Knowledge Mobilization
Encyclopedia
Knowledge mobilization may be defined as putting available knowledge
into active service to benefit society
. It may be knowledge that has been gathered through systematic study or through experience. Both the research knowledge and experiential wisdom are worth sharing to the benefit of others. It is an obligation and a right to share and to have access to beneficial knowledge.
As a matter of course, knowledge is shared among people, among experts and between people and the experts in many forums. Yet much knowledge does not reach those who need it in order to make better decisions that would benefit themselves, their family, community or the society at large, at national and global levels.
"Knowledge mobilization" is a proactive process to ensure that knowledge, especially that created through publicly funded programs, is informed by needs and reaches the intended audience.
Wikipedia is a good example of a knowledge mobilization tool. It provides a medium through which knowledge can be shared among users, for a collective benefit.
Some define the sharing of experiential knowledge as "knowledge management
," and the sharing of research facts and findings as knowledge transfer
, translation, exchange, brokering, interaction, or, mobilization. The latter is meant to include verifiable information, that is, information that is gathered in a manner that is transparent, systematic, reliable, collaborative and trustworthy. Since knowledge mobilization seeks to be informed by a variety of sources and resources, value is placed on "accumulated knowledge" above that of one person's opinion or one study's results. A focus on the results of a small number of studies or individual opinion is more typical of science communication, advocacy and advertising.
The job of the knowledge mobilization specialist, in contrast, is to find, evaluate, synthesize and summarize facts and findings, with researchers and stakeholders in research knowledge working together to tailor and maximize research use. Ideology-based practices are thus replaced with evidence-based practices in order to produce superior outcomes.
s who can act as a bridge between the users and producers of the knowledge. Such brokering is essential to ensure that the right information is available to right people, at the right time and in the right format. These ideas of quality research informed by needs of research users, accurate interpretation, open access and just-in-time service are the bases for good researcher-user interface, often provided by knowledge brokers who can synthesize a large body of research and look for policy and practice implications that facilitate use of research results.
The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) has made extensive use of knowledge brokering and promoted evidence-informed decision making in the health services field. CHSRF has developed extensive tools and resources that are finding use outside the health field. Similarly, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
(CIHR) have developed the idea of knowledge translation as a means to make better use of research in the health field.
Potential users of research findings may not be obvious upfront at the start of the research process. The research endeavour may be theoretical or historic, and of interest to a few knowledge consumers. However, as the research process unfolds, implications and possible uses of research widen to increasingly broader audiences. It is being attentive to such possibilities that is the essence of knowledge mobilization. An awareness of potential and ever-changing uses of the information helps build a legacy for future generations.
Application of science to technological problems and innovations is in some ways simpler than the application of findings in social sciences in areas that are investigating long-term embedded societal problems, often intertwined at local, national and global levels. Social science research deals with the people side of quality of life issues and nation-building that are so crucial to the future progress of humanity. Human, technological and cultural developments are needed for economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, social harmony and cultural vitality.
and Open Data
can play a positive role in Knowledge Mobilization. Access to scholarly research and data sets has increased partly as a result of these movements, as well as greater digitization and dissemination of resources by government and NGOs. However, many institutions do not yet make their research publicly available and lack an open access repository or directory .
While such open tools are viewed as welcome and important contributions to the work undertaken by knowledge mobilization specialists, it is crucial to note that further work is necessary in order to foster collaboration with knowledge brokers and consumers who may benefit from the open access and open data movements.
. Knowledge mobilization (under the title "research utilization") is described as a means or tool to be utilized by social scientists in the inclusion of research in social policy.
There are many excellent research articles examining research utilization. Recently Sandra Nutley and colleagues from the Research Unit for Research utilization (http://www.ruru.ac.uk/index.html) at the University of Edinburgh
published "Using Evidence: How Research Can Inform Public Services" (Nutley, Walter and Davies, Policy Press, 2007) . This book provides an extensive review of the literature on research utilization from traditional constructs to contemporary design, from the practice and policy perspectives, and examines strategies to enhance research utilization and measure the impact of research use.
Another organization supporting and promoting knowledge mobilization, as it relates to education, is the Canadian Council on Learning
(CCL). Its mission is "Informing Canadians about the state of learning in Canada; Fostering quality research on learning; Facilitating evidence-based decisions about learning through knowledge exchange to ensure that success stories are shared
and repeated; and Becoming Canada’s authoritative resource on learning issues."
