Knowledge Federation as an entity

We use the term Knowledge Federation (including its active sense Knowing Federation) to describe an entity, perhaps a non-profit entity, which is composed of member entities which agree to share information resources into a well-organized commons. A digital public library is such a commons.

Knowledge Federation as a process

A federation process is one in which information resources are transmitted to a commons where those resources are organized, indexed, and subject to other processes, some of which are yet to be invented.

Information resources can include (but are not limited to):

• Nodes in conversations such as questions,  answers, and pro and con arguments
• Links to information resources such as research reports
• Snippets harvested from linked documents
• ...