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| − | <div class="col-md-3"><h2>Knowledge can once again make a difference</h2></div> | + | <div class="col-md-3"><font size="+1">– We are living in a period of extraordinary danger, as we are faced with the possibility that our whole species will be eliminated from the evolutionary scene. One necessary condition of successfully continuing our existence is the creation of an atmosphere of hope that the huge problems now confronting us can, in fact, be solved—and can be solved in time.</font> |
| − | <div class="col-md-6"><h3>A historical parallel</h3>
| + | <br> |
| − | <p>Think about the world at the twilight of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance. Recall the devastating religious wars, terrifying epidemics... Bring to mind the iconic image of the scholastics discussing "how many angels can dance on a needle point". And another iconic image, of Galilei in house arrest a century after Copernicus, whispering "and yet it moves" into his beard.</p>
| + | (Margaret Mead, <em>Continuities in Cultural Evolution</em>, 1964) |
| − | <p>Observe that the problems of the epoch were not resolved by focusing on those problems, but by a slow and steady development of an entirely new approach to knowledge. Several centuries of accelerated and sweeping evolution followed. Could a similar advent be in store for us today?</p></div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-3 "> [[File:Galilei.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Galileo Galilei]]</center></small>
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| − | </div></div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"></div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-6"><h3>Our discovery</h3>
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| − | <p>"If I have seen further," Sir Isaac Newton famously declared, "it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." The point of departure of our initiative was a discovery. We did not discover that the best ideas of our best minds were drowning in an ocean of glut. [[Vannevar Bush]], a [[giants|<em>giant</em>]], diagnosed that nearly three quarters of a century ago. He urged the scientists to focus on that disturbing trend and find a remedy. But needless to say, this too drowned in glut.</p>
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| − | <p>What we <em>did</em> find out, when we began to develop and apply [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] as a remedial practice, was that now just as in Newton's time, the insights of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]] add up to a novel approach to knowledge. And that just as the case was then, the new approach to knowledge leads to new ways in which core issues are understood and handled.</p> | |
| | </div> | | </div> |
| − | <div class="col-md-3 "> [[File:Newton.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Isaac Newton]]</center></small> | + | <div class="col-md-6"><h3>I am proposing a practical way to correct a fundamental error.</h3> |
| − | </div></div> | + | <p>Problems—including unsustainabilities in global trends and discontinuities in cultural evolution—need to be seen and treated as <em>consequences</em> of that error.</p> |
| − | <div class="row"> | + | <h3>I am proposing to institute a <em>transdiscipline</em>.</h3> |
| − | <div class="col-md-3"></div>
| + | <p>Which is a <em>new kind</em> of institution. And I make this proposal concrete and actionable by offering <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> as a complete <em><b>prototype</b></em> of the <em><b>transdiscipline</b></em>; ready to be examined and put to use.</p> |
| − | <div class="col-md-6"><h3>Our strategy</h3> | + | <p>In his 1969 MIT report and call to action—to institute <em><b>transdisciplinarity</b></em> by anchoring it academically, as <em>the</em> necessary first step toward empowering us, post-traditional and post-industrial humans, to unravel our new problems and begin a <em>new</em> phase of societal-and-cultural evolution—Erich Jantsch quoted Norbert Wiener, the iconic progenitor of cybernetics:</p> |
| − | <p>“You never change things by fighting the existing reality", observed Buckminster Fuller. "To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” So we built [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] as a model (or technically a [[prototypes|<em>prototype</em>]]) of a new way to work with knowledge (or a [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]]); and of a new institution (the [[transdiscipline|<em>transdiscipline</em>]]) that is capable of developing this new new approach to knowledge as an academic and real-life | + | <p> “There is only one quality more important than ‘know-how’…… This is ‘know-what’ by which we determine not only how to accomplish our purposes, but what our purposes are to be.”</p> |
| − | [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] (informed practice).</p>
| + | <p>Academic disciplines <em>cannot</em> provide us <em><b>know-what</b></em>; and the media informing, such as it is, won't do it either. A <em><b>system</b></em> that <em>can</em> empower us to act <em><b>knowledge</b></em>-based must <em>combine</em> disciplinary and other evidence; it must <em>transcend</em> academic and cultural fragmentation; it must <em>communicate</em> to the public with authority of science—in ways that are well beyond the modalities of outreach that the sciences have been able to produce.</p> |
