Knowledge Democracies

In the brief amount of time that I have been reading up on research methods and culture's of inquiry, I already have an affinity towards action research. I think it has to do with key words that pop up frequently when I am reading about it: participation, empowerment, enabling, facilitation. These words speak to me as a teacher.

In doing some extra reading on action research I came across the phrase knowledge democracy. I was immediately intrigued by this phrase.  Knowledge democracy is defined as: "...an emerging concept that addresses the relationships between knowledge production and dissemination, as well as the functions of the media and democratic institutions" (Jacobi et al, 2010, p. 87). Right...okay, what? It took me a bit to really let that definition settle into something tangible that I could understand and in reading the rest of the chapter on the topic, it became more clear. 

I watch a sitcom called "Veep". It shows the inner workings of the Vice President's office in the United States, but in a very satirical manner. Knowledge truly is a production in such a context, and the way it is disseminated is done very carefully and with intention. This show came to my mind when I was reading about the purpose and importance of this so called "knowledge democracy". How important it is to realize where knowledge is coming from? Who is creating it? Who is delivering it?  (All very ethical questions)

So how does this relate to research? I am getting there...

Jacobi, Kluver and Rask (2010) discuss how in society today there is an "on-going and increasing demand for research and development of science and technology. Therefore defining of research agendas becomes of great importance for the societal development" (p. 87). In keeping with the democracy theme there would need to be an involvement of the citizens - what are their concerns and expectations? "The need for high political credibility and for counteracting the risk of lobbying taking over the search for new research agendas is prominent" (Jacobi et al, 2010, p. 87). Citizens have a collective voice. It speaks to the inner workings of their lives and it needs to be heard. "With the right facilitating methods, such concerns...can be collected and transformed into relevant research agendas" (Jacobi et al, 2010, p. 87).

Let the knowledge democracy movement spread far and wide - let it empower, inform and engage!

References:
Jacobi, A., Kluver, L., & Rask, M. (2010). Relevant Research in a Knowledge Democracy. In R. J. Veld (Ed.), Knowledge Democracy: Consequences for Science, Politics, and Media (pp. 87-98). Berlin: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-11381-9_8

Image taken from: https://meetville.com/quotes/tag/democracy/page12