knowledge mobilization: knowledge translation and communications as acts of caring

Knowledge Mobilization:Knowledge Translation and

Communications as acts of caring

Native Women’s Association of Canada, Health Advisory Committee (HAC)

September 27-28, 2010NOVOTEL HOTEL, Ottawa

Presentation by Peter Levesque

www.knowledgemobilization.net 2

Outline

1. Personal Introduction

2. Introduction of key concepts

3. Some history of thinking on KMb

4. Some tools

5. Dialogue – thinking as a group


Some Personal Details

• Husband: Married to Penny Levesque (born Johnston)• Father: Matthew [gift of God] 18, Caitlin [precious one] 16• Son: Winifred Fallon, Andre Levesque• Brother: Claudette Levesque • Celtic Origin: Athlone, County Rosscommon & Hautot

Saint Sulpice, Normandy• Currently live: Cardinal Creek in Orleans on Algonquin

Land• Core belief: we are all created from one


Career Path

• Now: Director, Knowledge Mobilization Works• 2005-2007: Knowledge Exchange Specialist, Provincial

Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO• 2002-2005: Deputy-Director, Knowledge Products and

Mobilization, SSHRC• 1998-2002: Program/Policy Officer SSHRC - CURA,

Program Integration, VP’s office• 1990-1998: Various positions in research, business,

NGOs


Drowning in communication?• Never in human history have we hunted for so

much data, information and knowledge.

• Never in human history have we gathered so much that is useful but not used.

• Growing feeling of being overfed with data?• Data becomes information when it is informative.• Information becomes knowledge when we act.

• Knowledge Mobilization is about making what we know ready for action and service to build value.


Emergence of Many Terms

Graham, I., et al. (2006) Lost in knowledge translation: time for a map? Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 26:1 13-24


Quote: Environmental

Taking in traumatic information and transmuting it into life-affirming action may turn out to be the most advanced and meaningful spiritual practice of our time.

Richard Heinberghttp://globalpublicmedia.com/how_do_you_like_the_collapse_so_far

Quote: Biomedical

‘All breakthrough, no follow through’Woolf (2006) Washington Post op ed

• Much of the US $100 billion/year worldwide investment in biomedical and health research is wasted because of dissemination and implementation failures

www.knowledgemobilization.net

Quote: Clinical Research

Institute of Medicine; Clinical Research Roundtable, Sung et al. JAMA 289:1278,2003

www.knowledgemobilization.net


Working Definition

A commonly cited definition:Getting the right information to the right people in the right format at the right time so as to influence decision-making.

(Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation)

Easier said than done. • How do we support doing this? • What is a knowledge mobilization culture?

Knowledge Mobilization Works definition: Knowledge Mobilization (KMb) is the complex process of making what we know ready for service or action to build value.


But what is the goal?

Not just to know but to do the best for those we care about

http://www.nwac.ca/2010-sisters-spirit-vigils


Three basic questions:What? - So What? - Now What?

Now What: Decisions,

Directions, Actions

So What: Meaning,

Analysis, Interpretation

What: Data, Information, Description, Stories

MULTIPLE INPUTS FROM RESEARCH, PRACTICE, EXPERIENCE, CULTURE

Innovation

SupportingInfrastructure

Initiatives

Incentives to Share betweenLevels

Value Creation

ProgramsPoliciesPrioritiesProcessesPractice

ProductsPerspectivesProceduresPossibilitiesPeople Skills


Core Communication Concepts

Context

Culture

Content

Capacity

Conversations

Conversations


Human Right?

10 December 1948, UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 27.(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the

cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html


Data

• Simple observations of states of the world: – easily structured, – easily captured on machines, – often quantified, – easily transferred

Thomas Davenport: Information Ecology, Oxford, 1997


Information

• Data endowed with relevance and purpose:– requires unit of analysis,– need consensus on meaning– human mediation necessary



Knowledge

• Valuable information from the human mind/body/spirit.

