About Traditional Knowledge Online

Introduction by Zakir Thomas

Traditional Knowledge (TK) is a broad term referring to knowledge systems, encompassing a wide variety of areas, held by traditional groups or communities or to knowledge acquired in a non-systemic way. These knowledge systems have significance and relevance not only to its holders but to the rest of the humanity.

There are a number of areas where Intellectual Property (IP) issues interact with TK. Many International Organizations, National Governments and Non Governmental Organizations are involved in the international policy debate on these issues.

A large number of resources on issues relating to TK are available on the internet. This portal tries to bring to together all the information available on the web to help better understanding and study of this important subject.

In the true spirit of sharing which epitomizes the philosophy of traditional knowledge this portal is set up by the voluntary effort of students and staff of Franklin Pierce Law Center.

We follow an open source approach to information gathering on the subject and all are welcome to submit any suggestion for inclusion on this site of information on TK available on the Internet. We do not promise to act upon all, but will consider all the suggestions.

What this portal is meant to be…

This portal is designed as a database of the information on TK available on the Internet. Our research revealed that though a lot of material is available on the Internet relating to various aspects of TK, these are not available at one place in a systematically classified fashion.

A large number of organizations including intergovernmental organizations, national governments, civil society organizations, educational and research institutions are working on this subject contributing to the study of TK. The database classifies the information into categories which identifies different facets of the subject matter.

The information so classified is dynamically linked based on the interrelatedness of the subject mater to facilitate easy access and navigation of the database. It is hoped that this would help serious study of the subject and facilitate its development as an academic discipline.

A short narration is provided about each links that are given under a category. The purpose of this narration is only to give the reader an idea about the contents of the site. Such narrations are provided by persons who suggested the inclusion of the link in the database. This portal does not claim such narrations as an accurate description of the content of the site though care is taken to minimize mistakes.

This portal provides only a classification and brief description of the content but the information relating to any topic is provided by the content providers. The scope of this portal is limited to facilitating access to content generated by others and we do not provide original content. The narrations provided do not reflect the views of FPLC.

Search the database now!