Max H. Boisot, Ian C. MacMillan, and Kyeong Seok Han
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199250875
- eISBN:
- 9780191719509
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199250875.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management
Humankind has always lived in a knowledge society. Yet, although we have been discussing the problem of valid knowledge since Plato and probably before, it was only in the second half of the 20th ...
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Humankind has always lived in a knowledge society. Yet, although we have been discussing the problem of valid knowledge since Plato and probably before, it was only in the second half of the 20th century that such knowledge came to be seen as an economic resource in its own right rather than as a support for the exploitation of other, more physical economic resources such as land, labour power, energy, etc. In recent years, a new specialization, knowledge management, has evolved to address some of the issues associated with the production and distribution of knowledge. It builds on the idea that organizations do not make good use of their knowledge resources and waste much of these. Knowledge management, however, still lacks a founding theory focused on the nature of knowledge and knowledge flows. The problem is that we cannot have a credible theory of how to manage knowledge in the firm without first developing a knowledge-based theory of the firm. The purpose of this book is to provide some theoretical perspective on the nature of organizationally relevant knowledge and to indicate the kind of research that might generate empirically testable hypotheses and further the development of a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Our theorizing builds on a conceptual framework — the Information-Space or I-Space — by means of which we explore how knowledge first emerges, and then gets articulated, diffused, and absorbed by a population of agents.Less
Humankind has always lived in a knowledge society. Yet, although we have been discussing the problem of valid knowledge since Plato and probably before, it was only in the second half of the 20th century that such knowledge came to be seen as an economic resource in its own right rather than as a support for the exploitation of other, more physical economic resources such as land, labour power, energy, etc. In recent years, a new specialization, knowledge management, has evolved to address some of the issues associated with the production and distribution of knowledge. It builds on the idea that organizations do not make good use of their knowledge resources and waste much of these. Knowledge management, however, still lacks a founding theory focused on the nature of knowledge and knowledge flows. The problem is that we cannot have a credible theory of how to manage knowledge in the firm without first developing a knowledge-based theory of the firm. The purpose of this book is to provide some theoretical perspective on the nature of organizationally relevant knowledge and to indicate the kind of research that might generate empirically testable hypotheses and further the development of a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Our theorizing builds on a conceptual framework — the Information-Space or I-Space — by means of which we explore how knowledge first emerges, and then gets articulated, diffused, and absorbed by a population of agents.
Gerardo Patriotta
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199275243
- eISBN:
- 9780191719684
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199275243.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
Knowledge is a very seductive, but elusive concept. Following the wider debate about the emergence of the information age and the knowledge society, recent years have seen an explosion of writings ...
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Knowledge is a very seductive, but elusive concept. Following the wider debate about the emergence of the information age and the knowledge society, recent years have seen an explosion of writings about organizational knowledge from different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. Yet, theoretical development has not always been accompanied by sound empirical research. Methodologies for studying knowledge as an empirical phenomenon are still lagging behind. This book aims to fill the gap between theory, method, and practice by developing a phenomenological approach to the study of knowing in the context of organizing. The book contributes to the fields of strategy and organization in three ways. First, it provides a critical review of the concepts, debates, and epistemological assumptions underpinning existing theories of organizational knowledge. Second, it develops a methodological framework for studying knowledge processes as an empirical phenomenon that is based on three methodological lenses: time, breakdowns, and narratives. Third, drawing on the three-lens framework, the book presents a phenomenological enquiry on knowing and organizing processes within two large car-manufacturing plants at Fiat Auto, Italy. The book highlights the need to re-think organizational knowledge from an action-based perspective, and suggests a new vocabulary for understanding knowledge-oriented phenomena in organizations.Less
Knowledge is a very seductive, but elusive concept. Following the wider debate about the emergence of the information age and the knowledge society, recent years have seen an explosion of writings about organizational knowledge from different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. Yet, theoretical development has not always been accompanied by sound empirical research. Methodologies for studying knowledge as an empirical phenomenon are still lagging behind. This book aims to fill the gap between theory, method, and practice by developing a phenomenological approach to the study of knowing in the context of organizing. The book contributes to the fields of strategy and organization in three ways. First, it provides a critical review of the concepts, debates, and epistemological assumptions underpinning existing theories of organizational knowledge. Second, it develops a methodological framework for studying knowledge processes as an empirical phenomenon that is based on three methodological lenses: time, breakdowns, and narratives. Third, drawing on the three-lens framework, the book presents a phenomenological enquiry on knowing and organizing processes within two large car-manufacturing plants at Fiat Auto, Italy. The book highlights the need to re-think organizational knowledge from an action-based perspective, and suggests a new vocabulary for understanding knowledge-oriented phenomena in organizations.
