How to become an effective knowledge manager

Mark Reed

1 What is knowledge?

Data• Raw numbers & facts

Information• Useful data (that has

been analysed/ interpreted)

Knowledge• Information that is

known by an individual/group

Wisdom• “Constructive” use of

knowledge (Matthews, 1997)

• “Use of knowledge ...to achieve a common good” (Sternberg, 2001)

Universal truth generated by reducing the world to its constituent parts to

test hypothesesKnowledge as a social construction leading to multiple realities

Different ways of viewing and constructing knowledge...

Different types of knowledge...

Raymond CM, Fazey I, Reed MS, Stringer LC, Robinson GM, Evely AC (2010) Integrating local and scientific knowledge for environmental management: From products to processes. Journal of Environmental Management 91: 1766-1777

Knowledge Type

Implicit(not yet articulated)

Local

Informal

Novice

Tacit(cannot be articulated)

Traditional

Generalised/Universal

Formal

Expert

Explicit(articulated)

Scientific

Extent to which knowledge is locally generated/relevant versus universal

Extent to which knowledge generated via formal, codified processes

Extent to which those generating knowledge are regarded as experts

Extent to which knowledge is articulated and accessible to others

Extent to which knowledge is embedded in and reflects traditional cultural values/norms, or in the scientific method

Different ways of managing knowledge...

Knowledge Transfer

Producers UsersProducers Users

One-way flow of existing knowledge

Knowledge Exchange

Producers Users

Two-way flow of existing knowledge

Knowledge generation

Producers

Producers generate or co-generate knowledge

together

Knowledge application

Users

Users apply knowledge gained through transfer

or exchange and provide feedback to or become producers of knowledge

Know-ledge

Storage

Reed MS, Fazey I, Stringer LC, Raymond CM, Akhtar-Schuster M, Begni G, Bigas H, Brehm S, Briggs J, Bryce R, Buckmaster S, Chanda R, Davies J, Diez E, Essahli W, Evely A, Geeson N, Hartmann I, Holden J, Hubacek K, Ioris I, Kruger B, Laureano P, Phillipson J, Prell C, Quinn CH, Reeves AD, Seely M, Thomas R, van der Werff Ten Bosch MJ, Vergunst P, Wagner L (2011) Knowledge management for land degradation monitoring and assessment: an analysis of contemporary thinking. Land Degradation & Development

2 Who manages knowledge?

Lecturers?– Enabling students to gain new knowledge and put it

in context

Researchers?– Generating new knowledge, debating/sharing with

their peers and communicating their findings

All of us

3 How do you manage knowledge?

3 How do you manage knowledge?

?

Accessing existing

knowledge

Making it your own

Storing knowledge

Generating new

knowledge

Sharing your insights

e.g. internet, apps, podcasts, books, journals, lectures/classes, discussion with peers

Internalising and adapting knowledge e.g. via tweets, blogs/articles, discussing, mind maps & Prezis, trying it out

e.g. written records of how you made it your own (e.g. tweets, blogs, prezi etc.), (social?) bookmarks, audio notes, databases of your reading

e.g. asking questions (and often discovering existing knowledge), and where there are no answers, designing research to answer them

A learning process

(a bit like Kolb?)

Our own knowledge

A class’s knowledge

A community’s knowledge?

The knowledge of communities of practice/interest at national

and international scales?The knowledge necessary to

implement and monitor international policy processes?

All of the above?

5 How? A role for social learning?

A change in understanding among

individuals

Via social interactions/proces

ses

Beyond the individual/group

scale to reach wider social units or

communities of practice within

society

SL

What is social learning (SL)?

Reed MS, Evely AC , Cundill G, Fazey I, Glass J, Laing A, Newig J, Parrish B, Prell C, Raymond C, Stringer LC (2010) What is social learning? Ecology & Society 15 (4): r1. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/resp1/

The promise of social learning...– Transformative ideas, attitudes and behaviours

that diffuse rapidly through peer-to-peer networks to affect social change across spatial scales

Hype...or reality?

With the growing use of social media platforms, it is possible for new knowledge to “go viral” in seconds...

> 1 hour before Obama’s news conference, Keith Urbahn (Chief of Staff to Donald Rumsfeld, just over 1000 followers) tweeted the news

Re-posted 80 times in first minute, over 300 times within two minutes

Then picked up by NYTimes reporter, Brian Stelter (>50K followers)

• By the time Obama addressed the nation at 23.30 EST, the news was being mentioned on Twitter 30,000 times per minute

• A number of others guessed the news earlier and were ignored – impact is about credibility of source as much as it about connectedness

http://blog.socialflow.com/post/5246404319/breaking-bin-laden-visualizing-the-power-of-a-single

But not everyone has access to knowledge in this way...

