Knowledge Economy

Appendix for the thesis Acts of Research: Knowledge Production in Contemporary Art between Knowledge Economy and Critical Practice

The term ‘knowledge society’ is used to refer to the increasing relevance of non- manual knowledge-producing labour in current post-industrial economies. Contemporary art, especially since 1989, has not been left out of this trend, to the extent that today it is not rare to see artists and curators described as knowledge producers and exhibitions and art works as instances of knowledge production. Acts of Research: Knowledge Production in Contemporary Arts between Knowledge Economy and Critical Practices analyses this development.
The academic discussion of knowledge production in the arts has taken place mostly in seminars and articles, in which knowledge is often discussed as an intrinsic quality of the artwork. Acts of Research, however, is devoted to studying the rise of knowledge production in contemporary art from the perspective of artistic, curatorial and educational research with an awareness of larger political, economic, geographical and art-related aspects. The concept of ‘acts of research’ is suggested as a way to understand knowledge production as a creative act in which research carried out in relation to a specific material challenges and resists the protocols of conventional knowledge production and norms. It is argued that knowledge production is not a stable concept, but may indicate a series of acts of research that allow each art practice to participate in a collective constitution of both the term and its practice.
277
The conclusions are based on two different methodological approaches that structure the thesis. First, Chapter One traces the conceptual history of the term ‘knowledge production’, originally coined in economics and entering arts discourse as a critical term deployed against the rapidly growing global economy of the 1990s, and subsequently becoming a contested term in the new millennium due to its parroting of the discourse of that same global economy. Second, Chapters Two, Three and Four provide close readings of practices of artistic research in relation to the image and war (Hito Steyerl, The Otolith Group and Rabih Mroué), curatorial research in relation to global dynamics (Home Works: A Forum for Cultural Practices 2002-2013, III Bienal de La Habana and dOCUMENTA (13)) and educational projects in relation to knowledge and market economy (Tania Bruguera’s Cátedra de Arte de Conducta, Henriette Heise and Jakob Jakobsen’s Copenhagen Free University and Boris Buden’s Learning Place, part of the Former West Congress 2013); these readings are undertaken in order to understand the practices and workings of the specific mode of knowledge production unfolding through acts of research in the contemporary arts.

The term ‘knowledge society’ is used to refer to the increasing relevance of non- manual knowledge-producing labour in current post-industrial economies. Contemporary art, especially since 1989, has not been left out of this trend, to the extent that today it is not rare to see artists and curators described as knowledge producers and exhibitions and art works as instances of knowledge production. Acts of Research: Knowledge Production in Contemporary Arts between Knowledge Economy and Critical Practices analyses this development.
The academic discussion of knowledge production in the arts has taken place mostly in seminars and articles, in which knowledge is often discussed as an intrinsic quality of the artwork. Acts of Research, however, is devoted to studying the rise of knowledge production in contemporary art from the perspective of artistic, curatorial and educational research with an awareness of larger political, economic, geographical and art-related aspects. The concept of ‘acts of research’ is suggested as a way to understand knowledge production as a creative act in which research carried out in relation to a specific material challenges and resists the protocols of conventional knowledge production and norms. It is argued that knowledge production is not a stable concept, but may indicate a series of acts of research that allow each art practice to participate in a collective constitution of both the term and its practice.
277
The conclusions are based on two different methodological approaches that structure the thesis. First, Chapter One traces the conceptual history of the term ‘knowledge production’, originally coined in economics and entering arts discourse as a critical term deployed against the rapidly growing global economy of the 1990s, and subsequently becoming a contested term in the new millennium due to its parroting of the discourse of that same global economy. Second, Chapters Two, Three and Four provide close readings of practices of artistic research in relation to the image and war (Hito Steyerl, The Otolith Group and Rabih Mroué), curatorial research in relation to global dynamics (Home Works: A Forum for Cultural Practices 2002-2013, III Bienal de La Habana and dOCUMENTA (13)) and educational projects in relation to knowledge and market economy (Tania Bruguera’s Cátedra de Arte de Conducta, Henriette Heise and Jakob Jakobsen’s Copenhagen Free University and Boris Buden’s Learning Place, part of the Former West Congress 2013); these readings are undertaken in order to understand the practices and workings of the specific mode of knowledge production unfolding through acts of research in the contemporary arts.