| − | <p>By sharing this model we are not proposing a conclusive answer. Our aim is indeed much higher – it is <em>to open up a creative frontier</em> where the ways in which knowledge is created and used, and more generally the ways in which our creative efforts are directed, are brought into focus and <em>continuously</em> recreated and improved.</p> </div> | + | <p>This website is intended to complement my book called <em>Liberation</em>, which will soon be in print—and outline a vision, called <em><b>holotopia</b></em>, of a possible future that is in significant dimensions <em>better</em> than our present. The <em>Liberation</em> book will render the requisite evidence as brief and entertaining real-life people-and-situation stories called <em><b>vignettes</b></em>; and ignite an initiative, also called <em><b>holotopia</b></em>, whose aim is to <em>enable</em> comprehensive change—of our social and cultural order of things or <em><b>paradigm</b></em> as a whole. Here my aim is to set in motion <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> as a parallel and complementary <em>academic</em> initiative, which will empower us to manifest the <em><b>holotopia</b></em>; by submitting an academic case for it to begin with; because the key to <em><b>holotopia</b></em> is to restore us a capability that is quintessentially academic: To <em><b>federate knowledge</b></em>, I explained in <em>Liberation</em>, means to account for academic results, people’s experiences, cultural artifacts and whatever else might be relevant to the theme or task at hand. Political federation unites smaller geopolitical units to give them visibility and power. <em><b>Knowledge federation</b></em> does that to information. </p> |
| − | <div class="col-md-3 "> [[File:Fuller.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[R. Buckminster Fuller]]</center></small></div>
| + | <p>On these pages I will share my case for <em><b>transdisciplinarity</b></em>, or <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em>, by outlining its <em>structure</em>; and I'll let <em>you</em> reconstruct its details by browsing through the book and participating in the public <b><em>dialog</em></b> the book is part of. Don't be fooled by my unacademic way of speaking; I have my reasons for doing this. You'll have comprehended me correctly when you see that all of this follows from a single principle called <em><b>knowledge federation axiom</b></em>; which states that <em><b>knowledge</b></em> must be <em><b>federated</b></em>; which means that we can only say that we <em><b>know</b></em> something when due evidence has been accounted for; and that we can only say that something is <em><b>known</b></em> when it's reflected in everyday awareness and action. The <em><b>knowledge federation axiom</b></em> is not <em>assumed</em> to be true—but stated as a convention of language and my <em>definition</em> of <em><b>knowledge</b></em>. What this all comes down to is <em>the</em> academic core value—to build on what's academically reported instead of ignoring it. You'll have comprehended me completely when you see that the <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> proposal is as academically sound as a call to reform academic work and information at large needs to be.</p> |
| − | </div> | + | <p>The <em><b>knowledge federation prototype</b></em> is a result of devoted labor of some excellent people. I explained in <em>Liberation</em> that I had the unusual fortunate to work for nearly three decades (in a tenured academic position with uncommonly much freedom) with constellations of collaborators who were creative leaders in their fields. The reason why I don't say "we" as I do in the book, but address you in first person, is that I want to make a clear and strong statement; and be personally accountable for what I say.</p> |
| − | ----- | + | <h3>Historical attempts to institute <em><b>transdisciplinarity</b></em> remained ignored.</h3> |
| − | <div class="row">
| + | <p>And when <em>we</em> took over the torch—or as the case may be this large boulder and began rolling it uphill—the same dynamic repeated itself. I'll invite you to break the spell of ignoring; and <em><b>see</b></em> instituting transdisciplinarity <em><b>as</b></em> our generation's and hence also <em>your personal</em> project and duty; and to <em>act</em>, incisively and without delay—because we have no more time to lose.</p> |
| − | <div class="col-md-3"><h2>Making knowledge count</h2></div> | + | <p>To make a case for <em><b>transdisciplinarity</b></em> I will demonstrate that our <em><b>know-what</b></em> and more generally our ideas about life's important or <em><b>pivotal</b></em> themes have as much room for improvement as the comprehension of natural phenomena did before science; and that the nature of our <em><b>information</b></em> is such that <em><b>knowledge</b></em> is impossible; and that all this is due to a <em>fundamental</em> error that has been <em>diagnosed</em> by creative leaders in science and philosophy; and that <em>correcting</em> this error will open up a vast and magnificent creative frontier—where the next-generation academics will be creative in ways and degrees that their situation will necessitate; and as the founders of scientific revolution did in their day—<em>create</em> the way they do <em><b>science</b></em>; and with the power of reformed <em><b>science</b></em> <em>reconfigure</em> the way we all handle <em><b>information</b></em>, and pursue <em><b>knowledge</b></em>. </p> |
| − | | + | <p>In the remaining four main pages of this website I'll let <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> speak for itself; and thereby also illustrate some of its techniques.</p> |
| − | <div class="col-md-7"><h3>Connecting the dots</h3>
| + | <ul> |
| − | <p>What would it take to bring knowledge out of academic books and articles and let it inform our understanding and handling of core issues?</p>
| + | <li>[[IMAGES|Federation through ideograms]] or images will explain the nature of the error I've been telling you about, and how I propose to correct it</li> |
| − | </div> </div> | + | <li>[[STORIES|Federation through keywords]] or stories will help you comprehend both precisely</li> |
| − | <div class="row"> | + | <li>[[APPLICATIONS|Federation through prototypes]] or applications will illustrate <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> by a few examples of application</li> |
