Knowledge mobilization is putting available knowledge into active service to benefit society. It may be knowledge that has been gathered through systematic study or through experience. Both the research knowledge and experiential wisdom are worth sharing to the benefit of others. It is an obligation and a right to share and to have access to beneficial knowledge.
As a matter of course, knowledge is shared among people, among experts and between people and the experts in many forums. Yet much knowledge does not reach those who need it in order to make better decisions that would benefit themselves, their family, community or the society at large, at national and global levels.
"Knowledge mobilization" is a proactive process to ensure that knowledge, especially that created through publicly funded programs, is informed by needs and reaches the intended audience. A detailed definition of knowledge mobilization, in relation to other practices such as community engagement, can be found on the website of the : Institute for Community Engaged Scholarship.
The term gained wider use following the publication of the evaluation report of the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) in 2004. This led SSHRC to create a division of Knowledge Products and Mobilization to enhance and accelerate the movement of research findings into policy and program development.
Read more about Knowledge Mobilization: Process, Benefits, Brokers, Open Access & Open Data, Publications
Famous quotes containing the words knowledge and/or mobilization:
“But a mother is like a broomstick or like the sun in the heavens, it does not matter which as far as one’s knowledge of her is concerned: the broomstick is there and the sun is there; and whether the child is beaten by it or warmed and enlightened by it, it accepts it as a fact in nature, and does not conceive it as having had youth, passions, and weaknesses, or as still growing, yearning, suffering, and learning.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“When they are preparing for war, those who rule by force speak most copiously about peace until they have completed the mobilization process.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)