Knowledge is the Step Beyond Information

The growth and diffusion of Internet usage is unprecedented. Knowledge exchange and the use of online resources has potential to provide needed improvement in international public health communications.

More and more, international public health field professionals are turning to the Internet as a source of information retrieval. Information that is found is traditionally in the form of explicit knowledge – knowledge that is formally in written text. There is a need to also share tacit knowledge, information residing in the heads of practioners.

Making Tacit Knowledge Explicit

Tacit knowledge is usually unorganized, undocumented and less likely to be captured. But is it is this [informal] knowledge that is essential in capturing different perceptions of studies, situations, implementation methods, challenges, and accomplishments. This knowledge helps add to the knowledge base of others.

Public health workers have the opportunity to contribute to the knowledge base of the Internet, providing first hand knowledge based on experience. In order to manage knowledge, public health workers must become better collaborators (Saint-Onge, Knowledge and Strategy, 1999).

Concerns

First, there is a need to educate people on the how to contribute to sources of knowledge sharing as it relates to their line of work. If this is not accomplished, there could potentially be:

1. slow knowledge of new research and cutting edge technology
2. less peer-to-peer communication
3. less sharing of best practices
4. less interaction among peers in conflicting countries
5. decreased collaborative activity

Solutions

A solution to improving the knowledge base of public health workers in international development would be to implement successful knowledge management practices in program and donor organizations.

The National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales has embarked upon a radical and far-reaching program of change and reform. However, to date the results of organizational quality and service improvement initiatives in the public sector have been mixed, if not to say disappointing, with anticipated gains often failing to materialize or to be sustained in the longer term (Bate and Robert, 2002). Researchers recommended the NHS turn information into knowledge through the use of “collaboratives”. Collaboratives are defined as a social network that provides necessary informal knowledge exchange mechanisms for tacit knowledge flows to occur.

The purpose of KM as a field of research and practice is how to better utilize the knowledge or ‘intellectual capital’ contained in an organization’s network (Cummings, 2001; Stewart, 1997; Teece, 2000).

James Surowiecki points out that many people can give a collective portrait of a situation, issue or disaster. In his book “Wisdom of Crowds,” Surowiecki introduces a simple idea that a large group of people are smarter than an elite few. I suggest this broad concept be considered and integrated in to the international public health field when developing communications and knowledge sharing plans.

Knowledge Management in the Public Sector

The public sector is starting to grasp the importance of harnessing workers’ intellectual capital by implementing knowledge management practices. The national standards body in the UK (British Standards) has identified public sector knowledge management a key area of interest. While knowledge management may have always been in place and just not explicitly mandated, they report that knowledge is a key component of developing policy and providing services.

Efforts have begun to establish social networks in public health in the form of online communities of practice. The WHO, in partnership with USAID has established Implementing Best Practices, a web site that supports online collaboration.

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