Understanding the role of culture in knowledge sharing: making the invisible visible
The purpose of this issue is to present some recent experiences of knowledge sharing and culture by practitioners who have been involved in planning, introducing, and mainstreaming knowledge sharing approaches and processes in development organizations. This issue is strongly linked to the KM4Dev annual meeting on the same subject which took place at the ILO Headquarters in
This issue contains six articles:
‘The culture of a knowledge fair: lessons from an international organization’ by Barbara
Collins, Rafael Diez de Medina and Anne Trebilcock
‘Building knowledge from the practice of local communities’ by Ceasar McDowell,
Andrea Nagel, Susana Williams and Claudia Canepa
‘Elective affinities? Reflections on the enduring appeal of knowledge management for the development sector’ by Giulio Quaggiotto
‘Bridging the gap between research and practice’ by Julie E. Ferguson
‘The culture of management or the management of culture: a case study of the Rural
Women’s Association,
One case study
‘The
One story
‘Culture, learning and surviving a PhD: a journey in search of my own path’ by CamiloVilla
In addition to Katty Marmenout’s interview with Professor Clive Holtham on
‘Knowledge and culture: learning from the past’, the Community Notes by Urs Karl
Egger gives a glimpse into the workings of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Renewal Project. Finally, Sibrenne Wagenaar has provided a Review of Steve Denning’s latest book on story telling.
This edition of the Journal reflects some of the challenge of looking at culture and reconfirms the richness of this theme. The importance and vastness of the cultural dimension of sharing knowledge for development also underlines the considerable work yet ahead. Let us open the box of Pandora for a third time, to go beyond hope, and further enhance our understanding of the role of culture, as an input, output and a factor to effectively and efficiently share knowledge for quality and quantitative development.