Let us participate. Reuse and dissemination of educational, scientific and cultural knowledge through Wikipedia, Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap projects

Abstract

Wikipedia, the Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap projects are international collaborative databases and websites that allow all citizens to have access to knowledge and to participate in the construction of free, i.e., open and collaborative knowledge in over 300 languages. “Open” means that all content produced and disseminated through these platforms can be modified and reused by everyone, even for commercial use. “Collaborative” means that these projects invite everyone to contribute, build on existing sources, and disseminate and give high visibility to texts, images, multimedia content and data. Wikipedia, the Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap projects are currently the greatest examples of how open content and interoperability nurture civic engagement, make possible the virtuous reuse of research and cultural content, and enable communities around the world to contribute to citizen science; the open data of these projects are also a tool and object of study for researchers and cultural institutions.