Blog #2 Getting to know Communities of Practice & Knowledge Management

What is Community of Practice?

        It refers to a group of people who have similar practices, interests, concerns, passions, and life goals. Basically, they've come together to promote knowledge-sharing, which allows members to discuss one another's points of view and viewpoints on a certain issue, which can definitely contribute in getting beyond knowledge and broadening one's understanding of the subject matter. Indeed, one way to identify our life's passion and interest is to join a community of practice. Critical thinking and knowledge sharing can help those who are looking for their life's purpose and goals to find new opportunities and possibilities. Because they are focused on building, sharing identities, and gathering intelligence. So, finding individuals with common practices can make problems and challenges more bearable to overcome as they support one another. One of COP's short-term values is to give a helping hand in any situation. Members of the organization will have access to specialists, which will provide them with long-term value including self development, community voice and influence, and strategic competencies.

 3 Characteristics of Community of Practice 

1. Domain- Members have shared a common interest, which motivates them to participate in certain activity, guides their learning, and gives meaning to their actions.

2. Community-It is the actual practitioner or members who collaborate, join, and contribute to the growth of knowledge and building the relationships within the community. Their willingness to communicate and collect information is encouraged for knowledge and sharing of ideas.

3. Practices- A shared objective and a certain thing they focus to concentrate on. It serves as a foundation upon which the community builds, develops, and preserves the collective knowledge that serves as its backbone.

Knowledge Management

    The process of obtaining, organizing, and preserving information in order to make it accessible to everyone is known as knowledge management. It is, above all, the process of expanding and innovating collective wisdom in order to achieve corporate goals by maximizing the use of existing knowledge. New definition of KM was being identify by Duhon 1998. He added that Knowledge Management is not just refers to a discipline that promotes capturing, organizing and sharing of information. Those information may also come from intangible assets that can be accumulated including databases, papers, regulations, and procedures, as well as un-captured expertise and experience of an individual.

 

For further information, please visit the website listed below.

https://www.communityofpractice.ca/background/what-is-a-community-of-practice/#:~:text=A%20community%20of%20practice%20(CoP,both%20individual%20and%20group%20goalsv

https://wenger-trayner.com/project/why-focus-on-communities-of-practice/ 

https://www.kmworld.com/About/What_is_Knowledge_Management

Blog #1: Information vs. Knowledge: What's the difference?

The ultimate guide on understanding information and knowledge

What do you think are the common ideas in information and knowledge? What are the key differences between the two? Why is there has confusion and misleading statements about it? These are the common questions that encompass information and knowledge. To pass off and end that misconception, in this blog article, we will discuss and dig a little deeper into the concept between information and knowledge. This blog will crucially explain the definition and the context indicated in the given topic.

Indeed, people often use the word information and knowledge interchangeably without knowing its fact. That confusion is somewhat risky for someone who embeds certain information into their mind and may use it wrongfully for specific purposes. Here is the ultimate guide on understanding information and knowledge to avoid such a situation.

What is Information?

Information is essentially knowledge obtained that goes through investigation, study, instructions, and so forth. It facilitates decision-making and gives context to facts. It can also be defined as organized data about an item or a person gathered through numerous sorts of sources that contribute to the creation of information, such as media, verbal communication, electronic methods, and etc.

Information is the data that has been gathered and all of the facts, material, concepts, and other things presented in books, videos, newspapers, and other media are pieces of information. It will become knowledge if someone reads, understands, and memorizes that exact information that has been arranged, processed, and structured in such a way that it can be understood in context. Relevance, accuracy, and accessibility are all aspects of what we mean when we say "information."

What is Knowledge?

Knowledge is a practical understanding of a subject gained through the acquisition of facts, information, skills, and experiences. Knowledge is obtained by reasoning, education, practice, witness, perception, and the like. What a person understands and retains in his or her mind is what he or she has retrieved knowledge. Knowledge denotes familiarity with a person, place, or object achieved via study, practice, experience, or experimentation. Information is the result of data processing, and when that information is further modified and processed, it becomes knowledge.

Comparison Chart

Parameters of Comparison	Information	Knowledge
Meaning	It is refined data.	It contains useful information.
Transfer	Transfer of information is easy. It can be transferred through verbal ways or electronic ways.	Transfer of knowledge can only be possible if the receiver is ready to take it.
Reproduction	Information can be reproduced.	Knowledge is hard to reproduce.
Prediction	Information alone is not helpful for making predictions.	Prediction is possible if the learner has proper knowledge.
Outcome	Comprehensive	Understanding

 

(credit for this table goes to the source below; for more information, go to this website.)

https://askanydifference.com/difference-between-information-and-knowledge/