Definition of Knowledge and Knowledge Experts

About BRINT | News About BRINT | Help & FAQs | Contact Us | Advertise Here | Welcome to the World's No. 1 Resource for Business Technology Management and Knowledge Management Services: Knowledge Portals · Knowledge Map · Knowledge Network · Book of Knowledge · NEWS· INFORMATION Channels: General Business Business Technology E-Business Knowledge Management Community: Join the Network! Global Network Events Calendar Executive Jobs @Brint.com SEARCH [ HELP] Source: Published press interviews, analyses and virtual community dialog of Dr. Yogesh Malhotra. Other columns accessible in Out-of-Box Thinking. Join Community of Practice Discussions in Knowledge Management Think Tank. Enjoy Related Reading at: WWW Virtual Library on Knowledge Management. Monday, February 11, 2008 Definition of Knowledge and Knowledge "Experts" In thinking about Knowledge, how does one distinguish between "subjective" and "objective" knowledge? How does one reconcile the divergent views into a more holistic view of knowledge on any specific topic? How does this relate to "empirical" knowledge? The real empiricism lies in experiencing the theory in real life, i.e., testing its validity in the 'rough and tumble' of the world out there. Most of us are developing and testing theories everyday in our personal and professional lives in the form of decisions and choices that we make. Many of us may not realize the meta-cognition to be aware of 'beneath the surface' processes that go into decision-making [more specifically, into 'routine' decision-making] aspects of everyday activities. The issue of the 'subjective' versus 'objective', however, needs more careful thought. Many things that many of us may not necessarily "know to be true," may still be real parts of the socially constructed reality within which we live. Consider for instance, notions such as "myths" and "fads." Considering the "sum" of all opposing elements, will it be accurate to depict the "total sum" as a "zero sum game"? Often we see contradictory findings reported by "rational scientists" -often findings which jive with the sensationalism of the media get reported while others may lie unattended in arcane research journals. [Someone has argued somewhere that the case of scientific research may itself be depicted as "Science as Marketing"]. How often have we seen lobbying efforts supported by "scientific findings" which may not explicitly consider contrarian "scientific findings" reported by other /rival /nonpartisan groups. Still the point that "the big picture depends upon WHO is doing the drawing" seems to have merit. Some issues that come to mind include those of legitimization of myths and legitimization of fads. However, empiricism may involve repeated verification of phenomena -including verification of the non-exact repetition or non-repetition of the same phenomena. In other words, the temporal and contextual aspects of the "reality" of a theory are relevant for a formal scientist and a "lay" scientist [For details, one may delve into the notion of "humans as scientists" suggested by George Kelly, the proponent of Personal Constructivism. One may also find parallels in observations of other authorssuch as Jerome Bruner -see for instance, his book "Beyond the Information Given."] However sharing the "personal constructions" of "what is out there" may help us develop better awareness and understanding of the diversity of the views that are out there and their possible merit in various contexts and circumstances. A similar process has been explained by Arie de Geus in his accounts of strategic planning process at Royal Dutch Shell. Some details about such knowledge-creating processes have been discussed in the following article: • http://www.kmnetwork.com/km.htm • Knowledge Management in Inquiring Organizations Join us in making sense of the hype surrounding business, technology and knowledge management issues of interest to you in the Online Community Network. Download Our Articles and Interviews [ Guru Interviews] [ Real Time Business Processes] [ IT Adoption and Utilization] [ Managing and Measuring Knowledge Assets] [ The Real Competitive Advantage] [ Why IT and KM Systems Fail] [ Myths About Expertise Management] [ How 'Best Practices' Become 'Worst Practices'] [ Beyond Information Ecology to Knowledge Ecosystems] [ Knowledge Exchanges and Social Networks] [ Why Expert Systems Aren't Enough] [ KM for E-Business Performance] [ Does KM=IT? Not!] [ Other Articles and Interviews] Top of Page BRINT: 'Your Survival Network for The Brave New World Of Business'tm About BRINT | News About BRINT | Help & FAQs | Contact Us | Advertising Make BRINT your Start Page | | Link to BRINT | Submit Articles Terms of Use | Privacy Notice | © Copyright 1994-2007, BRINT Institute, New York, USA