1) Morning Session: Knowledge Mobilization 101

Peter Norman Levesque, KSJ, President, Institute for Knowledge Mobilization

Core Ideas

  1. Knowledge Mobilization is not new – think outreach, land-grant, etc.
  2. Knowledge Mobilization is linked to service, community, and action research.
  3. Knowledge Mobilization is about ethics. Dr. Archie Cochrane argued it was unethical to do more research when we do not implement what we already know.
  4. Knowledge Mobilization is a social activity with technical tools – not the other way around.
  5. Forget about keeping up – we are overwhelmed with data and information – think about connecting to how to solve problems and create value.
  6. Design always with the audience in mind – make the audience real rather than theoretical.
  7. Use evidence about knowledge mobilization – read the research about what works.
  8. Use available tools and templates to save time – they help you avoid omissions.
  9. Develop a model of knowledge mobilization that works for your environment – it helps you think about the connections and relationships.
  10. Link to a community of practice to learn and share what you learn – links you to the collective intelligence of other practitioners.
  11. Approach knowledge mobilization as a complex (ever-changing and iterative concept) rather than a complicated one.
  12. Think about value creation as more than just products or policies – there are potential programs, skills, changes of perspectives, new processes and procedures across sectors, etc.
  13. Think about building in time for conversations – do not just push the research out. Create linkages to conversations that let you know what is most meaningful to the users of your work.
  14. Build your capacity through professional development – conferences, summer schools, roundtables, certificate programs, etc.
  15. Knowledge mobilization is not just a nice-to-do. It is a need-to-do and linked to Articles 26 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Suggested Readings

Allee V (2003). The future of knowledge: Increasing prosperity through value networks. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Barwick MA, Boydell KM, Stasiulis E, Ferguson HB, Blase K, Fixsen D (2005). Knowledge transfer and evidence-based practice in children’s mental health. Toronto, ON: Children’s Mental Health Ontario.

Battelle J (2005). The Search: how Google and its rivals rewrote the rules of business and transformed ourculture. New York: Portfolio.

Bennet A, Bennet D (2007). Knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities: Moving from research to action. Frost, WV: MQI Press.

Bero LA, Grilli R, Grimshaw JM, Harvey E, Oxman AD, Thomson MA (1998). Getting research findings into practice: Closing the gap between research and practice: an overview of systematic reviews of interventions to promote the implementation of research findings. BMJ, 15 Aug; 317(7156): 465-468.

Beyer JM, Trice HM (1982). The utilization process: A conceptual framework and synthesis of empirical findings. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27(4): 591-622.

Brown JS, Duguid P (2002). The social life of information. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Bryan LL, Joyce CI (2007). Mobilizing minds: Creating wealth from talent in the 21st century organization. NewYork: McGraw Hill.

Carr N (2008). The big switch: Rewiring the world, from Edison to Google. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Davenport TH, Prusack L (1998). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Boston:Harvard Business School Press.

Harvard Business Review (1998) Knowledge Management: Ideas with Impact. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Landry R, Amara N, Lamary M (2001). Utilization of social science research knowledge in Canada. ResearchPolicy, 30, 333-349.

Levine R, Locke C, Searls D, Weinberger D (2001). The cluetrain manifesto: the end of business as usual. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.

Lomas J (1997). Improving research dissemination and uptake in the health sector: Beyond the sound of onehand clapping. Policy Commentary. Nov, C97-1.

Nonaka I, Nishiguchi T, eds. (2001). Knowledge emergence: Social, technical, and evolutionary dimensions ofknowledge creation. New York: Oxford University Press.

Senge PM (1990). The fifth discipline. New York: Doubleday.

Skyrme DJ (1999). Knowledge networking: creating the collaborative enterprise. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Straus SE, Sackett DL (1998). Using research findings in clinical practice. BMJ, 1 Aug;317(7154):339-342.

Wenger E, McDermott R, Snyder WM (2002). A guide to managing knowledge: cultivating communities of practice. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Wheatley MJ (2006). Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world. San Francisco:Berrett- Koehler Publishers.

Carleton University, Ottawa15 - 16 - 17August 2016