| − | <div class="col-md-3"></div> | + | <li>[[CONVERSATIONS|Federation through action]] or conversations will make it clear <em>exactly how</em> I propose to go about correcting the error; and invite you to take part.</li> |
| − | | + | </ul> |
| − | <div class="col-md-6"> | |
| − | <p>As our logo might suggest, [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] means 'connecting the dots' – combining disparate pieces of information and other knowledge resources together, so that they may make sense, or function, in a new way. We adopted this [[keywords|<em>keyword</em>]] from political and institutional federation, where smaller entities are united to achieve greater visibility and impact – while preserving, in some suitable degree, their identity and autonomy.</p>
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| − | <h3>Information for orientation</h3> | |
| − | <p>What could a creative approach to knowledge provide, which we don't yet have? This Norbert Wiener's observation will give us a clue.</p> </div> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-3 "> [[File:KFlogoC.jpg]] <br><small><center>Knowledge Federation logo</center></small></div>
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| − | </div> | |
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"></div> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-6"> | |
| − | <p> | |
| − | <blockquote>There is only one quality more important than "know how". This is "know what" by which we determine not only how to accomplish our purposes but what our purposes are to be. </blockquote> | |
| − | </p> | |
| − | <p>Science has given us colossal know-how. We now need a similarly powerful know-what to be able to use our immense new power beneficially and safely.</p></div> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-3"> [[File:Wiener.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Norbert Wiener]]</center></small></div> | |
| − | </div> | |
| − | <div class="row"> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-3"></div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-7"> | |
| − | <p>With the information we have, we are like people lost in a forest, who can only see the trees. By seeing the trees, we are able to navigate through them. By not seeing the forest, we are unable to find a way out. We choose our way in the only way that's still available – by following the crowd. But crowds too can be lost!</p> | |
| − | | |
| − | <h3>Knowledge federation</h3> | |
| − | <p>Think on the one side of all the knowledge we own, in academic articles and also broader. Include the heritage of the world traditions. Include the insights reached by creative people daily.</p> | |
| − | <p>Think on the other side of all the questions we <em>need</em> to have answered. Think of all the insights that could inform our lives, the principles and rules of thumb that could direct our action. Imagine them occupying distinct levels of generality. The more general an insight is, the more useful it can be.</p> | |
| − | <p>You may now understand [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] as whatever we the people may need to do to create, organize, synchronize, update and keep up to date various elements of this hierarchy.</p> | |
| − | <p>[[knowledge federation|<em>Knowledge federation</em>]] is the creation and use of knowledge as we may need it – to be able to understand the increasingly complex world around us; to be able to live and act in it in an informed, sustainable or simply <em>better</em> way.</p> | |
| − | <p>Our vision is of an <em>informed</em> post-traditional and post-industrial society – where our understanding and handling of the core issues of our lives and times reflect the best available knowledge; where knowledge is created and integrated and applied with that goal in mind; and where information technology is developed and used accordingly. </p> | |
| − | | |
| − | <h3>Our proposal</h3> | |
| − | <p>We are not proposing to replace journalism, or science, but to complement them. And to connect them with one other, and also with technological innovation and governance, and with the arts and other creative fields.</p> | |
| − | <p>We are submitting a case for a new socio-technical infrastructure, with its own division and organization of creative work, just as the academic disciplines and journalism now have. </p> | |
| − | <p>We are proposing to put in place an approach to knowledge that is deliberately <em>designed</em> to answer to the contemporary needs of people and society. What issues may require such knowledge? What might the information that carries it be like? By what methods, technical tools and social processes will it be created? Our call to action is for a new <em>academic</em> [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] that will answer such questions.</p> | |
| − | <p>The purpose of our [[prototypes|<em>prototype</em>]], which is shown on these pages, is to provide sufficiently rich and solid answers to consolidate a proof of concept; to show that this indeed <em>can</em> be done. And to initiate the doing.</p> | |
| − | </div> </div> | |
| − | ----
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| − | <div class="row"> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-3"><h2>A collective mind</h2></div> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-6"><h3>Information technology requires new thinking</h3>
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| − | <p>Another way to understand [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] is to perceive it as what we must do to draw the kind of benefits from the new information technology that this technology was intended to provide.</p> | |
| − | <p><blockquote> | |
| − | Digital technology could help make this a better world. But we've also got to change our way of thinking.
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| − | </blockquote> | |
