaCOVID-19 has shone a bright light on a number of failings and weaknesses in how current economic models handle information and knowledge. Some of these are familiar issues that have long been understood but not acted upon effectively – for example, the danger that current systems of intellectual property and patent protection are actually inimical to delivering a cost-effective vaccine available to all, whereas treating knowledge as a commons and a public good is much more likely to deliver efficient outcomes for the entire global population. But COVID-19 has also demonstrated that traditional models of knowledge production and dissemination are failing us; scientific knowledge is becoming weaponized and hyper-partisan, and confidence in this knowledge is falling. We believe that the challenges that COVID-19 has exposed in the information economy and ecology will be of increasing applicability across the whole spectrum of sustainability; sustainability scholars and policymakers need to understand and grasp them now if we are to avoid contagion into other sectors due to the preventable errors that have marred the global response to COVID-19.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2059479820000216/type/journal_articleCOVID-19information ecologyinnovationintellectual propertyknowledge commonspatents |
| spellingShingle | Martin Hensher Katie Kish Joshua Farley Stephen Quilley Katharine Zywert Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability Global Sustainability COVID-19 information ecology innovation intellectual property knowledge commons patents |
| title | Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability |
| title_full | Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability |
| title_fullStr | Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability |
| title_short | Open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology: lessons from COVID-19 for the future of sustainability |
| title_sort | open knowledge commons versus privatized gain in a fractured information ecology lessons from covid 19 for the future of sustainability |
| topic | COVID-19 information ecology innovation intellectual property knowledge commons patents |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2059479820000216/type/journal_article |
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