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Knowledge Mobilization (KMb): Multiple Contributions & Multi-Production Of New Knowledge

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Storytelling, Social Media, Equity, Knowledge Mobilization & Donuts!

1 Comment Posted by KMbeing on March 24, 2013

Sharing knowledge by telling a story can make a presentation, blog or conversation more interesting. Why?

When I was five years old, I was hit by a car. I fractured my collar-bone and was unconscious for nearly 48 hours. Doctors feared that I would suffer brain damage due to the impact of hitting my head against the pavement after being thrown forward by the force of the car. Fortunately, I was wearing one of those Sherlock Holmes-style winter hats for kids that my mother thought looked so cute on me. Thankfully, the hat cushioned the blow. I recovered, but my skull – though healed – still has a fracture line that I can run my fingers along.

I blame free donuts as the reason why I was hit by a car.

I crossed the busy street because it was the grand opening of a donuts shop – and I wanted free donuts. Being five years old, I wasn’t really paying attention to traffic and more to the opportunity for free donuts…and…bam…thrown in the air to land on the pavement into unconsciousness.

What’s interesting about this story is that you are more likely to be able to visualize this incident and remember the details of the story with its connection to free donuts because of an emotional connection you’ve made to the knowledge I’ve shared. You would probably be less likely to do so if I simply presented this story with a list of strict facts:

I was five years old
I was hit by a car
There were free donuts

Since the very first days of tribal story telling, exchanging knowledge through stories has been one of our most fundamental communication methods. We all enjoy a good story. Ask any teacher and they will tell you that using stories to share knowledge is a much more effective way of retaining what’s being told. There’s also a neurological reason for it as well. When we are given information, the language processing parts in our brain are activated. When we hear a story many more parts of the brain respond. When a person shares knowledge through a story we connect intellectually and emotionally.

Sharing knowledge through storytelling is still very much a part of Aboriginal culture. I was reminded of this at a three-day Knowledge Exchange (KE) Training event this past week attended by Regional KE leaders and team members from across the province of Ontario. Day one of the KE training focused on marginalized populations and how to engage with these various groups, such as those that are homeless, of low-income, racialized minorities, Aboriginal (First Nations, Métis, Inuit), or from LGBT communities who are marginalized based on sexual orientation or gender diversity. A session focusing on the use of the Health Equity Impact Assessment Tool (HEIA) presented how this tool can be used to identify and address potential unintended health impacts (positive or negative) when developing a policy, program or initiative with specific population groups.

I can certainly see the potential of incorporating HEIA into a knowledge mobilization (KMb) strategy as it helps us better understand context and equity. Yet, a broader and still underused knowledge mobilization tool to include the knowledge of marginalized populations is social media.

At the KE Training Event, I spoke with several knowledge brokers about how I use social media – particularly Twitter – as an effective knowledge mobilization tool. I was surprised to hear that many knowledge exchange leaders at the event are still not using social media as part of their own knowledge exchange work. Certainly, EENet, the Evidence Exchange Network is one step forward in using social media as a knowledge exchange tool. Yet, as I wrote in an earlier blog, the greater potential of using Twitter as a knowledge mobilization tool is still not clearly understood.

One of the more enjoyable presentations of the KE Training event was from closing keynote speaker David Phipps – a person who knows how to tell a great story to share knowledge. One of David’s MobilizeThis! blogs is a great example of the power of story telling using social media for knowledge mobilization. In David’s engaging presentation, he illustrated how understanding context is essential for effective knowledge mobilization.

Fundamentally, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Mobilization, Translation, Implementation, K* (K-Star) – whatever you want to call it – is about connecting the knowledge of PEOPLE. Each group has their own stories to tell in their own context – and each group can share knowledge through these stories. Knowledge doesn’t always have to be packaged in a formal, academic presentation or format. Sometimes simply being open-minded enough to listen to another person’s story – particularly those who are marginalized in our society – can be a powerful way of sharing and mobilizing knowledge.

But how do we engage marginalized populations using social media to better understand their context when some may not even have access to a computer? Or – more importantly – how can knowledge brokers collaborate with these often unheard voices and use social media for more effective knowledge mobilization?

One way that comes to mind is through digital storytelling.

