Pulling it all together

Since I’ve spent the last 24 hours pulling myself together, maybe now it’s time to pull the literature together. I told my husband, half jokingly, that what I’ve learned from this course is that there is no truth, none of us actually knows what we know, and the information economy will destroy everyone but the 1%. More seriously, the literature is full of broad, interesting themes: Knowledge is mediated, situated, negotiated, and self-referential; what we know is no more or less than who we are. Knowledge is created and shared in relationships of trust; knowledge gains as much of its meaning from our relationships as it does from its contents. Organizations, be they little tiny ICT firms in Hinterland, South Dakota, Fortune 500 companies, cities, or countries, rely on the knowledge of their members and of the organization itself to seek advantage, to create, to innovate, to grow, and to succeed – but they do so at their risk. Knowledge – explicit and tacit – can make us our best or our worst in terrible circumstances. Technology is helpful, but is only as useful as the users, who are engaging, creating, sharing, and relating. Nothing is universal – not our work, not the problems we face or the solutions we create – but for the fact that we’re all in it, we’re all part of groups of people coming together to know and to do more with our knowing. And, perhaps, that’s a simple but profoundly good thing to know.

References:

Chalmeta, R., & Grangel, R. (2008). Methodology for hte implementation of knowledge management systems. Journal of hte American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(5), 742 – 755.

Alavi, M., & Leidner, D.E. (2001). Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: Conceptual foundations and research issues. MIS Quarterly, 25(1), 107 – 136.

Touskas, H. (2001). What is organizational knowledge. Journal of Management Studies, 38(7), 973 – 993.