Mucho se ha escrito sobre la nanotecnología en los últimos años, sobre todo en lo relacionado a su revolucionario significado para la ciencia y sus aplicaciones que, según se argumenta, plantean la posibilidad de cambiar profundamente el mundo en que vivimos. No obstante, muy poco se ha escrito acerca de cómo la nanotecnología se incorpora al contexto de la economía del conocimiento y las fuerzas impulsoras detrás de esta dinámica. En el artículo, los autores analizan la intención del Banco Mundial de desarrollar las Iniciativas Científicas Milenio como Centros de Excelencia en Latinoamérica, con el objetivo de incrementar la competitividad y promover el crecimiento económico, que son entendidos por el Banco Mundial como prerrequisitos del desarrollo. De igual forma, se exponen las implicaciones del régimen de patentes que terminan modificando la trayectoria de esta tecnología revolucionaria. A great deal has been written in recent years about nanotechnology, its revolutionary signi...

Existing finance in education is not being sufficient for providing quality education in Nepal. So, there is a need to explore alternative approaches for financing education. This paper aims to explore the approaches of alternative financing in education. For achieving this purpose, the researcher reviewed and analyzed several works of literature pertaining to this study. The researcher identified innovative financing, knowledge economy, and allocative efficiency as the alternative approaches to financing education. Moreover, the adoption of alternative approaches supports public financing in education by reducing the huge public spending in the educational sector.

Tóm tắt: Bài báo sử dụng hai phương pháp mang tính quốc tế là phương pháp chỉ số Hirschman-Herfindahl (HHI) và độ co giãn của cầu để xác định mức độ tập trung và cạnh tranh của thị trường viễn thông di động Việt Nam. Đối với phương pháp chỉ số HHI, bài báo sử dụng dữ liệu thị phần theo doanh thu. Đối với phương pháp xác định độ co giãn của cầu, bài báo sử dụng mô hình hồi quy với chuỗi dữ liệu thời gian cho toàn thị trường. Kết quả tính toán cho thấy mức độ tập trung cao và sự ảnh hưởng lớn của giá tới cầu dịch vụ trên thị trường di động Việt Nam so với nhiều nước khác. Đây là những phương pháp quan trọng giúp các cơ quan quản lý đưa ra các biện pháp thích hợp, cũng như gợi ý chiến lược kinh doanh cho các doanh nghiệp trên thị trường. Từ khoá: Mức độ tập trung thị trường, Độ co giãn của cầu, Cạnh tranh, Thị trường viễn thông, Thị trường di động.

Have you ever noticed that when the economy shows strong growth in wages in manufacturing sectors, the stock value in those sectors often drops, but when jobs are slashed by as many as thousands or that when a company invests in new labour replacing technology in its production, the stock value of the companies involved rises (Chasan, 2006; Isidore, 2005)? Despite all the efforts to produce skilled people in traditional fields, the tide of sustainable employment in those areas, appears to be structurally prohibitive raising basic questions of whether traditional perceptions of Technology in school curriculum remains viable and whether a rethink of why Technology ought be taught is now due for a new discourse. In our complex new world, the one right here and now and unfolding outside the school gate, we ought cast forward and rethink the new opportunities before us with Technology studies as a subject in waiting. This paper explores the proposition that, in the context of understandi...

