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Knowledge communities

Knowledge communities
Knowledge communities
A knowledge community is a group of people, typically a professional, technical or scientific group, unified by a common set of values, norms and working practices, producing knowledge for a given purpose. The concept draws upon recent work on the sociology of scientific knowledge which argues that knowledge is product of a context-dependent social process. It is related to the concept of a community of practice but involves less direct contact between the members of the group concerned. The concept of the knowledge community has been used to explain a number of features of the emerging space economy, but especially the continuing dynamism of industrial agglomerations (i.e. urban and regional grouping of firms, often in the same sector). There is a lively debate in human geography over the extent to which knowledge communities, and the knowledge they generate, can be traced to, and confined within, bounded spaces such as cities, regions and nations. Many would argue that with the development of modern telecommunications systems knowledge communities and their activities are spread throughout the world in extensive networks. Others argue that certain types of knowledge are socially embedded in particular places and are difficult to transfer
agglomeration, clusters, community, communities of practice, epistemic communities, industrial districts, networks of practice, sociology of scientific knowledge, tacit knowledge.
9780080449111
25-30
Elsevier
Pinch, S.
39982453-bdf8-4686-8018-b5b8b2030c6a
Kichin, R.
Thrift, N.
Pinch, S.
39982453-bdf8-4686-8018-b5b8b2030c6a
Kichin, R.
Thrift, N.

Pinch, S. (2009) Knowledge communities. In, Kichin, R. and Thrift, N. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Oxford, GB. Elsevier, pp. 25-30. (doi:10.1016/B978-008044910-4.00190-5).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

A knowledge community is a group of people, typically a professional, technical or scientific group, unified by a common set of values, norms and working practices, producing knowledge for a given purpose. The concept draws upon recent work on the sociology of scientific knowledge which argues that knowledge is product of a context-dependent social process. It is related to the concept of a community of practice but involves less direct contact between the members of the group concerned. The concept of the knowledge community has been used to explain a number of features of the emerging space economy, but especially the continuing dynamism of industrial agglomerations (i.e. urban and regional grouping of firms, often in the same sector). There is a lively debate in human geography over the extent to which knowledge communities, and the knowledge they generate, can be traced to, and confined within, bounded spaces such as cities, regions and nations. Many would argue that with the development of modern telecommunications systems knowledge communities and their activities are spread throughout the world in extensive networks. Others argue that certain types of knowledge are socially embedded in particular places and are difficult to transfer

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Published date: 2009
Keywords: agglomeration, clusters, community, communities of practice, epistemic communities, industrial districts, networks of practice, sociology of scientific knowledge, tacit knowledge.

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Local EPrints ID: 69154
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69154
ISBN: 9780080449111
PURE UUID: f4edd7a1-8a24-4274-8c56-17270323a44e

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Date deposited: 23 Mar 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 19:24

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Contributors

Author: S. Pinch
Editor: R. Kichin
Editor: N. Thrift

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