Colin G. Calloway
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195340129
- eISBN:
- 9780199867202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340129.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
A core component of colonial projects in both the Highlands and Indian North America was to convert the tribal inhabitants, who were assumed to exist at an inferior stage of development. This chapter ...
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A core component of colonial projects in both the Highlands and Indian North America was to convert the tribal inhabitants, who were assumed to exist at an inferior stage of development. This chapter surveys depictions of tribal life in the Highlands and Indian country to illustrate how contemporaries described tribal peoples on both sides of the Atlantic in almost identical terms. It examines the attitudes and philosophies of the colonizers, their missionary and educational efforts, and the responses of Highland and Indian peoples to such conversion attempts. The Lowland-based Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge was active in mission work in both the Highlands and in Indian country. Scottish Enlightenment theories about human development exerted an important influence on emerging American Indian policy and the thinking of Thomas Jefferson.Less
A core component of colonial projects in both the Highlands and Indian North America was to convert the tribal inhabitants, who were assumed to exist at an inferior stage of development. This chapter surveys depictions of tribal life in the Highlands and Indian country to illustrate how contemporaries described tribal peoples on both sides of the Atlantic in almost identical terms. It examines the attitudes and philosophies of the colonizers, their missionary and educational efforts, and the responses of Highland and Indian peoples to such conversion attempts. The Lowland-based Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge was active in mission work in both the Highlands and in Indian country. Scottish Enlightenment theories about human development exerted an important influence on emerging American Indian policy and the thinking of Thomas Jefferson.
Madhavi Sunder
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195342109
- eISBN:
- 9780199866823
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342109.003.0019
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
Since 1990, the United Nations has understood development in the broad terms of expanding human capabilities, thanks in part to Amartya Sen. Sen's vision of “development as freedom” is pluralist, ...
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Since 1990, the United Nations has understood development in the broad terms of expanding human capabilities, thanks in part to Amartya Sen. Sen's vision of “development as freedom” is pluralist, measuring development on the capacity for many freedoms. These freedoms range from basic needs, such as the right to life and health, to more expansive freedoms of movement, creative work, and participation in social, economic, and cultural institutions. Intellectual property (IP) law is essential to all of these freedoms and regulates our capacity to participate in cultural and scientific creation. A broader understanding of IP and development as freedom recognizes the importance of participating in the process of knowledge creation. The poor must be recognized as both receivers and producers of knowledge. In the Knowledge Age, wealth lies not simply in access to other people's knowledge, but also in the ability to produce new knowledge and to benefit from this creation, culturally and economically.Less
Since 1990, the United Nations has understood development in the broad terms of expanding human capabilities, thanks in part to Amartya Sen. Sen's vision of “development as freedom” is pluralist, measuring development on the capacity for many freedoms. These freedoms range from basic needs, such as the right to life and health, to more expansive freedoms of movement, creative work, and participation in social, economic, and cultural institutions. Intellectual property (IP) law is essential to all of these freedoms and regulates our capacity to participate in cultural and scientific creation. A broader understanding of IP and development as freedom recognizes the importance of participating in the process of knowledge creation. The poor must be recognized as both receivers and producers of knowledge. In the Knowledge Age, wealth lies not simply in access to other people's knowledge, but also in the ability to produce new knowledge and to benefit from this creation, culturally and economically.