| − | As we shall see in Federation through Stories, these two sentences frame Douglas Engelbart's gift to the world, which is yet to be unpacked. We shall see that Engelbart and his lab created significant parts of the knowledge media technology we have – as stepping stones toward a <em>much</em> larger vision, which remained ignored.</p> </div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"> [[File:Doug.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Douglas Engelbart]]</center></small></div>
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| − | </div> | |
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"></div> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-7"> | |
| − | <p>The network-interconnected interactive digital media – which Doug and his team showed for the first time in 1968, and which you have in your pockets and on your desktop – have given the humanity (in Doug’s words) “a super new nervous system to upgrade our collective organisms”. </p> | |
| − | <p>To see what went wrong, how this development took a different direction than the one Doug intended, imagine that your own cells were using your nervous system to only broadcast data to your brain and to each other. Think about the effect this would have on your intelligence! You may now easily see why this technology – which has been conceived to vastly <em>augment</em> our collective intelligence – can serve that most timely end only when knowledge is “developed, integrated and applied” in a way that is entirely different from what the printing press made possible. </p> | |
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| − | <h3>Information technology calls for a reconfiguration of knowledge work</h3>
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| − | <p>Imagine that you are taking a walk, lost in thoughts. Suddenly you realize that you've stopped; and as your attention is returning to hear and now, you see that you are standing a meter from a wall.</p>
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| − | <p>Imagine what would have happened if your eyes were seeing this, but trying to communicate it to your brain and your muscles by writing academic articles in some specialized field of knowledge! Can you see the new re-evolutionary phase we are facing?</p>
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| − | <p></p>
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| − | [[File:KFvision.jpeg]]
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| − | <p> </p>
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| − | <p>To understand what we want to set in motion by proposing [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]], imagine our civilization as an organism, which has grown uncommonly or <em>exponentially</em> fast. Imagine that this creature has a finely developed brain and nervous system, which it may use to coordinate its actions. But that its organs have not yet developed the skill to do that.</p>
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| − | <p>Imagine that this "super new nervous system" is presently used to only broadcast data; and to only amplify this creature's most primitive, limbic drives!</p>
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| − | <p>The network-interconnected digital media technology enables, and also <em>requires</em>, an entirely new division, specialization and organization of knowledge work – analogous to what might characterize a healthy human mind.</p>
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| − | <p>The new technology, and our overall condition, call for re-implementing the core functions of human culture <em>in</em> the new technology!</p>
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| − | <p>By giving it a name, [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]], we are calling this new paradigm in knowledge work into existence. </p>
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| − | <h3>A tribute to Doug Engelbart</h3>
| + | [[File:Signature.jpg|80px]] <br><font size="+1">Dino Karabeg</font> |
| − | <p>To a number of us in Knowledge Federation, Doug Engelbart is an inspirational figure and a cherished deceased friend. Our initiative grew in part out of a Silicon Valley-based initiative called The Program for the Future, whose purpose is to explain and complete Engelbart's vision. We are making this website public on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Engelbart's Demo – where the revolutionary technology and ideas he and his research lab created were first shown to public.</p>
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| − | </div></div>
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| − | -----
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| − | <div class="row">
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"><h2 style="color:red">Reflection</h2></div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-6"><h3>Different thinking</h3>
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| − | <p><blockquote>
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| − | We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | In what ways might our thinking need to be different, if we should understand and develop a new [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]]? </p>
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| − | <p>First of all, we need to give it the time it requires. A paradigm being a harmonious yet complex web of relationships, some amount of mental processing is obviously unavoidable if we should form a coherent mental image, see that the things do fit together and make good sense when rearranged in the new way.</p>
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| − | <p>A reward will come instantly – as with a touch of calm insight we come to realize that <em>we don't need to be so busy</em>. That we're just spinning the wheels of a wasteful and dysfunctional social machinery – and being too busy to see that. </p></div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"> [[File:Einstein.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Albert Einstein]]</center></small></div>
