[ASC-list] The (blurry?) line between communication and knowledge sharing

[Jennifer Metcalfe]

I’ve always thought that ‘knowledge broker’ was just a fancy term for communicator…
It was invented to make communication sound more important and palatable to those who don’t value the role properly…

Science communicators have a variety of roles and knowledge broker or manager is just one of those many roles… an important one, especially when facilitating the sharing of knowledge between scientists and others…

J

Jenni Metcalfe
PhD Student at University of Nottingham, Sociology Dept, UK, Feb-August, 2014
Universitas 21 exchange from the University of Queensland, Australia
Director, Econnect Communication, www.econnect.com.au<http://www.econnect.com.au/>
Mobile: UK +44 (0) 7473 109 685; or Australia +61 (0) 408 551 866
jenni at econnect.com.au<mailto:jenni at econnect.com.au>
skype: jenni.metcalfe
twitter: @JenniMet

From: ASC-list [mailto:asc-list-bounces at lists.asc.asn.au] On Behalf Of Michelle Kovacevic
Sent: Monday, 14 July 2014 7:17 AM
To: asc-list at lists.asc.asn.au
Subject: [ASC-list] The (blurry?) line between communication and knowledge sharing

Hi ASC-ers,

Over the past few months I've been introduced to the concepts of knowledge management and knowledge sharing, but to be honest I still don't know where the the role of "communicator" ends and "knowledge manager/sharer/broker" begins.

It seems one of the postulated differences is that communication is a "one-way" process of information provision and passive reception, whereas knowledge sharing is more of holistic process, connecting users and producers of information (knowledge? semantics?) so they can co-create a "knowledge product" that serves multiple needs.

To date, my job as a "science communicator" has involved aspects of writing, editing, multimedia, project management, education, data management, training, PR and research, amongst other things.

To me, effective communication cannot be defined a passive, one way process if it truly wishes to be effective and I don't think, as a science communicator, I have ever practiced it as such.

Would be keen for the community's thoughts on whether we should be calling ourselves communicators vs when we might be knowledge managers/brokers? Or does it even matter what we call ourselves?

Cheers,

Michelle

--
Michelle Kovacevic
Communicator. Educator. Project Manager. Scientist. Creative Thinker.
michellekovacevic.com<http://michellekovacevic.com> (beta)
Find me on: LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=66994213> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/kovamic> | SlideShare<https://www.slideshare.net/MichelleKovacevic>
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