Christiane Spiel, Barbara Schober, Petra Wagner, and Monika Finsterwald
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600496
- eISBN:
- 9780191739187
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600496.003.0087
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Development, Behavioral Neuroscience
The use of the term ‘neuro’ in scientific contexts has become more and more popular. Many politicians and practitioners, especially in the field of education, seem to believe that scientific work ...
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The use of the term ‘neuro’ in scientific contexts has become more and more popular. Many politicians and practitioners, especially in the field of education, seem to believe that scientific work gets a specific aura if it is neuroscientifically based. This chapter questions whether, and if so, how neuroscience can contribute to explaining or promoting complex learning processes. To illustrate complex learning processes and the requirements associated with their enhancement, it focuses on lifelong learning (LLL). The needs of the ‘knowledge society’ have placed LLL at the centre of an intensive ongoing political debate. Essential constituents of LLL are a persistent motivation to learn and the skills to realize this motivation. Researchers in the field of education agree that schools provide the basis for LLL and therefore teachers play a decisive role for imparting relevant competences. Consequently, LLL trainings should also target teachers. As a concrete example, a training programme for teachers to enhance LLL is presented. Based on this example, the chapter discusses how bridges can be built between neuroscience and education to cooperate in explaining and promoting complex learning processes.Less
The use of the term ‘neuro’ in scientific contexts has become more and more popular. Many politicians and practitioners, especially in the field of education, seem to believe that scientific work gets a specific aura if it is neuroscientifically based. This chapter questions whether, and if so, how neuroscience can contribute to explaining or promoting complex learning processes. To illustrate complex learning processes and the requirements associated with their enhancement, it focuses on lifelong learning (LLL). The needs of the ‘knowledge society’ have placed LLL at the centre of an intensive ongoing political debate. Essential constituents of LLL are a persistent motivation to learn and the skills to realize this motivation. Researchers in the field of education agree that schools provide the basis for LLL and therefore teachers play a decisive role for imparting relevant competences. Consequently, LLL trainings should also target teachers. As a concrete example, a training programme for teachers to enhance LLL is presented. Based on this example, the chapter discusses how bridges can be built between neuroscience and education to cooperate in explaining and promoting complex learning processes.
Song-Chuan Chen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789888390564
- eISBN:
- 9789888390274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888390564.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter observes that the Warlike party launched an informational war to penetrate the soft borders that constrained information flow and interaction. Their efforts concentrated on the Society ...
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This chapter observes that the Warlike party launched an informational war to penetrate the soft borders that constrained information flow and interaction. Their efforts concentrated on the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China, with the objective of spreading knowledge about the European world to the Chinese. They prepared, as they termed it, ‘intellectual artillery’ in the form of Chinese-language publications, especially material related to world geography, to distribute among the Chinese to inform them of the truth about the British in the hope that it would lead China to ‘open up’ from the inside. In establishing the society, the Warlike party conceived the metaphor of a war of information, which contributed to the developing conceptualisation of a literal war against China in the years before actual military action.Less
This chapter observes that the Warlike party launched an informational war to penetrate the soft borders that constrained information flow and interaction. Their efforts concentrated on the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China, with the objective of spreading knowledge about the European world to the Chinese. They prepared, as they termed it, ‘intellectual artillery’ in the form of Chinese-language publications, especially material related to world geography, to distribute among the Chinese to inform them of the truth about the British in the hope that it would lead China to ‘open up’ from the inside. In establishing the society, the Warlike party conceived the metaphor of a war of information, which contributed to the developing conceptualisation of a literal war against China in the years before actual military action.
Brent S. Sirota
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780300167108
- eISBN:
- 9780300199277
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300167108.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter considers the imperatives of Anglican reform in the ensuing settlement of the established church. It describes how the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) emerged from a ...