I think of another great storyteller, Peter Levesque from Knowledge Mobilization Works, who also uses story telling as a KMb tool. Peter points to digital storytelling as “one of the MOST important forms of knowledge mobilization available to community-based organizations and citizens”. Peter uses a specific example of Aboriginal storytelling combined with digital technology as an effective method for understanding context, and conveying these stories through social media.

Additional examples of using social media for great and effective digital storytelling can be found at MindYourMind and HomelessHub who use both YouTube and Twitter as knowledge mobilization tools.

As someone who strongly believes in the power of social media for knowledge mobilization, I see the combination of storytelling by marginalized communities using social media to convey context as an essential knowledge mobilization tool. If you’re a knowledge broker – how well are you incorporating this equity tool into your knowledge mobilization strategy?

Now, for some reason…I feel like having a donut!

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No Knowledge Being Shared By Two People Are The Same

Leave a Comment Posted by KMbeing on March 23, 2013

No two people are the same and no knowledge being shared by two people are the same. It’s impossible to say that all knowledge can ever be the same. Individual experiences and contexts create different knowledge. Each person has different realities and perceptions. It may be possible to draw general similarities in knowledge and it’s always much easier to find differences in knowledge; but how an individual chooses to share their knowledge to find common ground for social benefit is what makes a difference. Learning to co-create new knowledge from diverse knowledge sources for everyone’s benefit is what makes the world a better place.

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Knowledge Is Not Solid

1 Comment Posted by KMbeing on March 11, 2013

Knowledge is not solid. When exposed to the knowledge of other people, knowledge morphs – by the very act of sharing knowledge – into an ongoing, flowing and ever-changing form.

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Your Unique Knowledge Fingerprint

Leave a Comment Posted by KMbeing on February 16, 2013

A person’s knowledge may be called ignorant, useless, mocked and devalued, but our knowledge – stemming from all of our personal life experiences – is always knowledge, and is always our own knowledge.

Others can say all the negative things they want about you and your knowledge, but the only way that it will affect you is if you allow their words to affect you. Again, your knowledge is your own knowledge, all the good, bad and ugly of the experiences that make up all of your knowledge in your lifetime. Just as your fingerprint is unique to you – so too is your knowledge to share with others.

Your knowledge – any of it at anytime in your life experience – can always teach others something, whether you think it’s “limited” or not.

But knowledge on its own, without turning it into action is limited. It’s like having hands and fingers (and fingerprints) without ever using them.

It’s how we share our knowledge; combine our knowledge to make the world a better place that creates the most value.

Some people are so insecure that they try to hurt others by knocking even the slightest amount of knowledge that a person may have, to take away their dignity or self-esteem. But if we believe a cruel, insecure person’s view that our knowledge is useless, if we let them take away our dignity, what does that say about how we see our own knowledge, about how we see ourselves?

People have acquired knowledge in war, in prison, in concentration camps, in abuse, in difficult social situations, in loss, in love, in friendship, in ignorance, in education, in failure and in success – why shouldn’t we value any of the knowledge we have where we are, right here and right now?

But again, knowledge on its own, without turning it into action is limited.

A person’s knowledge always has some value. Sharing our knowledge for social benefit creates greater value, and is always worth it. When we share our knowledge with this understanding and intention – we can use our own knowledge to make the world a better place.

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Brokering The Role Of The Knowledge Broker

Leave a Comment Posted by KMbeing on February 2, 2013

I recently had a conversation with a colleague about why it’s still a problem for knowledge brokers to be seen as credible to some senior scientists in many research/knowledge institutions, and how to overcome this barrier. My colleague mentioned that some senior scientists think the value of their research can stand on its own without any help from knowledge brokers, and often criticize the value of knowledge broker positions in the organization in the first place.

Knowledge Mobilization is about putting knowledge into active service for social benefit – and knowledge brokers have an important role in connecting various knowledge stakeholders together from multi-directional influences of producer-push (researcher), user-pull (research-user), knowledge exchange (anyone), and the co-production of knowledge (anyone). The bottom line is that it’s always about people sharing knowledge to make the world a better place.

My colleague mentioned that knowledge brokers were not being taken seriously by some researchers because of a feeling of a lack of credibility. There are certain researchers who somehow feel that the importance of their research cannot be fully “trusted” in the supposed “inexperienced” hands of “unskilled” knowledge brokers. As such, these misguided researchers would rather go it alone and not make use of intermediaries to disseminate or further enhance their knowledge.

