dc.contributor.author	Lor, Peter Johan
dc.contributor.author	Britz, Johannes J.
dc.date.accessioned	2010-02-18T16:29:08Z
dc.date.available	2010-02-18T16:29:08Z
dc.date.issued	2010
dc.description	41 slides created with MSPowerPoint 2003 and migrated to pdf using Adobe Acrobat.	en_ZA
dc.description.abstract	Paper presented at the Stellenbosch University Library 2010 Symposium / IFLA Presidential Meeting. Knowing is not enough: Engaging in the knowledge economy, 18 to 19 February 2010. In the hope of clarifying the role that libraries can play in serving humanity in a time of rapid innovation and change, this paper critically examines the notions of the "knowledge society" and "access to knowledge" to bring to the surface some assumptions underlying them. Whereas the term "knowledge economy" emphasizes the economic, strategic and competitive value of information and knowledge, the shift to "knowledge society" (or "knowledge societies") conceptualizes the phenomenon more holistically, as encompasssing dimensions such as the social and cultural dimensions. In analyzing the "knowledge society" and "access to knowledge" it is critical to be clear about what we understand by "knowledge". In this paper we borrow from constructivist learning theory and argue that it is helpful to see knowledge as a process rather than as an outcome or state. In discussions of access to knowledge much emphasis has been placed on the physical dimension of access (connectivity, bandwidth and the digital divide) and on the legal, economic and political dimensions that form the embattled terrain of the A2K movement (the A2K Treaty, the WIPO Development Agenda, etc.). However, if knowledge is conceptualized as a process, the concept of "access" has to be extended to the epistemological dimension which takes into account the construction of knowledge in the mind of the individual in interaction with the community. This has important implications for libraries. In spite of warnings that the role of libraries will be eroded through disintermediation, we argue for a deployment of reskilled and remotivated information intermediaries working in and around libraries to motivate, teach, interpret and facilitate "access" to knowledge.	en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation	Lor, P.J. & Britz, J.J. 2010. A2K : a critical reflection on access to knowledge for the growth of a knowledge society. Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University.	en_ZA
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/388
dc.language.iso	en_ZA	en_ZA
dc.publisher	Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University	en_ZA
dc.subject	Knowledge society	en_ZA
dc.subject	Constructivist theory of learning	en_ZA
dc.subject	Constructivism	en_ZA
dc.subject	Future of libraries	en_ZA
dc.subject.lcsh	Information society -- Congresses
dc.subject.lcsh	Knowledge management -- Congresses
dc.subject.lcsh	Knowledge, Sociology of -- Congresses
dc.title	A2K : a critical reflection on access to knowledge for the growth of a knowledge society	en_ZA
dc.type	Presentation	en_ZA

A2K : a critical reflection on access to knowledge for the growth of a knowledge society

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