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This chapter considers the imperatives of Anglican reform in the ensuing settlement of the established church. It describes how the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) emerged from a climate characterized by both the persistence of Anglican revivalism and the vogue for organizational experimentation and innovation that affected the established church no less than Protestant Nonconformity.Less
This chapter considers the imperatives of Anglican reform in the ensuing settlement of the established church. It describes how the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) emerged from a climate characterized by both the persistence of Anglican revivalism and the vogue for organizational experimentation and innovation that affected the established church no less than Protestant Nonconformity.
David John Frank and John W. Meyer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780691202051
- eISBN:
- 9780691202075
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691202051.003.0007
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter analyzes the resultant model of a knowledge society dependent on the credentials and cultural content provided by the university. It describes universalistic rationalism as the defining ...
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This chapter analyzes the resultant model of a knowledge society dependent on the credentials and cultural content provided by the university. It describes universalistic rationalism as the defining characteristic of knowledge society, which is more than the differentiation theorists have sometimes imagined. It also reflects on the properties of a society that depends so heavily on a knowledge system that so often in the past seemed exotic and far removed from ordinary social experience. The chapter focuses on the nature of knowledge and conceptions of society as they are capitalized in knowledge society. It discusses the postwar dominance of a liberal order as an imagined image of a global society rooted in shared knowledge and massive schooling that has some properties of a binge.Less
This chapter analyzes the resultant model of a knowledge society dependent on the credentials and cultural content provided by the university. It describes universalistic rationalism as the defining characteristic of knowledge society, which is more than the differentiation theorists have sometimes imagined. It also reflects on the properties of a society that depends so heavily on a knowledge system that so often in the past seemed exotic and far removed from ordinary social experience. The chapter focuses on the nature of knowledge and conceptions of society as they are capitalized in knowledge society. It discusses the postwar dominance of a liberal order as an imagined image of a global society rooted in shared knowledge and massive schooling that has some properties of a binge.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762632
- eISBN:
- 9780804772921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762632.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter examines the social democratic vision of the knowledge society and its interpretation of the social organization of knowledge as equality or meritocracy. It discusses the differences ...
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This chapter examines the social democratic vision of the knowledge society and its interpretation of the social organization of knowledge as equality or meritocracy. It discusses the differences between New Labour's meritocratic notion of community and the Social Democratic Party's more egalitarian notion of society as samhälle. The chapter also explains that in contemporary social democracy, meritocracy is considered a vision of society as organized around individual talent informed by the human capital argument where differentiation of people according to talent is motivated by the economic desire to make the most of the “best brains.”Less
This chapter examines the social democratic vision of the knowledge society and its interpretation of the social organization of knowledge as equality or meritocracy. It discusses the differences between New Labour's meritocratic notion of community and the Social Democratic Party's more egalitarian notion of society as samhälle. The chapter also explains that in contemporary social democracy, meritocracy is considered a vision of society as organized around individual talent informed by the human capital argument where differentiation of people according to talent is motivated by the economic desire to make the most of the “best brains.”
Brent S. Sirota
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199988532
- eISBN:
- 9780199369997
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199988532.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History, History of Ideas
Religious outreach to the maritime world in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries constituted a movement to overcome the moral hazard of the ocean and to inscribe the sea and seafaring ...
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Religious outreach to the maritime world in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries constituted a movement to overcome the moral hazard of the ocean and to inscribe the sea and seafaring peoples within the Protestant moral order that was increasingly becoming constitutive of English national identity in this period. An analysis of the networks of largely Anglican religious and charitable associations engaged in Christianization efforts throughout the maritime empire opens up the analysis of mercantilism to a plurality of actors that constituted civil society and political authority in the early modern world; as such, it offers a new narrative by which one can understand the multiple processes by which the oceanic space of the Atlantic came to be controlled, patrolled, and nationalized in the eighteenth century.Less
Religious outreach to the maritime world in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries constituted a movement to overcome the moral hazard of the ocean and to inscribe the sea and seafaring peoples within the Protestant moral order that was increasingly becoming constitutive of English national identity in this period. An analysis of the networks of largely Anglican religious and charitable associations engaged in Christianization efforts throughout the maritime empire opens up the analysis of mercantilism to a plurality of actors that constituted civil society and political authority in the early modern world; as such, it offers a new narrative by which one can understand the multiple processes by which the oceanic space of the Atlantic came to be controlled, patrolled, and nationalized in the eighteenth century.
