Knowledge management for development communities: balancing in the thin divide between tacit and codified knowledge
Keywords:
scientometrics, citations, Knowledge Management for Development Journal, knowledge, codificationAbstract
In this paper I review the old divide between codified and tacit knowledge in the field of knowledge management for development with the help of a bibliographic approach. In particular, attention is given to the efforts of knowledge sharing communities to bridge the gap between practitioners and researchers. Journals are taken as the common currency between practice and research for the exchange of knowledge. Through this approach the communities of practice although rich in social interaction, shape not only the ways knowledge is being shared but the content of what is being shared. Disregarding social connotations towards codification, knowledge codification implies a transformation process from where the original idea is less idiosyncratic to the person and becomes more systematic to the group. I illustrate this line of reasoning by using the case of the Knowledge Management for Development Journal (KM4DEV). In making the above-mentioned exercise, I use theories on the divide between tacit and codified knowledge, development studies and context-based knowledge and the method of scientometrics are used.References
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Belli, A. 1997. Toda la Salsa Junta. Managua: Editorial Enlace.
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Cowan, R. and Foray, D. 1997. The economics of codification and the diffusion of knowledge,
Industrial and Corporate Change, 6 (3), 595?622.
Elias, M., Bayala, J. and Dianda, M. 2006. Impediments and innovations in knowledge sharing: the
case of the African shea sector. Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 2 (1), 52?72.
Enlace 2007. Enlace. Available from: http://www.simas.org.ni/revistaenlace/ (accessed 11 September
2007).
Fahrenbacher, M. 2002. Concorder Pro [software]. Available from: http://homepage.mac.com/
fahrenba/programs/concorderPro/concorderPro.html (accessed 20 September 2007).
Garfield, E. 1973. Citation frequency as a measure of research activity and performance. Essays of
an information scientist, 1 (S 406), 408.
Google 2007. About Google Scholar. Available from: http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/
about.html (accessed 25 September 2007).
Guzmán, M.S. 2007. Using ICTs for knowledge sharing and collaboration: an international experience
based on Bellanet?s work in the South, Knowledge Management for Development Journal,
3 (1), 68?78.
Hall, B.H., Jaffe, A.B. and Trajtenberg, M. 2000. Market value and patent citations: a first look.
Economics working papers (E00?277).
Hansen, M., Nohria, N. and Tierney, T. 1999. What?s your strategy for managing knowledge? Harvard
Business Review, 72 (2), 106?116.
Harzing, A.-W. 2007. Publish or perish. Available from: http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm.
(accessed 10 October 2007).
Hulsebosch, J., Marcilly, B. and Schaeffers, L. 2006. Uniting through networks: the art of fostering
ICT for development (ICT4D) networks, Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 2 (2),
33?47.
Izquierdo, L and Hanneman, R. 2007. Introduction to the formal analysis of social networks using
mathematica. Available from: http://www.luis.izquierdo.name/ (accessed January 2008).
Johnson, S. 2005. Emerging technology. Available from: http://discovermagazine.com/2005/oct/
emerging-technology/ (accessed 10 October 2007).
Johnson, C. 2006. The practical zone system: for film and digital photography. Burlington, MA:
Focal Press.
Kamada, T. and Kawai, S. 1989. An algorithm for drawing general undirected graphs, Information
Processing Letters, 31 (1), 7?15.
Kelty, C. M. 2001. Free science/free software, First Monday, 6 (12). Available from: http://firstmonday.
org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/902/811 (accessed 29 September
2007).
King, K. and McGrath, S. 2004. Knowledge for development? Comparing British, Japanese, Swedish
and World Bank aid. Cape Town: London & HSRC Press.
KM4Dev 2005. About KM4Dev. Available from: http://www.km4dev.org/?module=articles&
func=display&ptid=1&aid=580 (accessed 20 September 2007).
Ladi, S. 2000. Globalization, think-tanks and policy transfer. In D. Stone, ed.: Banking on knowledge:
the genesis of the GDN. London: Routledge, 203?220.
Lewis, D. 2006. Issues and priorities in non-governmental organisation research, Journal of Health
Management, 8 (2), 181?193.
Leydesdorff, L. 1986. The development of frames of references. Scientometrics, 9 (3), 103?125.
Leydesdorff, L.A. 2001. The challenge of scientometrics: the development, measurement, and selforganization
of scientific communications. Universial Publishers.
Leydesdorff, L. 2007. FullText.exe for full text analysis. Available from: http://users.fmg.uva.nl/
lleydesdorff/software/fulltext/ (accessed 23 September 2007).
McGrath, S. and King, K. 2004. Knowledge based aid: a four agency comparative study, International
Journal of Education Development, 24 (2), 167?181.
McNamara, K. S. 2003. Information and communication technologies, poverty and development.
Geneva: infoDev.
O?Reilly, T. (2005). What Is Web 2.0. from http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/
09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=1
PKP 1998. Public knowledge project. Available from: http://pkp.sfu.ca/ (accessed 10 December 2007).
Riddel, R. 2007. Does foreign aid really work? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thomson 2007. Social Sciences Citation Index. Available from: http://scientific.thomson. com/
products/ssci/ (accessed 13 September 2007).
20 A. Acuna
Tsoukaas, H. and Vladimirou, E. 2001. What is organizational knowledge? Journal of Management
Studies, 38 (7), 973?994.
Van Der Velden, M. 2002. Knowledge facts, knowledge fiction: the role of ICTs in knowledge management
for development. Journal of International Development, 14 (1), 25?37.
Web2forDev 2007. About the Web 2 for Dev Conference. Available from: http://www.web2fordev.
net/about.html?no_cache=1 (accessed 20 September 2007).
Wenger, E. 2007. Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity, 3 (1), 2?4.
White, N., Kanter, B., Sarker, P., Somolu, O., Trayner, B., Zulu, B., et al. 2007. Stewarding technologies
for collaboration, community building and knowledge sharing in development, Knowledge
Management for Development Journal, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
World Bank 1998. World development report 1998/1999. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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2019-08-02
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