• Includes reflection, synthesis, context– hard to structure,– difficult to capture on machines– often tacit (rather than explicit)– hard to transfer



Tacit Knowledge

• what is sub-consciously known by an individual and is extremely difficult to articulate or write down for use by; it includes know-how, rules of thumb, experience, insights, and intuitions.

Rumizen 2002 291


Explicit Knowledge

• knowledge that can be articulated in formal language and transmitted among individuals.

Leveraging Knowledge at the PSC 1998


Community of Practice

• a group of people who are brought together for professional as well as personal reasons by a desire to learn more about common opportunities and problems. It is formed with an intention to add value by directly collaborating, using one another and outside resource, to learn and teach each other. Its purpose is to develop a body of actionable knowledge through open non-competitive exchange; to learn and contribute through sharing information on challenges and best practices within an

organization

Global Gateways 2002


Learning Communities

• refers to informal groups of people that cross organizational boundaries and come together to discuss best practices, issues, or skills that the groups want to learn about

Rumizen 2002 288


Learning Organizations

• an organization skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge, and modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights

Skyrme 1997 21

• an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future. Adaptive learning (survival) is joined with generative learning (creation)

Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, New York, 1990


Knowledge Ecology

• emphasis is on an organization’s entire knowledge environment. It addresses all values and beliefs about knowledge; how people actually use knowledge and what they do with it; the pit falls that can interfere with knowledge sharing; and what knowledge systems are already in place

Leveraging Knowledge at the PSC 1998


Plain languageNew Yorker: Dana Fradon 1975


Use of evidenceNew Yorker: Mick Stevens 1989


ImpactNew Yorker: Sam Gross 1991


AccessNew Yorker: John Caldwell 2000


Where are we now?

• Greater complexity• More relationships with more diversity• More emphasis on production chains• Outputs are inputs for other

systems/sectors• Emergence and awareness of

opportunities• Changes in role of experts


Systems Thinking

• Conceptual framework – knowledge and tools that help make full patterns clearer and see how to make change effectively


Ecological Perspective

• the relations of organisms to one another and their physical surroundings

(Canadian Oxford Dictionary,

2004)

• suggest that we also add relations to our conceptual surroundings: data, information, culture, behavior, work, politics, processes, technology...


CIHR Knowledge to Action


KMb: Basic Methods

• Réjean Landry, of l’Université Laval, has shown that the greatest value from knowledge mobilization happens when we LINK and EXCHANGE. Yet most KMb activities are still based on PUSH and PULL.

PUSH PULL

LINK EXCHANGE


Common KMb practice


Dissemination

• Scattering of seeds

• Spread widely– How do we prepare the soil to receive the

seeds?– How do we nurture the growth of these

seeds?– What does the harvest look like?– What happens in the marketplace?


Common KMb practice


Accessibility

• Access– Physical

• Increasing access to findings published in Journals, on-line, open access, systematic reviews

– Conceptual• What does this mean for my practice, location,

context, culture


Common KMb practice


Systems need Diversity

• The challenge with herding cats is that the cats may have interests that are non-standard.

• How to support BOTH the utilization of standards (excellence) and the exploration of the new (invention and innovation)?

• Managing for diversity provides the potential for resilience to learn from failure.


Linkage

• A network is a set of interconnected nodes. Networks are a very old form of human practice, but they have taken on a new life in our time by becoming information networks, powered by the Internet.

Manuel Castells, The Internet Galaxy, 2001

• The network is the pervasive organizational image of the new millennium.