In the knowledge-based economy, the fundamental determinants of the company’s value, in the present, have an intangible nature. The intangible investments are the most important factors of the enterprise success. Wealth, growth and welfare are driven nowadays by intangible investments. The knowledge economy is characterized by huge investments in human capital and informational technology. The current accounting regulation does not allow companies to capitalize a big part of investments in intangibles (produced by a company) and to report these as assets in the financial reports. There are inconsistencies regarding the book-keeping treatment of the two categories of intangible assets: internally generated and externally, acquired from the outside of the company.

The purpose of this article is to improve understanding of internationalization as a strategic response to the catalysts of globalization and the knowledge society.  The paper will attempt to critically identify and interpret how the aforementioned elements are being recontextualized and translated into responsive internationalization policies and systemic institutional change.  The article takes a critical analysis approach on current internationalization efforts and provides a conceptual framework for developing a performance indicator set through a combination of institutional change theory (North 1990) and the Delta cycle for internationalization (Rumbley 2010).  Recommendations on future research areas are made at the conclusion of the article.

En los últimos años, las ciencias sociales han utilizado la noción de consumo como un instrumento esencial para explicar la manera en que el comportamiento de los agentes económicos interviene de forma decisiva en el crecimiento. Los historiadores en particular han comprobado que la aspiración a un mejora cualitativa en el consumo introduce cambios en las actitudes y pautas culturales de amplios sectores de la población desde la Baja Edad Media. Estas transformaciones están en la base del desarrollo del comercio y de la expansión del crédito. Los siglos XIV y XV son, sin duda,
un periodo de enormes dificultades y conflictos sociales, pero en su transcurso tiene lugar un aumento de los niveles de vida de la población gracias a estos procesos económicos. Observar esta evolución en el escenario de Aragón, una de las regiones más beneficiadas por esta dinámica en el marco europeo, ofrece posibilidades de interpretación novedosas que constituyen la contribución de un colectivo de medievalistas que ha dedicado a estos problemas la última década de su investigación a través del Grupo CEMA.

Information is said to be vital to the successful existence of human kind, therefore an environment, economy or personality void of information is actually not living, we learn every day and we fill our minds with information either consciously or unconsciously. We must also seek to feed our heart with necessary knowledge that helps it to develop and to give feedbacks to our being and the environment, same as applicable to nations and organizations as what is obtainable in knowledge economy. Data gathering is all-encompassing, it takes into cognizance every aspect of human life and existence cum endeavours. Data availability plays a major role in the development of an economy, it is feasible and evident that most countries which fall in the leagues of developed nations are data-rich, data-enabled and intensive. That is not only the case, these leagues of nations have adequate and accessible data bank and storage which ensure all citizens and residents are well captured and represented in the nation’s information pool. They ensure profiling of the citizenry and residents have an outlook that can been easily pooled for instances ranging from welfare, to personal, governmental, financial, security, crime and health purposes. The proof beyond doubt exists that no economy approaches growth and development status or template without adequate data capturing, management and storage. Therefore, Nigeria as a nation must intensify its data policy as touching adequate and efficient profiling cum storage of information of its citizenry and polity.

Every profession has a core body of knowledge (BoK) that at the very least, uniquely defines and differentiates that  profession within the crowded global landscape of all professions, particularly those that are closely related in terms of purpose, educational and skill requirements, intended audience or market, and tools and practices. Ultimately, a profession's BoK is what legitimizes the profession as a true "profession" in the U.S., as defined by the U.S. Department of Labor.

This article was originally published in the March, 2008 edition of 'Forum' magazine of the Association Forum of Chicagoland. It was targeted at the stakeholders (professional members, leaders, staff, affiliated vendors, ...) of associations/societies that support a designated profession. Although not specifically targeted at them, this article can also provide food for thought for academic fields, industry associations, and other types of organizations within the tax-designated "not-for-profit/NFP/non-profit" sector. However, many in this sector prefer to call it the "social sector" because the social purpose of the organization is much more important to us than its tax status. It also aligns better with the concept of the NGO - non-government organization, used in Europe and a few other areas.