...often those who need the knowledge most

6 Social learning at international scales

We need:1. Diverse, socially-connected media2. To institutionalise social learning

1. Diverse, socially-connected media– Adapted to different learning preferences– Fully accessible, no matter how remote or

disadvantaged the audience– Keeping in mind that people learn best

from other people, and that all learning is socially mediated

2. Institutionalising social learning– The incorporation of local

knowledge and opinion in environmental decision-making is increasingly being institutionalised e.g. Aarhus Convention, WFD

– But often operates in consultation or communication modes, so we need to institutionalise:

• Respect for different sources of knowledge, from local to scientific, to facilitate two-way exchange and (where relevant) integration of knowledges

• Social forms of communication that facilitate engagement with and adaptation of new knowledge to local contexts e.g. Web 2.0, effective engagement with local groups/associations

7 Two short case studies

• The Sustainable Uplands project– Reed MS, Bonn A, Slee W, Beharry-Borg N, Birch J, Brown I, Burt TP, Chapman D, Chapman PJ, Clay G, Cornell SJ, Fraser EDG,

Holden J, Hodgson JA, Hubacek K, Irvine B, Jin N, Kirkby MJ, Kunin WE, Moore O, Moseley D, Prell C, Quinn C, Redpath S, Reid C, Stagl S, Stringer LC, Termansen M, Thorp S, Towers W, Worrall F (2009) The future of the uplands. Land Use Policy 26S: S204–S216

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

– Reed MS, Buenemann, M, Atlhopheng J, Akhtar-Schuster M, Bachmann F, Bastin G, Bigas H, Chanda R, Dougill AJ, Essahli W, Evely AC, Fleskens L, Geeson N, Glass JH, Hessel R, Holden J, Ioris A, Kruger B, Liniger HP, Mphinyane W, Nainggolan D, Perkins J, Raymond CM, Ritsema CJ, Schwilch G, Sebego R, Seely M, Stringer LC, Thomas R, Twomlow S, Verzandvoort S (2011) Cross-scale monitoring and assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management: a methodological framework for knowledge management. Land Degradation & Development 22: 261-271

Funded by

Funded by

Knowledge exchange with stakeholders:• Co-generation of knowledge with small but

representative groups of highly connected, influential stakeholders, selected via Social Network Analysis

• You Tube and DVDs – as requested by stakeholders concerned about the abstract nature of the GIS outputs we’d suggested

• Articles in professional journals/magazines• Newsletters• Project websites

• Policy briefs• Presentations to policy makers, policy advisors and

practitioner groups• DEFRA placement• Consultancy contracts

Public engagement:• Twitter (now over 1400 followers)

www.twitter.com/reluuplands • Interactive website www.ouruplands.co.uk• Schools resources (March 2012)

Arts:• Song and music video by award-winning photography

collective• Jazz composition by Huw Warren• Conceptual art by Dalziel & Scullion (hunting bag)• Traditional story told by a storyteller and made into a

children’s book

The first international environmental convention to explicitly consider local as well as scientific knowledge, and involve CSOs in the process of developing and implementing policy

Now interested in developing a knowledge management system to facilitate monitoring and assessment of land degradation from local (field) scales, to regional, national and international scales

For example in southern Africa:– Land degradation indicators developed to combine local

and scientific knowledge of early changes in rangeland function/condition in Botswana & Namibia

– Enable land managers to reliably monitor change themselves without external assistance

– FIRM groups in Namibia integrating monitoring results to regional level where farmers can provide each other with support & advice and access help from extension services

– Results gathered by FIRM groups inform national land degradation monitoring & assessment

– Potential for this model to be replicated elsewhere to provide an international picture of land degradation severity & extent, based on locally derived measurements that incorporate local knowledge?

– Being discussed at UNCCD 10th Conference of the Parties this week

– Already being used to evaluate all the UN’s Global Environment Facility funded Sustainable Land Management projects

8 Conclusion

• We are all knowledge managers, and can probably get better at managing knowledge

• By becoming more effective knowledge managers, we can affect change far beyond our immediate sphere of influence

Contact

Mark ReedSenior Lecturer, Centre for Planning & Environmental Management, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen

m.reed@abdn.ac.ukwww.twitter.com/lecmsrwww.see.leeds.ac.uk/sustainableuplands

Thanks to:Anna Evely, Ioan Fazey & Lindsay Stringer from Sustainable Uplands and DESIRE for helping develop these ideas