What is the Knowledge Web?

Without an exhaustive personal knowledge of history, technology, literature, and a myriad of scientific disciplines, the connections between apparently random historical elements have often remained hidden or obscured within the silos we've created around subjectmatters—until now.

The Knowledge Web helps make those connections.

An interactive educational tool, the Knowledge Web not only informs about the scientists, artists, innovators, and explorers of history, but also reveals the connections between them. Navigating through a dynamic database of knowledge, Knowledge Web users not only learn about history's movers and shakers in their own context but also how they impact modern life. Users can begin with any subject: Start with ice cream and track the connections to Einstein, or enter through the gateway of global warming and explore the way to chewing gum or Humboldt.

Content for the initial Knowledge Web database is being compiled from the research James Burke has collected over his career. With continuing contributions from subjectmatter experts, the Knowledge Web library can grow to include a theoretically unlimited amount of information.

Who will use it?

Perfect for educators, students, and lifelong learners, the Knowledge Web provides an interactive, three-dimensional framework to map people, places, events, and innovations, allowing users to investigate history's serendipitous chain reactions.

The Knowledge Web is meant for all curious people, from precocious 10-year-olds through adults. Educators—particularly middle school and high school social science teachers—are already beginning to incorporate the Knowledge Web into their curricula. Interested individuals will be able to explore the Knowledge Web on their own through the World Wide Web.

Teachers can assist in testing the Knowledge Web and in creating lesson plans and other supporting materials articulated to state standards. Educators interested in consulting on or testing the project are invited to contact educators@k-web.org.

What will it accomplish?

The Knowledge Web is an interactive tool for understanding and inspiring the creation of ideas. It aims to:

• Offer an accessible approach to the world of knowledge.
• Put the people, places, and events of history into a relevant context. The Knowledge Web shows users that we are the product of history, and that to understand our future, we have to understand our past. In some way, everybody and everything is interconnected.
• Inspire users. Enfranchise talent that may not be recognized or cultivated by common methods of teaching and learning.