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| | </div> | | </div> |
| − | <div class="row">
| + | <div class="col-md-3 round-images"> [[File:Mead.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Margaret Mead]]</center></small></div> |
| − | <div class="col-md-3"></div> | |
| − | <div class="col-md-7"><h3>Systemic thinking</h3>
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| − | <p>The second way in which our thinking will need to change is that it will become <em>systemic</em>. Systemic thinking is the kind of thinking that grants us the insight just mentioned, and reveals solutions.</p>
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| − | <p>We've prepared this very brief and down-to-earth [[intuitive introduction to systemic thinking]] to help you slow down and reflect – and already get an inkling of the key insight.</p> </div>
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| | </div> | | </div> |
| − | -----
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| − | <div class="row">
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"><h2>A paradigm</h2></div>
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| − | <div class="col-md-7"><h3>Knowledge federation as a language</h3>
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| − | <p>Science taught us to think in terms of velocities and masses and experiments and natural causes. We shall now let [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] introduce some of the core elements of the emerging larger societal [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] in its own manner of speaking.</p>
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| − | <p>Recall, again, the last instance where the human creativity was unleashed to make a sweeping difference – and develop science, and democracy, and the Industrial revolution... From where could a similar change emerge today? We here provide only a hint – and develop it into a complete picture in the four modules with details.</p>
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| − | <h3>A curious-looking mathematical formula</h3>
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| − | <p>Newton taught us how to unravel the secrets of nature with the help of mathematics. Knowledge federation adapts this approach to produce big picture insights.</p>
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| − | <p> [[File:Modernity.jpg]] <br><small><center>Modernity ideogram</center></small></p>
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| − | <p></p>
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| − | <p>[[ideograms|<em>Ideograms</em>]] can be understood as a straight-forward generalization of the language of mathematics.</p>
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| − | <p>Just as any mathematical formula does, this [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]] describes a relationship (technically called a [[patterns|<em>pattern</em>]]) between two things, represented by the bus and its headlights.</p>
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| − | <p>An ideogram can also express the nature of a situation (for which we use the keyword [[gestalt|<em>gestalt</em>]]. Imagine us riding in a bus with candle headlights, through dark and unfamiliar terrain and at an accelerating speed. By depicting modernity as a bus with candle headlights, the Modernity [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]] points to an incongruity and a paradox. In our hither-to modernization we have forgotten to modernize something quite essential – and ended up in peril.</p>
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| − | <p>We shall now use this [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]] to define four concepts – which will explain (how we see) the essence of the emerging societal [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] in four key domains.</p>
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| − | <h3>Language, truth and method</h3>
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| − | <p>The technical issue here is [[epistemology|<em>epistemology</em>]] – by which we mean the assumptions and values that determine what knowledge is considered worth creating and relying on.</p>
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| − | <p>To see that the [[epistemology|<em>epistemology</em>]] is at the core of every [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]], and of the general paradigm we call science in particular, notice that Galilei was not tried for claiming that the Earth was moving. That was just a technical detail. It was his [[epistemology|<em>epistemology</em>]] that got him into trouble – his belief that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to Holy Scripture. Galilei was required to "abjure, curse and detest" those opinions (Wikipedia).</p>
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| − | <p> If you consider the light of the headlights to be information or knowledge, and the headlights to represent the activities by which knowledge is created and applied, then you'll easily understand the interpretation we are pointing at. The [[design epistemology|<em>design epistemology</em>]] means considering knowledge and knowledge work as man-made things; and as essential building blocks in a much larger thing, or things, or systems. This new [[epistemology|<em>epistemology</em>]] empowers us to develop knowledge and knowledge work and to apply them and to assess their value based on how well they serve their core roles within larger systems – such as 'showing the way'.</p>
