Fleshing out the knowledge society

A number of themes run through UNESCO's vision of knowledge and the knowledge society, as expressed in Towards Knowledge Societies.

• the knowledge society characterised as embodying fundamental human rights as enshrined in the principles of the UN Declaration on Human Rights, such as the right to education, to freedom of expression. In this sense knowledge, ie knowledge of human rights is fundamentally empowering.
• the externalisation of knowledge
• a continuing process of knowledge creation and innovation
• the importance of plurality and diversity - the acknowledgement of knowledge in different forms
• knowledge as liberating man from nature (eg natural disasters)

Some important definitions of the terms that UNESCO is using to follow.....