Isabel Rivers
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- August 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198269960
- eISBN:
- 9780191851209
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198269960.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature, History of Christianity
This chapter traces the beginning and development of tract publication and distribution from the later seventeenth through to the early nineteenth centuries, with accounts in chronological order of ...
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This chapter traces the beginning and development of tract publication and distribution from the later seventeenth through to the early nineteenth centuries, with accounts in chronological order of the aims, methods, membership, and publications of six societies: the Welsh Trust, an early example of nonconformists and conformists cooperating; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, a Church of England society, the largest and most long-lasting of those analysed; the interdenominational and evangelical Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor; John Wesley’s Society for Distributing Religious Tracts among the Poor; the Unitarian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and the Religious Tract Society.Less
This chapter traces the beginning and development of tract publication and distribution from the later seventeenth through to the early nineteenth centuries, with accounts in chronological order of the aims, methods, membership, and publications of six societies: the Welsh Trust, an early example of nonconformists and conformists cooperating; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, a Church of England society, the largest and most long-lasting of those analysed; the interdenominational and evangelical Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor; John Wesley’s Society for Distributing Religious Tracts among the Poor; the Unitarian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and the Religious Tract Society.
David John Frank and John W. Meyer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780691202051
- eISBN:
- 9780691202075
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691202051.003.0006
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
This chapter depicts the elaborated and porous interface between the university and society, paying special attention to the expanded number and range of linkages. It analyzes how people and ...
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This chapter depicts the elaborated and porous interface between the university and society, paying special attention to the expanded number and range of linkages. It analyzes how people and knowledge flow from nodes in the university into arenas in society. It reviews the main lines of expansion that run from the university to the knowledge society. The chapter talks about the evolving modern and hyper-modern societies that constantly expand the academic arena, such as creating more universities, sending more people to those universities, and creating more tasks for the knowledge system to manage. It also discusses contemporary societies that are rationalized problem factories.Less
This chapter depicts the elaborated and porous interface between the university and society, paying special attention to the expanded number and range of linkages. It analyzes how people and knowledge flow from nodes in the university into arenas in society. It reviews the main lines of expansion that run from the university to the knowledge society. The chapter talks about the evolving modern and hyper-modern societies that constantly expand the academic arena, such as creating more universities, sending more people to those universities, and creating more tasks for the knowledge system to manage. It also discusses contemporary societies that are rationalized problem factories.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199644636
- eISBN:
- 9780191838941
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199644636.003.0022
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, History of Christianity
This chapter provides the first critical survey of those societies that worked under the rubric of the Church of England over the course of its ‘long eighteenth century’. Transcending a scholarly ...
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This chapter provides the first critical survey of those societies that worked under the rubric of the Church of England over the course of its ‘long eighteenth century’. Transcending a scholarly focus on the voluntary quality of such groups and challenging more general assumptions about the supposedly areligious nature of ‘enlightened’ sociability and learning, it shows how the Church of England revitalized its authority by utilizing extra-parochial societies to reconstitute its relationship with its national and international communion. As a reference work, the chapter seeks to inform the general reader whilst guiding specialists towards new lines of enquiry. But its insights into societies such as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge underscore the extent to which ‘Anglican religious societies’ actively shaped the wider history of the English-speaking world.Less
This chapter provides the first critical survey of those societies that worked under the rubric of the Church of England over the course of its ‘long eighteenth century’. Transcending a scholarly focus on the voluntary quality of such groups and challenging more general assumptions about the supposedly areligious nature of ‘enlightened’ sociability and learning, it shows how the Church of England revitalized its authority by utilizing extra-parochial societies to reconstitute its relationship with its national and international communion. As a reference work, the chapter seeks to inform the general reader whilst guiding specialists towards new lines of enquiry. But its insights into societies such as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge underscore the extent to which ‘Anglican religious societies’ actively shaped the wider history of the English-speaking world.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804762632
- eISBN:
- 9780804772921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804762632.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter explores the idea of the knowledge citizen, the constantly learning and relearning individual who supposedly inhabits the knowledge society. It suggests that social democracy is still ...