My colleague and I discussed that in such cases there is a need for other credible scientists or stakeholders to champion the cause of these knowledge brokers. Such champions can assist in bringing recognition to the valuable role of the knowledge broker, and ignite a passion for knowledge mobilization/knowledge exchange. In such cases the very role of the knowledge broker comes into play by connecting with these champions and acting upon these connections by engaging the champions in discussion about the organization’s current knowledge exchange challenges. This means constructing arguments for the champions to convince the skeptical researchers of the value of knowledge brokers.

If the skeptical researchers still see no value – and wish to go it alone – then the knowledge brokers need to be prepared to recognize such limitations and cut their losses while continuing to ignite awareness with other key decision-makers within the organization. Perhaps in this more indirect manner, skeptical researchers may eventually come around to recognizing the value of knowledge brokers for the institution – but never hold your breath.

The knowledge broker role itself is about finding ways to champion the current knowledge of the organization, continuing to inform institutional knowledge, and broker internal and external knowledge value among stakeholders on an ongoing basis. Knowledge brokers need to recognize that there may be barriers inherent in the organization that cannot be directly dealt with. Dealing with such barriers indirectly may mean ignoring them temporarily (or completely) while attempting to find other researchers or sources for knowledge exchange.

If knowledge brokers are not prepared to do this then you are not prepared to remain relevant to the organization. Knowledge brokering will continue to be a function that is misunderstood, and not seen as credible.

Quite frankly, it comes down to how you broker being a knowledge broker – whether you’re talking about organizational need, the benefits to the individuals who engage with the knowledge systems you create or the connections you’re developing for knowledge exchange. It comes down to how you ‘sell’ the role of the knowledge broker, your contribution and added value to the organization – as well as the people who fall within its influence.

As David Phipps points out, and we include in our co-authored field note, the role of the knowledge broker and knowledge mobilization is not new. Phipps references both Aristotle and the PARiHS framework to summarize three key concepts for a knowledge broker to think about when developing their role in any institution. (I have added my own thoughts in brackets to further expand the concepts).

evidence = logos (providing the logic or evidence)

facilitation = ethos (establishing credibility for facilitation)

context = pathos (connecting to the stakeholder’s emotional or value context)

These key concepts can be used as a framework to develop greater understanding to broker a knowledge broker role within the organization by providing the logic behind having knowledge brokers.

Evidence: Do you have evidence to substantiate the role of knowledge brokers within your organization? What is the logic of having knowledge brokers within your organization?

Credibility: How credible are the knowledge brokers in your organization? Can your knowledge brokers speak the ‘language’ of the organization? Do the knowledge brokers in your organization have champions to assist them with their roles and help them establish credibility? Do the knowledge brokers understand the individuals within the organization and recognize those that may be barriers or facilitators?

Context: Can the knowledge brokers connect to the various emotional contexts within the organizational system to identify barriers (and possibly risks to the organization)? Can the knowledge brokers speak to the values of the individuals within the organization as well as to the greater values of the organization as a whole? Does the knowledge broker have the ability to know how to work around barriers while continuing to align with the knowledge objectives of the organization?

The Knowledge Translation & Exchange Community of Practice (KTECop) often refers to the role of the knowledge broker as “closing the loop” as an apt description. If knowledge brokers are going to continue to deal with problems of credibility and criticism of their value, they must start with a framework that provides greater understanding to broker the role of the knowledge broker. If not, knowledge brokers must be prepared to deal with people who still don’t understand their role, what they can do, and the value they can bring – never being able to close the loop or overcome the barriers they face.

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Evidence Beyond Our Own Back Yard

Leave a Comment Posted by KMbeing on January 24, 2013

Evidence for social benefit needs to be part of the policy process for decision and policymakers – but evidence alone is not simply about what works for politicians or institutions as a type of policy-evidence. Evidence from shared knowledge also stems from and includes ideas, context, values, norms and interests from a wide-range of individuals to create social change. The ultimate role of evidence is to reach out and connect beyond one political structure or institution to the world around us – making the world a better place for everyone.

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Influences Of Knowledge Interactions

Leave a Comment Posted by KMbeing on January 7, 2013

Knowledge sharing brings its own interests, geography, background, experiences and contexts to every knowledge interaction. How we recognize the influences of these interactions can influence how knowledge creates social benefit.