Janice Gross Stein and Richard Stren, Knowledge Networks in Global Society:

Pathways to Development in Networks of Knowledge, 2001


Tools

• Events

• Publications

• Meta Tools

• Sustainability

• KMb and Learners


Events

• Advisory board• Book launch/signing• Colloquium• Community meeting• Consortium• Conference• Contest• Demonstration• Exhibit• Festival

• Focus group• Forum• Informal event• Knowledge exchange

panel• Knowledge fair• Media panel• Meeting• Performance• Professional association


Events

• Professional development day

• Retreat• Roundtable• Seminar• Speaker series• Stand-down• Strategy session• Symposium• Storytelling

• Tours• Town hall• Training• Training literacy• Workshops

– Capacity building– Community leaders– Educators– Knowledge transfer– Multiple solutions– Series


Publications

• Background papers• Bibliography• Boor review• Brief• Brochure• Case study• Editorial• Editorial board• Fact sheet• Flyer

• Guidelines• Road map• Handbook• Ice breaker• Information packet• Interpretative materials• Manuals• One-pager• Policy update• Presentations


Publications

• Cartooning• Presentation handout• Press release• Public service

announcement• Publishing program

– Community experiences– Fiction– Magazine– Memoir– Op-ed

• Poetry• Popular press books• Quizzes• Research papers• Resource toolkit• Synthesis paper• Systematic review


Meta-tools

• Generic– Academic research

papers– Environmental scan– Journaling– KMb handbook– Needs assessment

studies– Synthesis– Template

• Exploring– Design experiments– Experimental projects– Incubator– Matchmaking– Pilots


Meta-tools

• Developing reference materials– Acronym list– Bibliography– Catalogue– Glossary– Lexicon– Thesaurus– Value-chain

• Consulting approaches– Community– Consultations– Network– Specialized expertise

• Media– Documentary– DVD– Film festival;– Graphics– Movie– Radio program– Story pitches– Television show– Theatre– Training video– Video series


Sustainability

• Advisory Board• Champion Network• Communication forum• Community map• Web conference• Content management

system• Database• Decision support

system

• Directory• Discussion forum• Discovery tools• Distance learning studio• Expert network• Gaming• Global dialogue• Hot links• Hyperlinks• Intranet


Sustainability

• Knowledge networks• Learning trajectory• Linking• Marketing platform• Portal• Reading tools• Server• Simulations• User accounts• Virtual learning commons

• Living repositories– Annals– Art Gallery– Bulletin boards– Clearinghouse– Compendium– Events on-line– Exhibits– Interactive Q&A– Library– Publications on-line– Preservation systems


Sustainability

• Living repositories– Project journal on-line– Research inventory– Web-page– Virtual resource room– Web site– Wiki

• Media and Web– Blog– Chat room– Commentary– Community Bulletins– Distribution list

– E-Mail/E-newsletter– Knowledge streaming– KT Rounds– Newsletter summaries– Podcasts– Research progress reports– Streaming– Telecommuting– Teleconferencing– Video conferencing– Web-casting– Web magazine– Wikipedia– You-tube


KMb & Learners

• Adult education• Camp assistant• Coaching• Collaborative

exploration• Distance learning• Interpretative centre• Job shadowing• Mentoring• Professional

development• Student field testing

• Train-the-trainer• Training partner• Web courses• Accredited self-study• Co-op arrangements• Certification program• Curriculum addition• Graduate program• Graduate research forum• Internship


KMb & Learners

• Lunch & learn• Reer review• Practicum• Practitioner on campus• Research mentor• Residence fellowship• Art production• Children and Youth

certificat/diploma• Role playing• Summer camps• Summer school

• 3-D virtual reality• Video series• Web Quests

And we could add more.


Contact Information

Peter LevesqueKnowledge Mobilization WorksConsult | Facilitate | Imagine | Train | Write

web: www.knowledgemobilization.netemail: [email protected]: peterlevesqueCanada: 1 613 552 2725USA: 1 347 535 4833twitter: @peterlevesquelinkedin: knowledgemobilizationworks

knowledge mobilization: knowledge translation and communications as acts of caring

Documents

knowledge translation

knowledge mobilization

knowledge mobilization

knowledge products

knowledge exchange specialist

right information

health research

right time