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This chapter explores the idea of the knowledge citizen, the constantly learning and relearning individual who supposedly inhabits the knowledge society. It suggests that social democracy is still preoccupied with the idea of the knowledge man and that many of the Third Way's means of governance are designed to actively create this utopic citizen. The chapter also argues that New Labour's idea of change as a competitive race and the Swedish rejection of change as exactly such a race are indicative of different notions of modernization and of the role of the individual in the process of change.Less
This chapter explores the idea of the knowledge citizen, the constantly learning and relearning individual who supposedly inhabits the knowledge society. It suggests that social democracy is still preoccupied with the idea of the knowledge man and that many of the Third Way's means of governance are designed to actively create this utopic citizen. The chapter also argues that New Labour's idea of change as a competitive race and the Swedish rejection of change as exactly such a race are indicative of different notions of modernization and of the role of the individual in the process of change.
Barbara Cassin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823278060
- eISBN:
- 9780823280506
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823278060.001.0001
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
In this witty and openly polemical critique of Google, Barbara Cassin looks at Google’s claims to organize knowledge, and its alleged ethical basis, through a reading of its two founding principles: ...
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In this witty and openly polemical critique of Google, Barbara Cassin looks at Google’s claims to organize knowledge, and its alleged ethical basis, through a reading of its two founding principles: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information” and “Don’t be evil”. Cassin is a formidable Hellenist by training, and in Google-Me she uses her profound knowledge of Greek culture, philology and philosophy (and of the history of philosophy more broadly) to challenge the basis on which Google makes its claims and the manner in which it carries out its operations. The perspective it presents on Google is anything but drily philological, densely philosophical, or academic in its tone, but it offers us an entertaining account of its origins and history up until 2007. We would all be well-advised to take this critique seriously, since it goes to the heart of what we often think of rather uncritically as the benefits to humanity of increasingly advanced internet technology. As Cassin puts it toward the end, “Google is a champion of cultural democracy, but without culture and without democracy.” Published originally in French in 2007, Cassin’s book is translated into English for the first time by Michael Syrotinski, and includes a co-authored and updated afterword by Cassin and Syrotinski.Less
In this witty and openly polemical critique of Google, Barbara Cassin looks at Google’s claims to organize knowledge, and its alleged ethical basis, through a reading of its two founding principles: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information” and “Don’t be evil”. Cassin is a formidable Hellenist by training, and in Google-Me she uses her profound knowledge of Greek culture, philology and philosophy (and of the history of philosophy more broadly) to challenge the basis on which Google makes its claims and the manner in which it carries out its operations. The perspective it presents on Google is anything but drily philological, densely philosophical, or academic in its tone, but it offers us an entertaining account of its origins and history up until 2007. We would all be well-advised to take this critique seriously, since it goes to the heart of what we often think of rather uncritically as the benefits to humanity of increasingly advanced internet technology. As Cassin puts it toward the end, “Google is a champion of cultural democracy, but without culture and without democracy.” Published originally in French in 2007, Cassin’s book is translated into English for the first time by Michael Syrotinski, and includes a co-authored and updated afterword by Cassin and Syrotinski.
Martin Ihrig and John Child
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199669165
- eISBN:
- 9780191749346
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669165.003.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Knowledge Management
The introductory chapter outlines Max Boisot’s Information-Space (I-Space), a conceptual framework that facilitates the study of knowledge flows in diverse populations of ‘agents’. As one of Boisot’s ...
