Knowledge dissemination: Determining impact

Abstract

Creation, manipulation, management and dissemination of knowledge cannot go on forever without determining what impact it is having on those who create it and those who use it. This paper explores methods of determining the impact of disseminated knowledge. It does this by first defining what knowledge is. This is followed by a discussion on different mediums through which knowledge may be disseminated. It then discusses two questions – when do we know when to disseminate knowledge and how do we know when it has been disseminated. The discussion is followed by a discussion on different methods of monitoring and evaluating disseminated knowledge. It concludes by giving an example of what the CSIR is doing to evaluate the impact of research knowledge it disseminates. Contrary to Plato and Foskett’s definition of knowledge, the paper postulates that knowledge is information that is acceptable to a norm about a subject. In treating different mediums that may be used to disseminate knowledge, the paper first argues that mediums of disseminating knowledge can be grouped into two main categories, namely natural and man made mediums. Natural mediums of knowledge dissemination include audio and gestures which are performed by all leaving beings whereas, man-made mediums include all mediums of communication that man has developed out of transforming matter. Knowledge itself cannot be monitored, only presence in its carrier can. Ipso facto, evaluation of knowledge can be done by analyzing different carriers of it or use thereof, not knowledge itself, because an indisputable truth is that presence of knowledge is only manifest in its application. In monitoring and evaluating knowledge as transformed matter, the criteria of process and progress; relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability may be used respectively. Techniques of analyzing applied knowledge data abound. Two techniques of applied knowledge analysis which are used in the CSIR namely, Cost-Benefit Analysis and Cost-effectiveness Analysis are discussed