The Experience of the Library of Alexandria in the Context of Knowledge Economy

Abstract

This paper dwells on a new concept of knowledge emerged as a result of ac­tive collaboration between the scientific community and business corporations. The authors analyse a possible mode of interaction between business and sci­entific community within the framework of an upgraded information environ­ment – wikinomics – described by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. It is suggested that the global scientific and intellectual space can merge and develop in a new form: a virtual Library of Alexandria. The authors study the system of the Mouseion at Alexandria, which included a museum, a library and a research institute and facilitated the collaboration among leading scholars and their stu­dents as well as the progress of scientific knowledge. The phenomenon of an­cient mouseion is characterized here as a cosmos. Medieval encyclopaedism, which shaped a different, novel worldview, can be found in the works of Isidore of Seville, patron saint of the Internet and computers. The article demonstrates that the experience of Alexandria Library goes beyond the modern archiving of knowledge and concerns the processes of knowledge generation and develop­ment for further scientific and technological progress. The authors conclude that today a new single cosmos of knowledge is being formed. Self-organization skills enhance human ability to find, deliver, sort, evaluate, select, increase and develop knowledge. A scientist has to join gradually in this process and to be competitive in order to stay afloat in both the digital and the scientific world. A network consisting of universities and academic institutions can become a col­laboration platform. In a crisis situation, such a network is able to provide con­tinuous transmission of knowledge.