The Open Knowledge Definition (Okd) sets out principles to define the ‘open’ in ‘open knowledge’. The term knowledge is used broadly and it includes all forms of data, content such as music, films or books as well any other type of information.

In the simplest form the definition can be summed up in the statement that A piece of knowledge is open if you are free to use, reuse, and redistribute it. For details read the latest version of the full definition (with explanatory annotations). The history page includes a changelog and links to all previous versions.

To find out more about the project, its background and motivations visit the about page.

The open knowledge definition is itself developed in an open manner and anyone can participate. In particular there is the development version of the definition to which you can add your comments.

The idea of openness and its specific expression here owe a huge debt to Free and Open Source software groups, as well as the Open Access movement. In particular much of the definition draws directly from the Open Source Definition.