Media, information and the promise of new technologies in Knowledge Transfer (KT) practices

Media, information and the promise of new technologies in Knowledge Transfer (KT) practices

Mauricio Delfin Trauma and Global Health Program

GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH INITIATIVE: TEASDALE-CORTI PROGRAM SYMPOSIUM Innovations in Global Health Research Global Social Justice and the Social Determinants of Health: Setting the Course for the Future October 1-3, 2012 | Marriott Hotel | 100 Kent St, Ottawa, ON http://www.mcgill.ca/trauma-globalhealth

Knowledge Transfer Knolwedge Translation Knolwedge Dissemination Knolwedge Transfer and Exchange Research-to-Action […]

trans- prefix meaning "across, beyond, to go beyond," from L. trans-, from prep. trans "across, over, beyond," probably originally prp. of a verb *trare-, meaning "to cross" (see through).

“The common element among these different terms is a move beyond the simple dissemination of knowledge into actual use of knowledge.” “Knowledge creation, knowledge distillation and knowledge dissemination are not enough on their own to ensure the use of knowledge in decision-making.”

Defining knowledge translation (2009) Sharon E. Straus MD MSc, Jacqueline Tetroe MA, Ian Graham PhD

Vectors [carriers] of Knolwedge Transfer

Vectors [carriers] of Knolwedge Transfer

Vectors à Networks/Instances/domains for the performance/

construction of Knowledge

Greenhalgh, T., & Wieringa, S. (2011). Is it time to drop the “knowledge translation” metaphor? A critical literature review. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 104(12), 501–509. doi:10.1258/jrsm.2011.110285

“To the extent that even “hard” science is socially constructed, knowledge translation cannot be viewed as a politically neutral exercise in the transmission of facts.” “…A wider range of metaphors and models would allow us to research the link between knowledge and practice in more creative and critical ways.”

Is it time to drop the ‘knowledge translation’ metaphor? A critical literature review (2011) Trisha Greenhalgh and Sietse Wieringa

“Conceptualizing the generation, circulation and sharing of knowledge as ‘translation’ will inadvertently close our minds to alternative framings which could add to the illumination and analysis of this complex field”.


Three assumptions underpin the knowledge translation metaphor: 1.  ‘Knowledge’ equates with objective, impersonal research findings.

Knowledge is seen as un-problematically separable from the scientists who generate it and the practitioners who may use it.

2.  It is useful to conceptualize a ‘know – do’ gap between scientific facts and practice (whether in the clinical encounter, the management of staff or around the policy-making table). This implies that knowledge and practice can be cleanly separated both empirically and analytically.

1.  Practice consists more or less of a series of rational decisions on which

scientific research findings can be brought to bear. These assumptions are widely held within the medical field, but they are also widely questioned by scholars outside this field.

Translation: Assumptions


But first, an example from this Symposium:

New knowledge configurations: Strengthening Nurses’ Capacity in HIV Policy Development in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean Canada, Kenya, Jamaica, Uganda, South Africa, and Barbados Capacity Building Strategy (1 of 5) : •  Leadership Hubs: Three leadership hubs will be established in

each country, fostering dynamic collaboration among front-line nurses and managers, researchers, decision makers and community representatives. Hubs will link nursing leaders with other stakeholders in government, NGOs and the community to build a sustainable infrastructure for leadership capacity in research, knowledge translation, and collaboration. They will function as a lever for change, or enabling mechanism, that translates enhanced capacity into action for policy and practice change on HIV and AIDS.

“…a center around which other things revolve or from which they radiate; a focus of activity…”

Hubs/Networks/Gaps/Empowerment






Technology Today

In 1983 Time magazine nominated the PC as the “Machine of the Year”.

In 2006 “the cover is a symbol of the emancipation of the computer user from the alienated user of 1983 to the “hero of the Information Age” in 2006” (Schaefer, 2008).

Cover for Sep. 24, 2012, “The Agents of Outrage”.

Cover for Sep. 24, 2012, “The Agents of Outrage”.

The Wealth of Networks "The dramatic decline in the cost of the material means of producing and exchanging information, knowledge, and culture has substantially decreased the costs of information expression and exchange, and thereby increased the relative efficacy of non-market production. When these facts are layered over the fact that information, knowledge, and culture have become the central high-value-added economic activities of the most advanced economies, we find ourselves in a new and unfamiliar social and economic condition”.

Benkler, 2006

Impact of Technology on Knowledge and Action

•  Networks for the performance/construction of knowledge are affected by today's networked society, through distributed flows of information that obfuscate traditional trajectories of knowledge generation and dissemination, mediated through emerging information and communication technologies.

•  New technologies should challenge our vision of potential Knowledge Transfer and Exchange strategies, bringing renewed attention to the logics of networks, an emerging “sharing economy" and open source logics.

