ePortfolio
ENC 1145
by Becky
Journal 5: Knowledge
After reading Brown and Duguid’s piece and watching Ferguson’s video, my view and understanding of knowledge has changed and grown. Previously, knowledge was simply information or “what I know”. However, now I realize knowledge is much more complex and intricate than that. Information is a part of it, but instead of having a more synonymous relationship between the two, knowledge is the “how” aspect of something. Knowledge is what one does with the information present. How it is applied in the world.
Brown and Duguid would probably define knowledge as the process by which one is using and applying what they know. In the text, they both argue that knowledge and information are separate, but related. Knowledge is not merely spitting back information, it is how someone is putting into practice the information they have learned. In other words, it’s a measure of putting process into practice. Information is fact based, knowledge is more abstract and requires a higher level of thinking. Anyone can memorize something, it is what is done with what we know that is much more significant.
Collaboration plays a pretty large role in the knowledge-making process. Essentially everything anyone know is due to collaboration. New inventions use already present forms and ideas placed together to create something “new”. Think of a laptop or clock. It if formed from parts, already in existence, to create something that works. The process of creation requires a foundation which is information.
“Everything is a Remix” was a real eye-opener. Everything comes from something else in one shape or another. There is no such thing as a completely one hundred percent original idea. Inspiration has to come from somewhere. Remix is a gateway between information and knowledge. "Copying" someone else work, manipulating something to fit your personal understanding creates something altered and “new”. Remixes are everyone and without the ability for someone to take something and change or improve it, we would live in an empty world.