It can also be employed on a universal scale to differentiate and enhance the potential value and interrelationships of professions or specialties by governmental bodies, educational institutions, businesses, and even the public. A dramatic example of the need for a better differentiator between professions/specialties is the American healthcare system, that almost everyone agrees needs a major overhaul. Obamacare is just a baby step or experiment in this direction. It's still a long way from making sense of all the specialties, providers, practices, technologies, services, fees, funding models ... as one critical key to beginning to solve the dilemma of the world's highest healthcare costs (more than double or triple the costs in comparable countries) delivering very poor results (in terms of public health, when compared to those comparable countries).

Typically the BoK of a profession is viewed from the limited perspective of the association function who leads the association's initial attempt to define the BoK of the profession it supports, as evidenced by the typically narrow focus of that project, for example: credentialing standards, exam content, education curricula, web content, best practices, research findings,.... Without something to connect and guide these perspectives toward a common direction, they are likely to sub-optimize the strategic potential of their profession's BoK. This article presents a different approach to BoK based on a belief that the ultimate strategic potential of BOK emerges out of being envisioned, leveraged, shared, and managed as the most valuable asset of the association and the profession it supports!

Resumen:
El siguiente artículo se adentra en el entendimiento del conocimiento como un factor imprescindible para el desarrollo de la economía y de sus agentes. Percibiendo como el alto caudal de información, que nos brinda las tecnologías informáticas, potencia la incertidumbre y afecta las estrategias que deben implementar los agentes económicos para competir en el actual mercado global. Analizamos a la audacia, el riesgo y la empatía como catalizadores de la innovación y la mejora productiva.

Abstract:
The following article deepens into the understanding of knowledge as an essential factor for developing the economy and their agents. Perceiving how the high volumes of information, that informatics technology gives us, increases the uncertainty and affects the strategies are implemented by economic agents to compete in the global market. Analyze the boldness, risk and empathy as catalysts for innovation and improve the productivity.

Resumo:
O seguinte artigo aprofunda no entendimento do conhecimento como um fator essencial para o desenvolvimento da economia e de seus agentes. Percebendo como o alto caudal de informação, que fornece as tecnologias informáticas, potencia as incertezas e afeta as estratégias que devem executar os agentes econômicos para concorrer no atual mercado global. Analisarmos á audácia, o risco e á empatia como catalisadores da inovação e da melhora produtiva.

In this chapter, we examine the current state of professional academic freedom and research in terms of what we see as the zombification of the academy. We argue that neoliberal reforms to the academy have created a research culture that treats academics as non-thinking entities (the living dead), who feel they have limited control over their research and funding amidst a pervasive and contagious audit culture. But whilst these reforms may be experienced by academics as an externally introduced form of control that saps or sucks the 'life' out of research activity, the proliferation of neoliberal reforms is only enabled through the complicit reproduction of the audit culture by academics themselves. In this sense, academics (as the dead living) contribute, in ambivalent and contradictory ways, to the zombification of the academy.

This paper explores the critical importance of diversity in technology education for fostering innovation qualities, new knowledge and capabilities among learners for the knowledge economy. It asserts that the premise for increasing participation behind questions like" What does technology have to offer females and minority groups?" is fundamentally one directional and so gives a negative message to minority cultures and groups in technology education. The proposition implies limited understanding of the role and contribution that ...

This book addresses the relationship between religion and knowledge from a sociological perspective, taking both religion and knowledge as phenomena located within ever changing social contexts. It builds on historical foundations, but offers a distinctive focus on the changing status of religious phenomena at the turn of the twenty-first century. Including critical engagement with live debates about intelligent design and the ‘new atheism’, this collection of essays brings recent research on religious movements into conversation with debates about socialisation, reflexivity and the changing capacity of social institutions to shape human identities. Contributors examine religion as an institutional context for the production of knowledge, as a form of knowledge to be transmitted or conveyed and as a social field in which controversies about knowledge emerge.