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| − | <p>Notice how thoroughly this [[epistemology|<em>epistemology</em>]] reconfigures the value matrix that orients our knowledge work today. When knowledge is considered to be pieces in a reality puzzle, then every piece might seem equally relevant. The media can then select whatever its audiences may be interested in. But when knowledge is conceived of as the light that needs to show us the next curve on the road, then the priorities are entirely different. Relevance, and the nature and the quality of information that provides the right insight and guidance, become core issues.</p>
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| − | <h3>Knowledge work</h3>
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| − | <p>You may now understand [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] as simply <em>suitable</em> 'headlights', the quest for those 'headlights', and as the 'factory' ([[transdiscipline|<em>transdiscipline</em>]]) capable of creating them. You may also understand [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] as the knowledge and knowledge work that follow by consistent application of the [[design epistemology|<em>design epistemology</em>]]. </p>
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| − | <p>This definition leaves open the question – Is there an approach to knowledge that can make the kind of difference in our overall condition that the difference between having proper headlights and driving with a pair of candles might suggest? Does the quest the [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]] is pointing to have a solution? Our purpose when presenting this [[prototypes|<em>prototype</em>]] is to show that it indeed does. </p>
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| − | <p>The lightbulb cannot be produced by improving the candle. The resolution of our quest is in the exact sense of the word a [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] – a fundamentally and thoroughly <em>new</em> way to conceive of knowledge and to organize its handling. To create the lightbulb, we need to know that this is possible. And we also need a model to guide us. What's being shared here is a description of such a model. Why waste time trying to improve 'the candle' – if it's really 'the lightbulb' we should be talking about and creating?</p>
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| − | <h3>Innovation</h3>
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| − | <p>The Industrial Revolution made human work vastly more efficient and effective. In what way might a similar improvement be reached today?</p>
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| − | <p>If you consider the movement of the bus to be the result of our creative efforts or of "innovation", then [[systemic innovation|<em>systemic innovation</em>]] is the (name we've given to the) answer the Modernity [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]] is pointing to. </p>
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| − | <p>We practice [[systemic innovation|<em>systemic innovation</em>]] when our primary goal is to make <em>the whole thing</em> functional or vital or [[wholeness|<em>whole</em>]]. Here "the whole thing" may of course be a whole hierarchy of things, in which what we are doing or creating has a role. </p>
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| − | <p>You'll easily understand the reason, why a dramatic improvement in the way we use our capacity to create or innovate is possible, if you just compare the principle the Modernity [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]] is pointing at with the way innovation is directed today. The dollar value of the headlights is course a factor to be considered; but it's insignificant compared to the value of the whole bus (which in reality may be our civilization and all of us in it; or all our technology taken together; or the results of our daily work, which move the 'bus' forward; or whatever else may be organizing our efforts and driving us toward a future). It is this difference in value – between the dollar value of the headlights and the real value of this incomparably larger entity and of all of us in it – that you may bear in mind as [[systemic innovation|<em>systemic innovation</em>]]'s <em>value proposition</em>. The dramatic message of our image is that [[systemic innovation|<em>systemic innovation</em>]] is what can make the difference between "the whole thing" turning into a mass suicide machine – and a well-functioning vehicle, capable of taking us anywhere we may reasonably want to be.</p>
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| − | <p>To see that the change this is pointing to reaches well beyond industrial innovation, to see why we indeed propose [[systemic innovation|<em>systemic innovation</em>]] as the signature theme of an impending Renaissance-like change, notice that what we are talking about is just one of our characteristic oversimplifications, which has enabled us to reduce a complex issue (value) in a complex reality to a single parameter (dollar value) – and then apply rational thinking, science and technology to "optimize" our behavior and our overall order of things accordingly.</p>
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| − | <h3>Guided evolution of society</h3>
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| − | <p>If you'll consider the movement of the bus to be our society's travel into the future, or in a word its <em>evolution</em>, then [[guided evolution of society|<em>guided evolution of society</em>]] is a new evolutionary course the [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]] is pointing to. Our ride into the future, posits the Modernity [[ideograms|<em>ideogram</em>]], must be illuminated by suitable information. We must both create and <em>use</em> information accordingly.</p>
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| − | <p>We took this [[keywords|<em>keyword</em>]] from Bela H. Banathy, who considered the guided evolution of society to be the second great revolution in our civilization's history – the first one being the agricultural revolution. While in this first revolution we learned to cultivate our bio-physical environment, in the next one we'll learn to cultivate our socio-cultural environment. Here is how Banathy formulated this vision:
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | We are the first generation of our species that has the privilege, the opportunity, and the burden of responsibility to engage in the process of our own evolution. We are indeed chosen people. We now have the knowledge available to us and we have the power of human and social potential that is required to initiate a new and historical social function: conscious evolution. But we can fulfill this function only if we develop evolutionary competence by evolutionary learning and acquire the will and determination to engage in conscious evolution. These are core requirements, because what evolution did for us up to now we have to learn to do for ourselves by guiding our own evolution.
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| − | </blockquote> </p>
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| − | </div></div>
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| − | <div class="row">
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| − | <div class="col-md-3"><h2>Summary</h2></div>
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| − |
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| − | <div class="col-md-7"><h3>A socio-technical lightbulb</h3>
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| − | <p>Consider what's presented on these pages as a complete [[prototypes|<em>prototype</em>]] of a socio-technical lightbulb – which includes everything from the principles of operation and the technical design and prototype on the one side, to the examples of application and the marketing strategy on the other.</p>
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| − | <p>In the four detailed modules by which this presentation is completed, we shall use [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] to explain, showcase and already begin to put into general use [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]]. Each module will apply and demonstrate a specific set of techniques – and focus on a specific aspect of our design.</p>
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| − | <h3>Federation through Images</h3>
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| − | <p>The theme here is, metaphorically speaking, the principle of operation; why electricity, and not fire, can give us the strong light we need.</p>
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| − | <p>What might information need to be like to give us the knowledge we need, in <em>this</em> age? By what methods, and what social processes may such information be created? Even if you are not interested in fundamental or academic or "philosophical" questions but only in technology, you may recognize in this exploration the natural way to avoid using new technology to merely 'reproduce the candle'. </p>
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| − | <p>We show that [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] is not a deviation from the academic tradition, but a natural continuation of it. We show that the insights of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]] not only enable – but indeed <em>enjoin</em> it as the next step.</p>
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| − | <p>We use [[ideograms|<em>ideograms</em>]] – metaphorical and often paradoxical images to sum up the findings of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]]. The result is a cartoon-like introduction to the philosophical underpinnings of a refreshingly novel approach to knowledge.</p>
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| − | <h3>Federation through Stories</h3>
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| − | <p>What may the new [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] – in knowledge work and beyond – be like? </p>
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| − | <p>We illuminate this theme by telling four real-life stories – about the [[giants|<em>giants</em>]], and their insights, whom we consider to be suitable icons for our four main [[keywords|<em>keywords</em>]] introduced above.</p>
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| − | <p>We use [[vignettes|<em>vignettes</em>]] – short, lively, catchy, sticky... real-life people and situation stories – to explain and empower the core ideas of daring thinkers. [[vignettes|<em>Vignettes</em>]] are in essence what the journalists do to introduce a relevant or complex idea, to bring it down to earth and make it palpable to people – they tell it through a story about a person. A vignette liberates an insight from the language of a discipline and enables a non-expert to 'step into the shoes' of a [[giants|<em>giant</em>]], to 'look through his eye glasses'. By combining [[vignettes|<em>vignettes</em>]] into [[threads|<em>threads</em>]], and threads into higher units of meaning, we can take this process of [[knowledge federation|<em>federation</em>]] all the way to the kind of direction-setting principles we've been talking about.</p>
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| − | <h3>Federation through Applications</h3>
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| − | <p>We outline the [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] / [[systemic innovation|<em>systemic innovation</em>]] creative frontier, by covering it by representative examples.</p>
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| − | <p>What might the public informing be like, which could weave together insights from relevant fields of knowledge, and orient us in the complex world? How can we make a technical scientific result, when it bears widely applicable or even transformative messages, accessible to non-academic audiences? In what way may education need to be different, to enable the transition into our next evolutionary phase? How can we change real-life institutions? How should "democracy" evolve further? Those and various other questions about the emerging [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] are answered by showing concrete practical applications – already embedded in practice.</p>
