Vision/Draft

= Our Vision Draft =

Primary drafting location: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dctxb39c_19q7mv88c4

Our Vision
The Open Knowledge Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2004.

'Open' knowledge is that which anyone is free to use, re-use and redistribute without restriction and the Foundation promotes the creation, dissemination and use of open knowledge in all its forms, from genes to geodata, sonnets to statistics.

We seek a world in which open knowledge is ubiquitous and routine. We do not see "openness" as an end itself but seek to promote it because of its potential to deliver far-reaching societal benefits such as:


 * A better democracy: openness improves governance through increased transparency and engagement
 * A better culture: openness means greater access, sharing and participation.
 * A better economy: openness permits easier and more rapid reuse of material and open data and content are the key raw ingredients for the development of many innovative tools and services

We're proponents of the "many minds principle": the best thing to do with your material will be thought of by someone else. As such we think it makes sense to share openly and freely.

Openness offers not only general societal benefits but also direct commercial ones. Free and open source software has been an engine for growth in the software community, with many firms and individuals profiting directly and indirectly from its production and distribution. Open content and data offer exactly the same benefits -- though presenting, if anything, even greater opportunities.

Our Goals

 * Make open knowledge ubiquitous and routine
 * Create open knowledge of use to ourselves and others
 * Help others create open knowledge of use to themselves and others
 * Build a sustainable and vibrant community
 * Develop tools and services in relation to the above
 * Increase "user freedom" for content and data similar to the FSF's goal to increase "user freedom" for code.

How we operate
The Open Knowledge Foundation is a community. This community is open to everyone and organized around 4 core principles of:


 * Commitment to open knowledge
 * Open discussion
 * Meritocracy
 * Tolerance

We actively collaborate and partner with other existing open knowledge communities and networks.

What we do
We work specifically to:


 * Promote the idea of open knowledge, both what it is, and why is it a good idea.
 * Run 'Open Knowledge' events, for example forums, workshops and OKCon.
 * Develop tools that help us and help others develop open knowledge, such as KForge and the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network.
 * Provide infrastructure, and potentially a home, for open knowledge projects, communities and resources, for example, via the KnowledgeForge service.

Running through all of our activities is a strong emphasis on decentralized collaboration. In particular, a primary aim is to help others develop open material as well as creating it ourselves. We believe that the future lies in collaboration between a multitude of different groups and that no one group or organisation can, or should try to, "do it all".