Knowledge Policies

Knowledge policies are becoming an increasingly important element of the Information Society and the knowledge economy. Such policies provide institutional foundations for creating, managing, and using organizational knowledge as well as social foundations for balancing global competitiveness with social order and cultural values. Knowledge policies can be viewed from a number of perspectives: the necessary linkage to technological evolution, relative rates of technological and institutional change, as a control or regulatory process, obstacles posed by cyberspace, and as an organizational policy instrument.

From a technological perspective, Thomas Jefferson (1816) noted that laws and institutions must keep pace with progress of the human mind. Institutions must advance as new discoveries are made, new truths are discovered, and as opinions and circumstances change. Fast-forwarding to the late 20th century, Martin (1985) stated that any society with a high level of automation must frame its laws and safeguards so that computers can police other computers. Tim Berners-Lee (2000) noted that both policy and technology must be designed with an understanding of the implications of each other. Finally, Sparr (2001) points out that rules will emerge in cyberspace because even on the frontier, pioneers need property rights, standards, and rules of fair play to protect them from pirates. Government is the only entity that can develop and enforce such rules.

From a rate of change point of view, McGee and Prusak (1993) note that when an organization changes its culture, information policies are among the last thing to change. From a market perspective, Martin (1996) points out that although cyberspace mechanisms change very rapidly, laws change very slowly, and that some businesses will use this gap for competitive advantage. Similarly, Sparr (2001) observes that governments have the interest and means to govern new areas of technology, but that old laws generally don’t cover emerging technologies and new laws take time to create.

A number of authors have indicated that it will be very difficult to monitor and regulate cyberspace. Negroponte (1997) uses a metaphor of limiting the freedom of bit radiation is like the Romans attempting to stop Christianity, even though early data broadcasters may be eaten by Washington lions. Brown (1997) questions whether it will even be possible for governments to monitor compliance with regulations in the fact of exponentially increasing encrypted traffic within private networks. As cybernetic environments become central to commercial activity, monitoring electronic markets will become increasingly problematic. From a corporate point of view, Flynn (1956) notes that employee use of corporate computer resources poses liability risks and jeopardizes security and that no organization can afford to engage in electronic communications and e-commerce unprepared.

A key attribute of cyberspace is that it is a virtual rather than a real place. Thus, a growing share of social and commercial electronic activity does not have a national physical location (Cozel (1997), raising a key question of whether legislatures can even set national policies or coordinate international policies. Similarly, Berners-Lee (2000) explains that key criterion of Trademark law – separation in location or market – does not work for World-Wide Web domain names because the Internet crosses all geographic boundaries and has no concept of a market area.

From an organizational perspective, Simard (2000) states that “if traditional policies are applied directly [to a digital environment], the Canadian Forest Service could become marginalized in a dynamic knowledge-based economy.” Consequently, the CFS developed and implemented an Access to Knowledge Policy that "fosters the migration of the CFS towards providing free, open access to its knowledge assets, while recognizing the need for cost recovery and the need to impose restrictions on access in some cases" (Simard, 2005). The policy comprises a framework of objectives, guiding principles, staff responsibilities, and policy directives. The directives include: ownership and use; roles, rights, and responsibilities; levels of access and accessibility; service to clients; and cost of access.

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Communicating knowledge

Symbolic representations can be used to indicate meaning and can be thought of as a dynamic process. Hence the transfer of the symbolic representation can be viewed as one ascription process whereby knowledge can be transferred. Other forms of communication include imitation, narrative exchange along with a range of other methods. There is no complete theory of knowledge transfer or communication.^{[citation needed]}

While many would agree that one of the most universal and significant tools for the transfer of knowledge would be the different systems of writing, argument over the usefulness of the written word exists however, with some scholars skeptical of its impact on societies. In his novel “Technopoly” Neil Postman demonstrates the argument against the use of writing through an excerpt from Plato’s work “Phaedrus” (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York, pp 73). In this excerpt the scholar Socrates recounts the story of Thamus, the Egyptian king and Theuth the inventor of the written word. In this story Theuth presents his new invention “writing” to King Thamus, telling Thamus that his new invention “will improve both the wisdom and memory of the Egyptians” (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York ,pp 74). King Thamus is skeptical of this new invention and rejects it as a tool of recollection rather than retained knowledge. He argues that the written word will infect the Egyptian people with fake knowledge as they will be able to attain facts and stories from an external source and will no longer be forced to mentally retain large quantities of knowledge themselves (Postman, Neil (1992) Technopoly, Vintage, New York ,pp 74).

Andrew Robinson also highlights, in his work “The Origins of Writing”, the possibility for writing to be used to spread false information and there for the ability of the written word to decrease social knowledge (Robinson, Andrew (2003) “The Origins of Writing” in Crowley and Heyer (eds) Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society, Allyb and Bacon, Boston pp 34). People are often internalizing new information which they perceive to be knowledge but are in reality fill their minds with false knowledge.

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Influence of Literature on Cinema

In a well-known essay, titled “Dickens, Griffith and Us,” the famous Russian director Serguei Eisenstein argues that in his style of storytelling as well as in his vision of the characters and their environment, Dickens used many of the basic elements and tools of cinema. Eisenstein gives many examples of Dicken’s use of quick cuts, close-ups, split-screen, and the like. He also shows that Griffith used Dicken’s narrative methods in his films.

Indeed, the manner in which D. W. Griffith tells a story parallels that of the author of Great Expectations. The American filmmaker’s widow reported the following telling incident: In the scene in Enoch Arden in which Enoch’s wife is waiting for his return, Griffith shows only a close-up of her face immediately after cutting away from Enoch, lost on a desert island. His producer protested: “How can you tell a story with such sudden jumps? Nobody will understand.” Griffith retorted, “Didn’t Dickens write this way?” The producer replied, “Yes. But that was Dickens. He was writing novels. It is completely different.” Griffith retorted, “The difference is not so great: I am making novels with images!”

But is this not the road to tautology? It seems to me that Eisenstein and everyone else who sought to link cinema to literature

The Hidden Meaning of Mass Communications: Cinema, Books, and Television in the Age of Computers

Book by Fereydoun Hoveyda; Praeger, 2000. 171 pgs.

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WHAT IS JOURNALISM?

Journalism, be it working for newspapers, magazines, radio or television, is a 365-day, 24-hour operation going on just about everywhere in the world. Whether you are reading this in the middle of the day or night, journalists are hard at work preparing bulletins, writing features, producing documentaries, designing pages and editing tape ready for their next deadline. Stories can be totally unpredictable and crop up when you least expect them to. You don't stop being a journalist at 5pm. It is not just a job, it's a way of life and you are always on the look-out for a new idea.

When we turn on our television sets, tune in the radio or glance at today's front pages, we see names and faces which are almost as famous as the people in their stories. Indeed, journalism is a profession surrounded by mystique and glamour. But those most visible practitioners at the very top represent only a tiny fraction of journalists. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people working in the media in an enormous range of roles. This vast realm of journalism covers not only news but also documentaries, features, photojournalism, business and commerce and entertainment information.

Inside Journalism

Book by Sarah Niblock; Blueprint, 1996. 227 pgs.

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