The globalisation of knowledge: why trees become networks

Knowledge and the languages devised for its expression and circulation within communities evolve and drift with the times. The emergence of a new paradigm for technology, economy and society, based on information and knowledge, naturally brings along the need to rearrange and rethink our perception of how the diverse fields and disciplines are organised and classified, how they communicate and interact. A descriptive understanding of the realm of knowledge (as an “archipelago”) is discussed, enhancing its reticular character and its operation as a network that does not postulate any common origin or hierarchy. This metaphor is better adapted to map knowledge in a world of intensive communication and networking processes.