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The introductory chapter outlines Max Boisot’s Information-Space (I-Space), a conceptual framework that facilitates the study of knowledge flows in diverse populations of ‘agents’. As one of Boisot’s most fundamental innovations, it enabled him and other researchers to study and advance understanding of the emerging knowledge-based society and the implications of the information revolution. The chapter also reviews Max Boisot’s life and achievements and reflects on how his career path and the international collaborations he formed helped to shape the development of his work. Boisot’s mode of knowledge creation that made him an extraordinary organization scholar and management visionary is described. Finally, the chapter reviews the five core sections into which the book is structured and which cover the main areas in which Boisot forged new understanding, among them Analyses of the Chinese System, Organizational Complexity, The Strategic Management of Knowledge, Knowledge in Big Science, Innovations in Education.Less
The introductory chapter outlines Max Boisot’s Information-Space (I-Space), a conceptual framework that facilitates the study of knowledge flows in diverse populations of ‘agents’. As one of Boisot’s most fundamental innovations, it enabled him and other researchers to study and advance understanding of the emerging knowledge-based society and the implications of the information revolution. The chapter also reviews Max Boisot’s life and achievements and reflects on how his career path and the international collaborations he formed helped to shape the development of his work. Boisot’s mode of knowledge creation that made him an extraordinary organization scholar and management visionary is described. Finally, the chapter reviews the five core sections into which the book is structured and which cover the main areas in which Boisot forged new understanding, among them Analyses of the Chinese System, Organizational Complexity, The Strategic Management of Knowledge, Knowledge in Big Science, Innovations in Education.
David John Frank and John W. Meyer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780691202051
- eISBN:
- 9780691202075
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691202051.001.0001
- Subject:
- Education, Higher and Further Education
The university is experiencing an unprecedented level of success today, as more universities in more countries educate more students in more fields. At the same time, the university has become ...
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The university is experiencing an unprecedented level of success today, as more universities in more countries educate more students in more fields. At the same time, the university has become central to a knowledge society based on the belief that everyone can, through higher education, access universal truths and apply them in the name of progress. This book traces the university's rise over the past hundred years to become the cultural linchpin of contemporary society, revealing how the so-called ivory tower has become profoundly interlinked with almost every area of human endeavor. The book describes how, as the university expanded, student and faculty bodies became larger, more diverse, and more empowered to turn knowledge into action. Their contributions to society underscored the public importance of scholarship, and as the cultural authority of universities grew they increased the scope of their research and teaching interests. As a result, the university has become the bedrock of today's information-based society, an institution that is now implicated in the solution to every conceivable problem. But, as the book also shows, the conditions that helped spur the university's recent ascendance are not immutable: eruptions of nationalism, authoritarianism, and illiberalism undercut the university's universalistic and rationalistic premises, and may threaten the centrality of the university itself.Less
The university is experiencing an unprecedented level of success today, as more universities in more countries educate more students in more fields. At the same time, the university has become central to a knowledge society based on the belief that everyone can, through higher education, access universal truths and apply them in the name of progress. This book traces the university's rise over the past hundred years to become the cultural linchpin of contemporary society, revealing how the so-called ivory tower has become profoundly interlinked with almost every area of human endeavor. The book describes how, as the university expanded, student and faculty bodies became larger, more diverse, and more empowered to turn knowledge into action. Their contributions to society underscored the public importance of scholarship, and as the cultural authority of universities grew they increased the scope of their research and teaching interests. As a result, the university has become the bedrock of today's information-based society, an institution that is now implicated in the solution to every conceivable problem. But, as the book also shows, the conditions that helped spur the university's recent ascendance are not immutable: eruptions of nationalism, authoritarianism, and illiberalism undercut the university's universalistic and rationalistic premises, and may threaten the centrality of the university itself.
John F. Hoffecker
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231147040
- eISBN:
- 9780231518482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231147040.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology
This chapter begins by illustrating V. Gordon Childe's role in shifting the subject of archaeology from artifacts to people. In his book Society and Knowledge, Childe presents a theory of progress ...
