John Willinsky – författare

Providing a sweeping millennium-plus history of the learned book in the West, John Willinsky puts current debates over intellectual property into context, asking what it is about learning that helped to create the concept even as it gave the products of knowledge a different legal and economic standing than other sorts of property. Willinsky begins with Saint Jerome in the fifth century, then traces the evolution of reading, writing, and editing practices in monasteries, schools, universities, and among independent scholars through the medieval period and into the Renaissance. He delves into the influx of Islamic learning and the rediscovery of classical texts, the dissolution of the monasteries, and the founding of the Bodleian Library before finally arriving at John Locke, whose influential lobbying helped bring about the first copyright law, the Statute of Anne of 1710.Willinsky's bravura tour through this history shows that learning gave rise to our idea of intellectual property while remaining distinct from, if not wholly uncompromised by, the commercial economy that this concept inspired, making it clear that today's push for marketable intellectual property threatens the very nature of the quest for learning on which it rests.

In If Only We Knew John Willinsky uses current social issues and historical precedents to demonstrate that the social sciences can and should contribute far more to public knowledge than they have in the past. We have the technologies, Willinsky demonstrates, and need only the determination to create a public resource out of social research that can extend democratic participation and self-determination, as well as improve research's focus and public support. If Only We Knew offers examples of why and how this is not only possible but necessary, in the face of knowledge-based economies and a withering public sector. This book inspires the public to demand far more of research; it also shows researchers how to deliver far more of knowledge's value to the public.

Originally published in 1990. This book examines the innovative programs that changed the way reading and writing was taught during the previous ten years. Both teacher and critic of the New Literacy programs, the author gives a perspective that allows educators, parents, and other readers to assess the promise of these programs. Examining the work of educators from the USA, UK and Canada, he compares programs from first grade to college that foster a new level of literate engagement and voice in students while creating a less authoritative place in which to learn. The book opens up wider debate about literacy in a society concerned with shifting authority from text and teacher to student.

Originally published in 1990. This book examines the innovative programs that changed the way reading and writing was taught during the previous ten years. Both teacher and critic of the New Literacy programs, the author gives a perspective that allows educators, parents, and other readers to assess the promise of these programs. Examining the work of educators from the USA, UK and Canada, he compares programs from first grade to college that foster a new level of literate engagement and voice in students while creating a less authoritative place in which to learn. The book opens up wider debate about literacy in a society concerned with shifting authority from text and teacher to student.