This is a blog about knowledge. So what do I mean when I say that I will be discussing knowledge? The best way I know how to describe what this blog is about is to explain the title of this blog- “Smelling the Smell”. For me smelling the smell means:
· Having an experience and really “taking the experience in”
· Observing what we are sensing completely before coming to a conclusion and identifying what it is that we are sensing
· Using the information we have, even if it is incomplete, to analyze a situation and come to a new understanding or perspective
· Finally and most importantly, using the knowledge we have gained through our observations to take action
The University of Melbourne has a definition of knowledge that I really like and I think most effectively demonstrates how I will frame the discussions on this blog: “Knowledge is part of the hierarchy made up of data, information and knowledge. Data are raw facts. Information is data with context and perspective. Knowledge is information with guidance for action based upon insight and experience.”
OK, I know that all sounds very abstract, so let me tell a story about how the term “smelling the smell” came to be a part of my life. One relaxed Saturday morning my partner and I entered the kitchen to make coffee and tea. Our relaxed and happy attitudes were quickly washed away by an overwhelming and extremely unpleasant odor. We both stood there with our nostrils flaring, trying to identify what and where the origin of this smell really was. Using the only piece of information we had, the smell, we searched and searched until we identified that the smell was coming from underneath the stove. We then had a conversation about how awful it was, and what it could possibly be…until I snapped in frustration, “Well, are we going to do something about it or just stand around and smell the smell all day?!” Of course we couldn’t identify what the smell was with only the use of our noses, but we had enough information to take some concrete action until we could learn more. Had we not taken the time to smell the smell or simply left the area to get away from the smell, we would have been left with no actionable information to solve the problem. On the other hand, had we only smelled the smell, and then not taken any action out of fear of discovering what the smell might be, that smell would still be there today (although probably much stronger!). So, that is what this blog is all about – the process of gathering information and the balance between and art of gaining knowledge and using knowledge.
So, Why bother writing a blog about knowledge?
In today’s world, knowledge is a tricky thing to manage. For those with access to the internet, information availability seems infinite. Actually using that information is largely dependent on the motivation and skills of the individual to sift, frame and dig deeper. For example, when I am sick and don’t want to go to the doctor, I climb on the internet to gain knowledge about my ailment. If the information isn’t quite what I wanted to hear, I will keep searching until I will find a diagnosis that suits me (Of course, my public health training tells me that this may not be the healthiest course of action!). The truth is that much of the way that we share information and come to conclusions has little to do with developing a solid base of knowledge. The information we share on Facebook often lacks critical context, online news stories only provide the most summarized and digestible information available, and the results of our online searches are largely defined by the words we enter and the prioritization of the search engine. Now, I am not saying that we aren’t gaining useful, enjoyable, and important information through our internet activities. I am only saying that in the fast-paced world of information-overload it is not always easy to sift through and process all of the information available in the best way possible. I LOVE conducting random internet searches, and really don’t know how anyone survived without this marvel of technology – I am writing a blog on the internet after all.
Amidst all this information-overload, I have found that it is often difficult for organizations and partners working towards the same goals to find ways of efficiently sharing information and knowledge with each other. Thus, as someone who is passionate about the need for accurate and useful information that can help make our world a better place, I feel that it is important to really think about the information we have and how we are using it to create knowledge that helps us to move forward in a positive direction.
That said, this is not intended to be a blog about epistemology, the philosophical understanding of knowledge, but rather, a more grounded discussion about how knowledge can and is used to influence four interrelated areas of interest for me:
1. Organizational Learning
2. Public Policy: Education and Health
3. International Development
4. Monitoring and Evaluation
Of course these are four very broadly defined areas, which means that this blog will be somewhat flexible in the subject matter that I will discuss.
“Knowledge is information with guidance for action based upon insight and experience”. This is an interesting definition. It is my belief that “ignorance” is the largest single contributor to dehumanizing alienation, as defined as a measurable emotional distance so great between myself and others as to make active empathizing impossible. Without the ability to touch others emotionally and empathize with them, I become vulnerable to the suggestion (often based on someone else’s knowledge and interpretation of the world) that certain others are different and less than human. Once I become convinced that the other is subhuman the door is opened to all matters of abuse, including genocide. I am acting on a “knowledge” base that prescribes and justifies my dehumanizing beliefs and actions. Is information that results in guided genocide considered to be knowledge? Because I have gained a measure of knowledge and acted on that knowledge, has my ignorance been negated through my guided persecution of the infidel? Should the definition of knowledge be free of ethics and moralizing? Does my belief that people of color are inferior to me as a white person constitute a knowledgeable insight? No, of course it does not constitute a knowledgeable insight, you say, because it is “inaccurate”…a false belief predicated on ignorance and the resulting alienation.
ReplyDeleteThe definition quoted above makes no moral distinction between right and wrong, or even any mention of accuracy of observation. It is a fact that drawing the line between knowledge and ignorance is not as clear-cut as it might seem to be. If one negates the other, then it might behoove us to spend some time theorizing on this distinction. This seems especially true if one believes that the “scientific” definition of what constitutes knowledge should be free of ethics and moralizing. Is it even possible to define what constitutes knowledge in the human community without considering ethics? This seems even more crucial when knowledge is defined with “guidance for action” as a prerequisite. Free of ethics and moralizing, the accuracy of accumulated information as knowledge must be judged on the quality of the methodology utilized to gather the native data. Is the observation free of bias, and have reasonable margin of errors been established to avoid errors? Have the subjects of the study been selected randomly, and are the correct statistical methods being used based on the quality of the data? And it goes on…….Must all knowledge be given life utilizing the scientific method, or are there different levels of knowledge that must be considered?
Precious few human beings base their core beliefs on the results of controlled experiments. The prerequisite that knowledge must be defined only as the results forthcoming from controlled experiments is much to restricting to be useful when speaking of knowledge within the context of the human community. The truth, unfortunately, is that the vast majority of Americans anyway, base their core beliefs (those seminal beliefs that essentially fuel behavior) on distorted emotional insights, not intellectual ones. This observation, in concert with the fact that we live in a poorly educated, alienated and anti-intellectual society suggests that knowledge as defined as a disciplined and accurate accounting of reality plays very little part in most American’s lives today.