•  The changing landscape of Knowledge Transfer politics, affected and influenced by technology, affects institutional contexts and established power structures.

The Wealth of Networks (2)

A restaurant owner shouts, with his clients behind him, at demonstrators to stop throwing stones at his restaurant, after a protest against spending cuts and the government of Mariano Rajoy ended in riots acroos Madrid (Daily Telegraph, Australia).

Protesta en Túnez, el 14 de Enero 2011

Protest in Tunisia on January 14th, 2011 (Le<) and at midnight on January 26th, 2011 in Cairo (Right). Sign reads: “Mubarak GAME OVER" [Reuters]

EGYPT

España

SPAIN

USA

System administrator, rouWne check-‐up.

ACCESS

Internet “Cabina” in Ventanilla, Callao -‐ Peru (2010)

Networks vs. Hierarchies

Examples of new configurations (of power)

• Urban crowdsourcing • Crisis mapping initiatives • Open access protocols and infrastructures

Urban crowdsourcing

Crisis mapping

Roundup of Global Internet AcWvism Course Trebor Scholz, New School University (2009)



Developer Steve Mutinda displays a mobile application at crowdsource mapping platform Ushahidi's office in Nairobi, Kenya in 2008.

“Crisis Room” in Boston, Massachusse`s

Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of InformaWon Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies (2011)

Open access protocols and infrastructures

The cost of knowledge: The Elsevier Boycott

The cost of Knowledge (1) “Refusing to submit papers to all overpriced publishers is a reasonable further step, which some of us have taken, but the focus of this boycott is on Elsevier because of the widespread feeling among mathematicians that they are the worst offender.”.

Source: http://thecostofknowledge.com

The cost of Knowledge (2) “Recently, Elsevier has lobbied for the Research Works Act, a proposed U.S. law that would undo the National Institutes of Health’s public access policy, which guarantees public access to published research papers based on NIH funding within twelve months of publication (to give publishers time to make a profit). Although most lobbying occurs behind closed doors, Elsevier’s vocal support of this act shows their opposition to a popular and effective open access policy”.


The cost of Knowledge (3) “Some people would like to see the journal system eliminated completely and replaced by something else more adapted to the internet and the possibilities of electronic distribution. Others see journals as continuing to play a role, but with commercial publishing being replaced by open access models. Still others imagine a more modest change, in which commercial publishers are replaced by non-profit entities such as professional societies”.


Open Data

Open Government Partnership Anual MeeWng in Brasilia (April, 2012)

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 content, and open access. (open data, open standards, and open source)

Source: Wikipedia.org

Open Data •  “We-Government” (seems oriented towards “gadgetization”)

• “App” fever (which requires a particular economy)

And/or: • Vigilancia Ciudadana (Citizens monitoring) • Denuncia (Denunciation) • Knowledge interaction

Extensible Markup Language (XML) “set of rules for encoding documents

in machine-readable form.

The design goals of XML emphasize simplicity, generality, and usability

over the Internet.”

The comma-separated values (CSV) “pseudo-file format; a set of file formats

used to store tabular data in which numbers and text are stored in

plain-text form that can be easily written and read in a text editor”

Source: Wikipedia.org

Information is power.

Sometimes, information is power.

What are particular configurations/formations that facilitate positive (fair, equal, transparent,

mutually beneficial…) construction and/or performance of knowledge transfer and

exchange?

According to Greenhalgh and Wieringa (2011), research should move beyond a narrow focus on the ‘know–do gap’ to cover a richer agenda, including: 1.  the situation- specific practical wisdom (phronesis)

that underpins clinical judgement 2.  the tacit knowledge that is built and shared among

practitioners (“mindlines”) 3.  the complex links between power and knowledge;

and 4.  approaches to facilitating macro-level knowledge

partnerships between researchers, practitioners, policymakers and commercial interests.”

The Future

Conclusions •  The science of knowledge translation is a relatively new

field and requires a critical approach. • A kind of Meta-KTE is required. •  Future research should focus on:

•  The harnessing of specific configurations/formations/domains that impact positively in the KTE process.

•  Analysis of the impact of KTE strategies firmly grounded on sharing/open economies, comparing them with traditional ones)

•  The effects of open data initiatives in global health research •  “Transdisciplinarity” as political action

• How are institutional contexts and established power structures affected by KTE understood as a transformation (challenge) of established political and institutional cultures?

Thank you

More information at: http://www.mcgill.ca/trauma-globalhealth

Support provided by:

Teasdale Corti Team Grant and the Global Health Research Initiative

This file can be shared under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY)

Health & Medicine

Media, information and the promise of new technologies in Knowledge Transfer (KT) practices