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Gandhi & Knowledge Sharing

Leave a Comment Posted by KMbeing on February 26, 2012

I recently attended a lecture at the Centre for Social Innovation, sponsored by New Acropolis Toronto, and presented by guest speaker and philosopher, Parth Doshi. The lecture was titled Gandhi…The power to change the world. The afternoon presentation was divided into two sections: the first, providing an overview of Gandhi’s life – emphasizing Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha – and the second, focusing on the early influence of theosophy on Gandhi’s spirituality.

Doshi is a very interesting, eloquent and articulate speaker, and he interspersed clips from the film Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley) to provide a great visual complement to the lecture. Although I enjoyed the lecture very much, I couldn’t help but feel that the second section – with Doshi overly using the word spirituality – became more of a religious sermon rather than a philosophical lecture.

Don’t get me wrong. I can appreciate that when speaking about Gandhi one may need to make use of the word spirituality to describe the personal and powerful drives that contextually influenced him during his life – and that make Gandhi one of the great leaders and influencers of the 20^th century and today. However, spirituality is now such a historically heavy-laden and currently alienating term for many that perhaps speaking more about the enduring and deep human virtues of love, compassion and peace – without alluding to spirituality – might be better suited for a “philosophical” lecture.

Does religion/spirituality have any place in a philosophy lecture – especially in a world that continues to be divided by such ideals? We now live in a world today where spirituality and religion are far too often conflated and marginalizing. Perhaps it’s my own bias against the alienating use of the term spirituality that’s showing.

Any of my KMbeing blog followers will know that my emphasis on the power of knowledge sharing to make the world a better place does includes the human virtues of love, compassion and peace – but I never want to alienate anyone by sending out unintentional messages of religion or spirituality.

As someone who has extensively studied philosophy, theology and comparative religions, I now recognize that knowledge sharing may include views of spirituality, but the human virtues of love, compassion and peace as part of knowledge sharing (or philosophy) need not include spirituality. We live in a world where many still believe in the power of spirituality, but I think we need to move beyond the divisiveness of using spiritual concepts to embrace the basic human values of love, compassion and peace – based on personal lived experiences – that also shape our knowledge sharing – which can exist regardless of spiritual beliefs. I believe we are now living in a time when we need to emphasize the power of basic human values like love, compassion and peace as part of basic human knowledg sharing rather than spirituality to make the world a better place.

Gandhi said, “Be the change you want the world to be.” I say, make the knowledge sharing decisions you want the world to be.

Gandhi also said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

The need to share knowledge encompasses every area of our lives. Since time is limited, we need to choose wisely the knowledge we’re going to share that will take up that time. Since knowledge can be used for benefit or knowledge can be used for harm, we need to choose what we will use our knowledge for. Are you making the world a better place with the knowledge you share or are you contributing to the problems that constrain humanity?

I know some people who ignore the knowledge of others or don’t value their own knowledge. They don’t practice knowledge sharing for social benefit at all – they never sit down and ask “is this type of knowledge sharing making the world a better or worse place?” “Is this type of knowledge sharing alienating others or focusing on our common human values?” They tend to live without being aware of the needs of others, without being able to see when certain knowledge sharing is harmful or when it might be of value.

Life is short – we all know that. We may get overwhelmed by what’s going on in our lives, but each experience – either negative or positive – can be turned into knowledge. When we learn to choose to share our knowledge for benefit, our personal knowledge becomes effective. When all is said and done – life is about making knowledge decisions. The world of tomorrow depends upon the knowledge decisions that each of us make today. And how do we learn to choose wisely the knowledge we’re going to share? We observe the results of our knowledge decisions. Do I reflect on my own knowledge? Do I value my own knowledge? Do I feel my knowledge sharing is making the world a better place? Am I open to the knowledge sharing of others? Do my knowledge decisions bring peace or conflict? Are my knowledge decisions inclusive or marginalizing? It certainly is not my intention to alienate as well with this blog, and I hope this blog will only help to further enlighten.

Doshi spoke about how Gandhi used a cycle of study, action, experience and reflection to live his virtuous life.

I couldn’t help but think that knowledge should have been included in this cycle. As two of my earlier blogs point out (previous blog & previous blog) knowledge is not something stagnant, it’s a dynamic process – a cycle – that continues to flow and be re-evaluated to create new knowledge – especially for social benefit.

Once we learn to observe and reflect on the value of our own knowledge – for everyone has knowledge to share – then we can make knowledge decisions that will truly help all of us in life that is inclusive for all of humanity.