The Free Knowledge Institute is proud to welcome two new members to its Board: Joe Corneli and Marco Fioretti. Both have been active community members within the free knowledge – free technology community. Both bring in new energy, large networks, ideas and initiatives that are expected to strengthen the Free Knowledge community.
Joe Corneli is finalising his PhD at the Open University UK on the topic of “Peer Produced Peer Learning”, which he calls “paragogy” for short. The main case study in his thesis deals with rebuilding the free/open mathematics reference website, PlanetMath.org as a mathematics learning environment. These ideas have informed his involvement with FKI and are built upon within the Peeragogy project. Joe is working on new designs for funding work at the Free Knowledge Institute. Early discussions are developing into plans for a Free Knowledge Incubator: stay tuned.
Marco Fioretti is an Italian long time activist, freelance writer and trainer of open standards, Free Software, digital technologies and the their relation and impact on education, ethics, civil rights and environmental issues. Marco has been one of the tutors within the Free Technology Academy and will continue to do so. His first commitment as Board member is to lead the reform of the FTA course programme. Marco: “We already have several educational methodologies, from peer learning to master level courses, and we already started to discuss other course ideas to propose in the near future. Besides participating to the definition of those new course types, my first task in the FKI will be to define the course calendar for the 2013 Fall/Winter period, and to communicate it to the widest possible community.”
Their track record shows a strong commitment to free knowledge and the values shared at the Free Knowledge Institute. The founding Board members of the foundation – Hinde ten Berge, David Jacovkis and Wouter Tebbens – remain active in the FKI Board. The expansion of the Board is an outcome of the Strategy process started in 2012.
About the FKI
The Free Knowledge Institute (FKI) promotes free knowledge in all its forms. Its mission is to empower people in the fields of free knowledge and free technology to help them become effective participants of a free knowledge society.
The FKI is a hub connecting networks and communities in multiple domains facilitating and enabling the study, sharing and collaborative development of free knowledge and free technologies.
The aim is to provide equal access to production and sharing of knowledge. We work towards this aim together with local and global actors.
One of the core activities of the FKI is the Free Technology Academy, an online study programme and virtual campus based in free knowledge, free technology and different educational models, ranging from p2p learning to master level courses.
About Marco Fioretti
Marco is a freelance writer, popularizer, activist and teacher specialised in open digital standards, Free Software, digital technologies and their impacts on education, ethics, civil rights, environmental issues and, in general, everyday life. His slogan is “your civil rights and the quality of your life depend on how software is used AROUND you”. Marco has been using Free Software daily for all his activities since the mid 90’s, when he was an ASIC and FPGA designer.
About Joe Corneli
Joseph Corneli is a Ph. D. student at the Knowledge Media Institute of The Open University, UK, where he does research on how people learn mathematics. He is also a member of the board of directors of the US-based nonprofit, PlanetMath.org.