Book excerpt: It is a great pleasure to share with you the Springer CCIS proceedings of the First World Summit on the Knowledge Society - WSKS 2008 that was organized by the Open Research Society, NGO, http://www.open-knowledge-society.org, and hosted by the American College of Greece, http://www.acg.gr, during September 24–27, 2008, in Athens, Greece. The World Summit on the Knowledge Society Series is an international attempt to promote a dialogue on the main aspects of a knowledge society toward a better world for all based on knowledge and learning. The WSKS Series brings together academics, people from industry, policy makers, politicians, government officers and active citizens to look at the impact of infor- tion technology, and the knowledge-based era it is creating, on key facets of today’s world: the state, business, society and culture. Six general pillars provide the constitutional elements of the WSKS series: • Social and Humanistic Computing for the Knowledge Society––Emerging Te- nologies and Systems for the Society and Humanity • Knowledge, Learning, Education, Learning Technologies and E-learning for the Knowledge Society • Information Technologies––Knowledge Management Systems––E-business and Enterprise Information Systems for the Knowledge Society • Culture and Cultural Heritage––Technology for Culture Management––Management of Tourism and Entertainment––Tourism Networks in the Knowledge Society • Government and Democracy for the Knowledge Society • Research and Sustainable Development in the Knowledge Society The summit provides a distinct, unique forum for cross-disciplinary fertilization of research, favoring the dissemination of research that is relevant to international re-