Work is changing profoundly in new digital age. The whole world of work is in evolution. The old employment system of secure, lifelong jobs with predictable advancement and stable pay is dead. For some time now we’ve observed a greater focus on flexibility, mobility, and the ability of quick adaptation of workers. The new era of Work 2.0 is coming driven by: work virtualisation, nonroutine creativity, hyperspecialisation, and reduction of communication, coordination and interactions costs. This calls for a different approach to management and work. However, technology is a double-edged sword, with the power to both liberate and enslave.

The recession is said to be over, but you’ll never get your old job back – it’s disappeared and you can’t even blame the Chinese! Your job no longer exists – it’s been automated. Book "Work 2.0” isn’t just a description of what is happening to the labor market, how we're working nowadays, it’s a complete how-to guide for successfully navigating today’s treacherous jobs environment, mitigating the risks of job loss, job insecurity, and increasing automation. Book is discussing the repercussions of automation, changes in the economic balance between East and West in terms of work, the growing importance of innovation and creativity for creating value, how companies can take advantage of the new situation and how can individuals stay competitive on the labour market.

How do you survive and thrive in the new labour market? How can workers cope in an economy which doesn’t generate stable lifelong careers? How can companies remain competitive and manage armies of dispersed hyperspecialists? You’ve become the newest victim of Work 2.0, a force you can’t possibly fight – but you can join it! If you are looking for a job – why not create one for yourself? If your company is losing its best talent – why not listen to what your workers are saying. Let them work anywhen. After all, there is nowhere to hide from the wave of creative destruction.

Drawing on a longitudinal case study of Alpha Chemicals, we use four complexity theory constructs – adaptive tension, enabling leadership, enhanced cooperation, and boundary spanning – to explain the continuous knowledge creation dynamics in Communities of practice (CoPs). Our findings show that the virtual cycle of knowledge creation results from CoPs oscillating between guided and self-directed modes. In a guided mode, adaptive tension and enabling leadership prevail, resulting in knowledge expansion. In a self-directed mode, enhancing cooperation and boundary spanning are the most significant, resulting in knowledge probing. This research uncovers the value of conceptualizing CoPs as complex adaptive systems with emergent and intentional processes coexisting to create a virtual knowledge creation cycle. Our findings complement the dominant theory on CoPs’ insights by moving beyond the control/autonomy debate and highlighting that knowledge creation dynamics results from a flexibl...

This article discusses the role of information and communication technology (ICT) within the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Gauteng, a province in South Africa. ICT plays a very important role in the current knowledge economy. It is vital for SMEs to participate in this economy in order to compete and thrive in the future. The problem is that SMEs are mainly using traditional tools to stay competitive. They need to take advantage of the power of ICT in order to take on the competition, whether small, big or global. Both the traditional and the ICT tools are very important for the competitiveness of the business. The article follows a qualitative research approach and uses semi-structured questionnaires with open-ended questions as data gathering method. There are a number of reasons why an SME might not implement ICT tools, such as limited funds, lack of knowledge, lack of skilled staff and lack of tools. The article highlights the limitation that SMEs have in using ICT and make recommendations on how to overcome them.

Many scholars assume that the fundamental questions about work design have been answered. However, a global shift from manufacturing economies to service and knowledge economies has dramatically altered the nature of work in organizations. To keep pace with these important and rapid changes, work design theory and research is undergoing a transformation. We trace the highlights of two emerging viewpoints on work design: relational perspectives and proactive perspectives. Relational perspectives focus on how jobs, roles, and tasks are more socially embedded than ever before, based on increases in interdependence and interactions with coworkers and service recipients. Proactive perspectives capture the growing importance of employees taking initiative to anticipate and create changes in how work is performed, based on increases in uncertainty and dynamism. Together, these two perspectives challenge the widely held belief that new developments in work design theory and research are no longer needed. Our review charts the central contributions and unanswered questions from these relational and proactive perspectives with the goal of inspiring renewed interest in advancing theory, research, and practice on work design.