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This course will serve as an introduction to the field and literature of knowledge management (KM). Many argue the field is a chaotic mixture of views and objectives. In contrast, three distinct views will be introduced: knowledge as data, as meaning, and as effective practice. In this sense the field seems to be made up of three separate bodies of literature, any one of which seems not to speak to the concerns of the other two.
While the differences between these views are interesting, the relations between them are even more so. Students will be introduced to the argument that argues that these views can, in fact, be nested within each other. Thus the most commonsensical notion of knowledge is that it is data which one either has or does not have. This is nested within the notion of meaning what does the data actually mean? One may have the data but, not knowing its meaning, not realize that is the case. It points us towards thinking about how data gets its meaning. It seems more complicated than the idea of knowledge as data. This is because we are actually adopting a different epistemology. Finally students will see the notion of meaning is itself nested in social practice. The important thing is that this note is not an epistemological discussion it is conducted in terms of the KM literature.
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