Tons of research is done every day by all kinds of people, grad students, professors, citizen scientists, etc. Despite all this much of the research done whithers away in academic journals never making to the eyes of the right people. Why is this? Well I can’t give you a definite reason but I can help explain the difference between knowledge and usable knowledge. Interested? See more after the jump! “[Knowledge] languishes in libraries unused by society”
This quote from the article “Crafting usable knowledge for sustainable development.” By Clark et al. 2016 best represents what I’m trying to explain in this post. I’ll also note that this article was my main inspiration for writing this post and anyone who is still interested should check out this article! Time to get to the crux of it. Anyone who has ever read an academic article can understand that these are not easily digestible by the general public despite how well-read a person is, if you’re not an expert in a particular subject some of these articles can be pretty tricky to decipher. So how does knowledge become usable. How can we avoid letting our hard work and research end up as an old crusty tome destined to die in a library? Well here are a few tips for researchers. Researchers (specifically in the field of natural resources and the environment) must understand that the systems that they’re working within are innovative, complex, adaptive and political. Because of this researchers need to understand that their research needs to be shaped by these systems. In order to do this, researchers must focus on interacting with the potential users of the knowledge. A great example that Clark et al. brings up is that of the Green Revolution. For those unfamiliar the Green Revolution refers to an initiative occurring between the 20’s and 60’s focusing on revolutionizing the agricultural industry around the world to be able to produce more food. Overall it worked but not without some serious repercussions. For example, Africa, a continent that for centuries survived off millet as its staple cropped switched to crops such as wheat and corn that are not suited for their climate. This leads to an increased need for irrigation and fertilizers that may not be readily available. This example shows the importance of interacting with potential users and understanding the context in which they live. Too often is local knowledge ignored when researchers should be trying to learn as much as they can from the contexts they work within. New knowledge can only become usable when it is shaped to fit the existing systems that it works in. To conclude, the best ways to assure that your knowledge is usable is to interact with the users. Where people’s lives are affected they cannot be discounted and neither can their local knowledge. Working with stakeholders throughout all stages of research also leads to an increase in trust between the stakeholders and the researchers. This could lead to stakeholders being more receptive to your research and more likely to adopt any practices that researchers may suggest.
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AuthorsJust two water lovers exploring todays water issues. Archives
July 2017
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