Future Knowledge

For years, the open access movement has promised a more equitable world for scholarship. But as more of our publishing infrastructure is shaped—or captured—by commercial incentives, a harder question keeps surfacing: if knowledge is openly available but controlled by the same market forces as before, has anything truly changed? In Publishing Beyond the Market , Samuel Moore challenges us to rethin...

While major recording artists are sued for alleged plagiarism and most creators earn pennies for their work, media industry profits continue to soar. Libraries face mounting barriers to providing access to ebooks—often while being sued by the very publishers whose books they buy. In this episode of Future Knowledge, tech and culture writer Glyn Moody discusses his book Walled Culture: How Big Cont...

What do jazz, gene sequences, and the World Wide Web have in common? They all reveal what’s at stake when our cultural commons shrinks. In this episode, James Boyle , author of The Public Domain , joins Molly Shaffer Van Houweling to explore why the public domain is essential for creativity, innovation, and a healthy information ecosystem. From surprising case studies to the “range wars” of the di...

For this special holiday episode, we’re celebrating the Internet Archive’s milestone of 1 trillion web pages archived with something a little different: live music created just for the occasion. Join us for conversations with composer Erika Oba , composer Sam Reider , and cellist Kathryn Bates of the Del Sol Quartet , recorded around The Vast Blue We , the concert held at the Internet Archive to h...

What made the early web so thrilling, and how do we reclaim that spirit today? In this special episode, recorded at Georgetown University’s historic Riggs Library, leaders who helped build the internet and those fighting for its future come together to chart a path forward. Featuring Brewster Kahle (Internet Archive), Vint Cerf (Google), Cindy Cohn (EFF), and Jon Stokes (Ars Technica), and moderat...

The internet wasn’t ruined by accident—it was ruined on purpose. In this episode, Cory Doctorow joins us to break down enshittification, his term for the slow, deliberate process that transformed an open, vibrant web into something extractive, frustrating, and increasingly hostile to users. Doctorow explains how platform lock-in, predatory business models, and concentrated corporate power hollowed...

In this conversation, Michael Menna and Anjali Vats unpack how copyright law really works for musicians outside the mainstream. While stars like Taylor Swift make headlines for reclaiming their masters, countless “fringe musicians” navigate a system that often privileges profit over creativity. Together, Menna and Vats examine the gap between copyright’s ideals and its realities—exploring how powe...

Sir Tim Berners-Lee , inventor of the World Wide Web, and Brewster Kahle , founder of the Internet Archive, chat with Lauren Goode of Wired about the rise of the web, its continuing and explosive impact on society, and the importance of preserving the web for our cultural history. This conversation was hosted at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on 10/9/2025. Check out all of th...

In 1996, the web was still young—a chaotic, creative frontier built one page at a time. That same year, the Internet Archive set out to preserve it all. Nearly three decades later, that audacious goal has reached a generational milestone: 1 trillion web pages preserved. Co-hosts Chris Freeland (Internet Archive) and Dave Hansen (Authors Alliance) talk with Mark Graham , director of the Wayback Mac...

Author Trevor Owens joins media scholar Shannon Mattern to discuss his book, After Disruption: A Future for Cultural Memory . Together, they explore how libraries, archives, and museums can reclaim their role in shaping a just and sustainable digital present. Owens argues that cultural memory institutions—long “disrupted” by tech-sector ideologies—must chart their own course forward by centering v...

How does copyright shape the music we love—and influence how it's made, distributed, and reimagined? In this episode, Jennifer Jenkins , author of Music Copyright, Creativity, and Culture , is joined by legal scholar James Boyle for a conversation about how copyright law influences everything in our modern world from sampling and streaming to remix culture, and what that means for creators. Grab y...

Authors James A. Jacobs and James R. Jacobs join librarian Shari Laster to discuss their book, Preserving Government Information: Past, Present, and Future . From print to digital, they explore how gaps in preservation threaten accountability, research, and democracy itself—and what must be done to safeguard the public record in an age when vital materials can disappear with the click of a button....

Authors Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen join historian Abby Smith Rumsey to discuss their acclaimed book The Library: A Fragile History —a sweeping exploration of how libraries have been built, destroyed, cherished, and reinvented over the centuries. From ancient archives to modern public libraries, they trace the people, politics, and passions behind the world’s great collections, and ref...

Erin Malone , author of In Through the Side Door , joins designer and writer Abby Covert for a conversation about the women who helped pioneer user experience and interaction design. From the early days of desktop computing to today’s digital interfaces, Malone traces how women brought insights from design, psychology, and engineering to shape the way we interact with technology—often working behi...

What rights do libraries, archives, and memory institutions need to preserve our digital heritage? In this episode, we explore the "Our Future Memory" campaign and the Statement on Four Digital Rights, a global call to action to secure the legal rights libraries and other memory institutions need in the digital age. Featuring voices from around the world, this conversation highlights the urgent ne...

Recorded live at the Internet Archive Canada in Vancouver, this discussion features historian Ian Milligan , author of Averting the Digital Dark Age , in conversation with Brewster Kahle , founder of the Internet Archive. Guided by journalist Takara Small , the discussion explores Canada’s role in preserving our digital heritage—and why safeguarding born-digital history is more urgent than ever. G...

Author and activist Cory Doctorow joins us to discuss The Internet Con , his call to reclaim internet control from Big Tech. From locked-down platforms to the illusion of choice online, Cory lays out how interoperability can break corporate monopolies—and why reshaping the digital landscape starts with empowering users to leave, remix, and reimagine the internet on their own terms. Grab your copy...

Author John Brackett ( Live Dead ) is joined by musician and Grateful Dead scholar David Gans to discuss how live recordings—both official and fan-made—shaped the sound, story, and enduring legacy of the Grateful Dead. This episode explores what these tapes reveal about audience, authenticity, and the cultural power of the “live” experience. Grab your copy of Live Dead : https://dukeupress.edu/liv...

Historian Peter Baldwin joins copyright scholar Pamela Samuelson to unpack The Copyright Wars —a sweeping look at 300 years of trans-Atlantic copyright battles. From 18th-century publishing monopolies to today’s clashes between Big Tech, libraries, and the entertainment industry, this conversation reveals how history can illuminate the future of intellectual property in a digital world. Grab your...

Authors Joshua Levine and Tim Hwang sit down with Lila Bailey to discuss Copyright, AI, and Great Power Competition . Together they explore how artificial intelligence is transforming copyright law—and how global powers are using IP policy as a strategic tool in the race for technological dominance. Grab your copy of Copyright, AI, and Great Power Competition : https://www.thefai.org/posts/copyrig...

Launching in June 2025, Future Knowledge explores the intersection of technology, culture, and information policy with leading authors, scholars, and experts. From copyright and open access to AI and digital preservation, we discuss the big issues shaping knowledge and creativity in the digital age. This podcast is brought to you by the Internet Archive and Authors Alliance.