Paulo Freire's original ideas on what are the conditions that must be met to empower communities through education are outlined in this book. Freire's ideology, once considered revolutionary at the time of publication when Latin America was struggling with its military dictatorships, has now made its impact on constructivist theories of learning. His philosophy suggests that liberation (or empowerment) through education can only happen from the bottom up, that its, knowledge must be socially constructed for it to be meaningful. While originally intended as a series of guidelines for the development of literacy projects, many of Freire's ideas resonate with the social construction of knowledge that are facilitated by online media and addressed in Clay Shirky's Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age.