Free information: Networked learning Utopia

Abstract

This chapter applies critical theory approach to the relationships between freedom of information and technology-enhanced learning using Ivan Illich’s concept of tools for conviviality. It explores nonhierarchical nature of the Internet using the example of peer-to-peer networks, analyses issues pertaining to intellectual property in the age of information, and shows that radically different models of sharing knowledge and information offered by networked learning can be defined as "radical democratic politics." In contrast to commodified e-learning discursively formulated through terms such as productiveness, inputs, and outputs, therefore, networked learning conceived through horizontal connections and critical theory becomes the authentic alternative culture. On that basis, the chapter shows that advocating alternative modes of distributing knowledge requires deconstruction of naturalized relations such as copyright and knowledge. Looking for a space for Utopian ideas, it shows that networked learning disturbs the common understanding of the relationships between information and profit and therefore represents a form of deterritorialization. Within the wide spectrum of theoretical frameworks from initial pragmatism to neo-Marxist formulations based on conflict in production and distribution of commons, finally, the chapter seeks a more critical definition of networked learning and elaborates specific definition of knowledge within its context.