United Way of Canada
also became active in knowledge mobilization by developing working relationships with Universities and Colleges. It is a win-win strategy that provides to knowledge and expertise that is mutually valuable. Researchers and students have an opportunity to work with real life situations in the community. The community practitioners are not only able to contribute to the success of the research but also develop connections that provides access to the body of knowledge that exists within the educational institutions.
http://www.mun.ca/educ The Faculty of Education at Memorial University, Newfoundland
, Canada
has also been promoting Knowledge Mobilization as part of http://www.killickcentre.ca/ a Community University Research Alliance (CURA) on e-learning
. A video
on knowledge mobilization was created in the context of this project. It is available on YouTube
. The http://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/ Harris Centre at Memorial is the sponsor of a http://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/Conferences_Workshops/KM2008/KIM.php Knowledge Mobilization conference.
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
into active service to benefit society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
. It may be knowledge that has been gathered through systematic study or through experience. Both the research knowledge and experiential wisdom are worth sharing to the benefit of others. It is an obligation and a right to share and to have access to beneficial knowledge.
As a matter of course, knowledge is shared among people, among experts and between people and the experts in many forums. Yet much knowledge does not reach those who need it in order to make better decisions that would benefit themselves, their family, community or the society at large, at national and global levels.
"Knowledge mobilization" is a proactive process to ensure that knowledge, especially that created through publicly funded programs, is informed by needs and reaches the intended audience.
Process
Ways and means of knowledge mobilization are many and encompass a variety of strategies including producer push, user pull, knowledge exchange and even co-production of knowledge. These strategies may be informal, or take place in organized conferences, formal classroom settings, through the media, online and electronic means.Wikipedia is a good example of a knowledge mobilization tool. It provides a medium through which knowledge can be shared among users, for a collective benefit.
Some define the sharing of experiential knowledge as "knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
," and the sharing of research facts and findings as knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer in the fields of organizational development and organizational learning is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another part of the organization. Like Knowledge Management, Knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or...
, translation, exchange, brokering, interaction, or, mobilization. The latter is meant to include verifiable information, that is, information that is gathered in a manner that is transparent, systematic, reliable, collaborative and trustworthy. Since knowledge mobilization seeks to be informed by a variety of sources and resources, value is placed on "accumulated knowledge" above that of one person's opinion or one study's results. A focus on the results of a small number of studies or individual opinion is more typical of science communication, advocacy and advertising.
The job of the knowledge mobilization specialist, in contrast, is to find, evaluate, synthesize and summarize facts and findings, with researchers and stakeholders in research knowledge working together to tailor and maximize research use. Ideology-based practices are thus replaced with evidence-based practices in order to produce superior outcomes.
Benefits
Some organizations are promoting the same process under different names, such as knowledge dissemination, knowledge translation, knowledge transfer and exchange. While they may be known by different labels, these processes share by design an interactive dialogue and engagement between the producers and users of the knowledge. This has been called: The Lavalife of Science and the sooner that such dialogue starts the better. Both those involved in creating the research knowledge and the potential users of the findings can benefit from each other's knowledge and perspective. Unlike science communication, research dissemination, or other less interactive forms of knowledge transfer (such as producer push), knowledge mobilization seeks to create knowledge-based relationships between researchers and research users that enable and contextualize the sharing of codified “evidence” and other forms of knowing. Because knowledge mobilization is focused on human interaction, the process of research utilization cannot be disentangled from the product of research itself. In essence, the research user, working in harmony with the research scientist, drives the uptake of research through collaboration and stakeholder leadership.Brokers
Sometimes it is necessary to have knowledge brokerKnowledge broker
A Knowledge broker is an intermediary , that aims to develop relationships and networks with, among, and between producers and users of knowledge by providing linkages, knowledge sources, and in some cases knowledge itself, A Knowledge broker is an intermediary (an organization or a person), that...
s who can act as a bridge between the users and producers of the knowledge. Such brokering is essential to ensure that the right information is available to right people, at the right time and in the right format. These ideas of quality research informed by needs of research users, accurate interpretation, open access and just-in-time service are the bases for good researcher-user interface, often provided by knowledge brokers who can synthesize a large body of research and look for policy and practice implications that facilitate use of research results.
