Everyday knowledge use

knowledge (noun) “facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject”; “the sum of what is known”; “true, justified belief; certain understanding, as opposed to opinion”; “awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.” oxforddictionaries.com

Living means using knowledge. Constantly. As we use knowledge we make new knowledge. And sometimes that means changing what we thought we knew. Knowledge is dynamic.

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I am a creature of habit.

Most days during the week I wake up and shower, have a protein shake for breakfast, brush my teeth and then drive to work.

Each of these activities is informed by, dependent on, or embedded in, countless propositions that I or others believe in and act on.

Let's look at showering as an example. I, like many people, use an exfoliating body wash. Many common supermarket brands contain plastic microbeads, an invention of the Norwegian engineer John Ugelstad. Microbeads have numerous industrial and medical applications; their use in cosmetics is a recent phenomenon. Since microbeads have been put to use, a fair amount of scientific evidence has evolved that points to the detrimental effects these particles have on aquatic environments. Brands are looking to remove microbeads from their products and governments are moving to limit or outlaw the sale of cosmetics that include microbeads.

We can break this down into a number of key events:

1. Knowledge was used in the creation of a technology: microbeads;
2. Microbeads were used in an unanticipated way - as an exfoliant in cosmetics;
3. A knowledge-base solidified regarding the adverse impacts of microbeads on the environment;
4. This knowledge was used to raise awareness and apply pressure to governments and businesses to encourage regulatory and product changes;
5. I can now use this knowledge, as an informed consumer, to check the labels of the products I buy to make sure they don't contain microbeads.

In just one of the activities that constitutes my morning routine we can see the complicated web of knowledge, and knowledge use, that we are all a part of. The example also highlights several questions about knowledge and its use that intrigue me. Questions, like:

• What does it mean to use knowledge?
• How can we make the best of use of the knowledge we produce?
• When we use knowledge, what knowledge do we ignore?
• How does what we know motivate us to act?
• How does knowledge make us responsible for what we do?
• What responsibility do we have to gather knowledge about the ways we act (and the things we use)?
• Can we know in advance what knowledge is good to use?

In the coming blogs I will be answering these questions. Or, at least, I will be exploring them in more detail. Stick around, it promises to get wild.

Welcome to knowledgeuse.com!

What is knowledge use?

Knowledge use is the consideration and implementation of new insights by a knowledge user.

Knowledge use is the lesser known approach to its cousins knowledge translation, knowledge transfer and knowledge exchange.

Focussing on knowledge use is user-centric. It is about:

• what knowledge users want (and need) to know, and
• how prospective knowledge users are likely to use knowledge to inform their practice

Why should we care about knowledge use?

A knowledge use perspective is beneficial because it helps creators of knowledge transcend their own beliefs, biases and hopes about the knowledge they produce. This is the first step to achieving a better understanding about what is useful about an idea from the point of view of those who we hope will put it into practice. From this vantage, knowledge creators are better equipped to make and communicate their ideas and thus achieve better impacts.