Michael Ashford, Innovation and Knowledge Solutions, Department of Industry and Technology, Western Australia
The following describes the vision for a current knowledge and innovation network project that captures and distributes tacit knowledge through community networks.
"The Community Knowledge and Innovation (CKIN) harnessing through ICT, local tacit knowledge to facilitate innovation, collaboration, and the sharing of knowledge throughout the network.
Enabling the network to evolve organically, linking geographic based communities and online communities of interest.
A capacity building network - knowledge leading to knowledge, capacity nurturing capacity, continually.
Overtime, reaching a critical mass where the network consists of multi-dimensional patterns of interconnections, which form from need, interest, catalytic events and attractors. The CKIN will continually interconnect on many layers, with ever evolving accumulating knowledge being applied to the day-to-day needs and aspirations of individuals, communities, and society. And no-one controls or owns it."
This paper will draw on concepts from open systems, ecology, networks, chaos theory, and experience gained working with community development, the Internet, online communities, and social networks. It will present a conceptual framework for the CKIN, and outline the steps to incubate and interconnect the source of all knowledge and innovation - the community.
Catalytic knowledge captors, diffusion, memes, perturbations, critical mass, and strange attractors. A vague confused dream? No, the project has commenced in Western Australia.
A website will be established prior to the conference to explore the concepts and "tools" involved in incubating a community knowledge and innovation network. Please email if you would like to participate: mashford@bigpond.net.au