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This chapter begins by illustrating V. Gordon Childe's role in shifting the subject of archaeology from artifacts to people. In his book Society and Knowledge, Childe presents a theory of progress based on the observation that human societies increase their mastery of the environment by creating new technologies. The book's central theme is human creativity, which Childe used as framework for interpreting archaeological records as a historical narrative. The archaeological record of the first 40,000 years of the modern mind is referred to as the Upper Paleolithic. The chapter reviews how Upper Paleolithic history recognizes the accumulation of knowledge as the essence of the historical process. By the later stages of the period, humans came to understand more about biology, chemistry, and physics, while artifacts have progressed over time—all of which provide a record of how knowledge was developed during the Upper Paleolithic.Less
This chapter begins by illustrating V. Gordon Childe's role in shifting the subject of archaeology from artifacts to people. In his book Society and Knowledge, Childe presents a theory of progress based on the observation that human societies increase their mastery of the environment by creating new technologies. The book's central theme is human creativity, which Childe used as framework for interpreting archaeological records as a historical narrative. The archaeological record of the first 40,000 years of the modern mind is referred to as the Upper Paleolithic. The chapter reviews how Upper Paleolithic history recognizes the accumulation of knowledge as the essence of the historical process. By the later stages of the period, humans came to understand more about biology, chemistry, and physics, while artifacts have progressed over time—all of which provide a record of how knowledge was developed during the Upper Paleolithic.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226709321
- eISBN:
- 9780226709338
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226709338.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter analyzes sustained efforts to predict the tides on Britain's coasts, following the study of the tides from the less glamorous position of calculation. It focuses on the legal claim made ...
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This chapter analyzes sustained efforts to predict the tides on Britain's coasts, following the study of the tides from the less glamorous position of calculation. It focuses on the legal claim made by Joseph Foss Dessiou, the first state-funded tide calculator in Britain, against the proprietors of the Nautical Almanac, who used his tidal reductions without proper compensation. It also highlights the significance of associate laborers to physical astronomy during the Victorian period. British industrialization rapidly made London the largest port in the world, and publishing London tide tables became a competitive and lucrative business. Charles Knight, a prolific publisher and writer, suggested to Henry Brougham, founder of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, that the Society include an almanac among its inexpensive publications. After mariners questioned the accuracy of these initial tide tables, John William Lubbock, a Cambridge graduate and successful London banker, stepped in to calculate the major tidal constants for the port. From the beginning, the study of the tides was a collaborative and hierarchical affair begun by associate laborers themselves.Less
This chapter analyzes sustained efforts to predict the tides on Britain's coasts, following the study of the tides from the less glamorous position of calculation. It focuses on the legal claim made by Joseph Foss Dessiou, the first state-funded tide calculator in Britain, against the proprietors of the Nautical Almanac, who used his tidal reductions without proper compensation. It also highlights the significance of associate laborers to physical astronomy during the Victorian period. British industrialization rapidly made London the largest port in the world, and publishing London tide tables became a competitive and lucrative business. Charles Knight, a prolific publisher and writer, suggested to Henry Brougham, founder of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, that the Society include an almanac among its inexpensive publications. After mariners questioned the accuracy of these initial tide tables, John William Lubbock, a Cambridge graduate and successful London banker, stepped in to calculate the major tidal constants for the port. From the beginning, the study of the tides was a collaborative and hierarchical affair begun by associate laborers themselves.
Barbara Cassin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823278060
- eISBN:
- 9780823280506
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823278060.003.0004
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
The first of two chapters that analyse in philological and philosophical detail each term of the claims made by Google with its two dominant mottos: “Our mission is to organize the world’s ...
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The first of two chapters that analyse in philological and philosophical detail each term of the claims made by Google with its two dominant mottos: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information” and “Don’t be evil.” This is seen as America’s “second mission,” in the context of George Bush’s post 9/11 declaration of “war on terror”, justified by the morality of America’s “first mission,” namely the fight of good against evil on a global scale. Less
The first of two chapters that analyse in philological and philosophical detail each term of the claims made by Google with its two dominant mottos: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information” and “Don’t be evil.” This is seen as America’s “second mission,” in the context of George Bush’s post 9/11 declaration of “war on terror”, justified by the morality of America’s “first mission,” namely the fight of good against evil on a global scale.