The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) has made extensive use of knowledge brokering and promoted evidence-informed decision making in the health services field. CHSRF has developed extensive tools and resources that are finding use outside the health field. Similarly, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Canadian Institutes of Health Research is the major federal agency responsible for funding health research in Canada. It is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada. It aims to create new health knowledge, and to translate that knowledge from the research setting into real world...
(CIHR) have developed the idea of knowledge translation as a means to make better use of research in the health field.
Potential users of research findings may not be obvious upfront at the start of the research process. The research endeavour may be theoretical or historic, and of interest to a few knowledge consumers. However, as the research process unfolds, implications and possible uses of research widen to increasingly broader audiences. It is being attentive to such possibilities that is the essence of knowledge mobilization. An awareness of potential and ever-changing uses of the information helps build a legacy for future generations.
Application of science to technological problems and innovations is in some ways simpler than the application of findings in social sciences in areas that are investigating long-term embedded societal problems, often intertwined at local, national and global levels. Social science research deals with the people side of quality of life issues and nation-building that are so crucial to the future progress of humanity. Human, technological and cultural developments are needed for economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, social harmony and cultural vitality.
Open Access & Open Data
Movements such as Open AccessOpen access
Open access refers to unrestricted access via the Internet to articles published in scholarly journals, and also increasingly to book chapters or monographs....
and Open Data
Open Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
can play a positive role in Knowledge Mobilization. Access to scholarly research and data sets has increased partly as a result of these movements, as well as greater digitization and dissemination of resources by government and NGOs. However, many institutions do not yet make their research publicly available and lack an open access repository or directory .
While such open tools are viewed as welcome and important contributions to the work undertaken by knowledge mobilization specialists, it is crucial to note that further work is necessary in order to foster collaboration with knowledge brokers and consumers who may benefit from the open access and open data movements.
Publications
One of the main seminal works in this field was published in 1979 by Carol Weiss in the journal Public Administration ReviewPublic Administration Review
Public Administration Review is a bi-monthly academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Society for Public Administration. The editor is Richard J. Stillman II....
. Knowledge mobilization (under the title "research utilization") is described as a means or tool to be utilized by social scientists in the inclusion of research in social policy.
There are many excellent research articles examining research utilization. Recently Sandra Nutley and colleagues from the Research Unit for Research utilization (http://www.ruru.ac.uk/index.html) at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
published "Using Evidence: How Research Can Inform Public Services" (Nutley, Walter and Davies, Policy Press, 2007) . This book provides an extensive review of the literature on research utilization from traditional constructs to contemporary design, from the practice and policy perspectives, and examines strategies to enhance research utilization and measure the impact of research use.
Another organization supporting and promoting knowledge mobilization, as it relates to education, is the Canadian Council on Learning
Canadian Council on Learning
The Canadian Council on Learning is a channel for lifelong learning, encouraging and supporting data-based decisions about learning during all stages of life, from early childhood through to the senior years.-History:...
(CCL). Its mission is "Informing Canadians about the state of learning in Canada; Fostering quality research on learning; Facilitating evidence-based decisions about learning through knowledge exchange to ensure that success stories are shared
and repeated; and Becoming Canada’s authoritative resource on learning issues."
United Way of Canada
United Way of Canada
United Way of Canada is the national organization for the 117 autonomous, volunteer-based United Ways across Canada. United Way campaigns raise money for local groups that address community issues and problems, and the national organization provides leadership, services and coordination to the...
also became active in knowledge mobilization by developing working relationships with Universities and Colleges. It is a win-win strategy that provides to knowledge and expertise that is mutually valuable. Researchers and students have an opportunity to work with real life situations in the community. The community practitioners are not only able to contribute to the success of the research but also develop connections that provides access to the body of knowledge that exists within the educational institutions.
http://www.mun.ca/educ The Faculty of Education at Memorial University, Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
has also been promoting Knowledge Mobilization as part of http://www.killickcentre.ca/ a Community University Research Alliance (CURA) on e-learning
E-learning
E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...
. A video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
on knowledge mobilization was created in the context of this project. It is available on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The http://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/ Harris Centre at Memorial is the sponsor of a http://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/Conferences_Workshops/KM2008/KIM.php Knowledge Mobilization conference.