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| − | <p>Our applications are technically called [[prototypes|<em>prototypes</em>]]. In this approach to knowledge, [[prototypes|<em>prototypes</em>]] serve as
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>models – because they embody systemic solutions which can then be adapted to other situations </li>
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| − | <li>interventions – because they are embedded in practice, and acting on practice with the aim to transform it </li>
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| − | <li> experiments – because they show us what works well, and what may need to be improved or changed. </li>
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| − | </ul> </p>
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| − | <h3>Federation through Conversations</h3>
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| − | <p>We put the new approach to knowledge to test, and into actual use. We do that by applying [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] to illuminate 'the way' our civilization has been following – and a new way that needs to be followed. </p>
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| − | <p>The conversations we are proposing are orchestrated, media-enabled ways to reconfigure the actual 'headlights', or our "public sphere", by
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| − | <ul>
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| − | <li>focusing it on core, transformative themes</li>
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| − | <li>illuminating it with core ideas of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]]</li>
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| − | <li>engaging our collective intelligence to weave them together and develop them further </li>
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| − | <li>bringing in a whole new culture of communication, which we point to by the keyword [[dialogs|<em>dialog</em>]]</li>
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| − | <li>applying new media technology – and enabling it to make a difference.</li>
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| − | </ul> </p>
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| − | </div></div>
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| − | <h3>A paradigm</h3>
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| − | <p>While we (in the spirit of [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]]) do our best to maintain a manner of speaking accessible to a general audience, an academic reader will have no difficulty recognizing that what we are describing, or submitting a case for, is a new [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] in knowledge work. By doing that, we make a case for including [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] as a deserving newcomer to the conventional assembly of fields.</p>
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| − | <p>Thomas Kuhn characterized a paradigm as (1) a new way to conceive a domain of interest which (2) resolves the reported anomalies and (3) opens up a new frontier to research. In the four detailed modules of this website we will present ample evidence to show that our proposal meets these characteristics. </p>
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| − | <p>We are about to show that the insights reached in science and philosophy now <em>enable</em>, and that the new information technology and our civilization's condition <em>demand</em> that we – that is, those of us who are academic professionals or otherwise professionally in charge of giving good knowledge to people – develop an entirely new set of fundamental principles and practices that will supplement and orient our handling of knowledge; and our innovation and other creative work in general.</p>
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| − | ----
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| − | <h3>Our proposal</h3>
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| − | <p>We are not proposing to replace journalism, or science, but to complement them. And to connect them with one other, and also with the arts and the technological innovation and other creative fields.</p>
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| − | <p>We are submitting a case for a new socio-technical infrastructure, with its own division and organization of creative work, just as science and journalism now have. We need the [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] of producing and <em>using</em> big-picture knowledge, guiding principles, rules of thumb – to inform us about the core issues of our personal and social lives. What issues may require such knowledge? What might the information that carries it be like? In what way will it be created? We need a new <em>academic</em> [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] to answer such questions. Our purpose is to provide sufficiently rich and solid answers to consolidate a proof of concept, to show that this indeed can be done. And to initiate the doing.</p>
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| − | <p>You may think of [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]] as a way to liberate science from disciplinary constraints, combine it with what we've learned about knowledge and knowledge work from journalism, art and communication design, and apply the result to illuminate any question or issue where prejudices and illusions still need to be dispelled. </p>
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