This book presents leading-edge analysis on the theory and practice of participatory evaluation around the world. With its instructive case studies from Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, and St Vincent, the book is a guide to a community-based approach to evaluation that is at once a learning process, a means of taking action, and a catalyst for empowerment.Knowledge Shared is the most comprehensive book now available on participatory evaluation. It is intended primarily as a tool for practitioners and policymakers in all segments of development cooperatio.

In this volume organizational learning theory is used to analyse various practices of managing and facilitating knowledge sharing within companies. Experiences with three types of knowledge sharing, namely knowledge acquisition, knowledge reuse, and knowledge creation, at ten large companies are discussed and analyzed. This critical analysis leads to the identification of traps and obstacles when managing knowledge sharing, when supporting knowledge sharing with IT tools, and when organizations try to learn from knowledge sharing practices. The identification of these risks is followed by a discussion of how organizations can avoid them. This work will be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in organization science and business administration. Also, consultants and organizations at large will find the book useful as it will provide them with insights into how other organizations manage and facilitate knowledge sharing and how potential failures can be prevented.

This volume brings together the experiences and research of heritage practitioners, archaeologists, and educators to explore new and unique approaches to heritage studies. The last several decades have witnessed a rapid increase in the field of cultural heritage studies worldwide. This increase in the number of studies and in interest by the public as well as academics has effected substantial change in the understanding of heritage and approaches to heritage studies. This change has also impacted the perception of communities, how to study and protect the physical residues of heritage, and how to share the knowledge of heritage. It has brought the issue of who has knowledge and how the value of heritage can be shared more effectively with communities who then ascribe meaning and value to heritage materials. Heritage studies, until a few decades ago, exclusively studied the material culture of the past as part of elitist approaches that completely neglected communities’ rights to knowledge of their own heritage. Additionally, heritage practitioners and archaeologists neither shared this knowledge nor engaged with communities about their heritage. Communities were also mostly deprived from contributing to heritage and archaeological studies. This kind of top-down approach was quite common in many parts of the world. But recent studies and research in the field have shown the importance of including the public in projects, and that sharing the knowledge produced through heritage studies and archaeological works is significant for the protection and preservation of heritage materials; it has finally been understood that excluding the public from heritage is not ethical. This publication presents a wide array of case studies with different approaches and methods from many parts of the world to answer these questions.

A novel treatment of the capacity for shared attention, joint action, and perceptual common knowledge. In The Shared World, Axel Seemann offers a new treatment of the capacity to perceive, act on, and know about the world together with others. Seemann argues that creatures capable of joint attention stand in a unique perceptual and epistemic relation to their surroundings; they operate in an environment that they, through their communication with their fellow perceivers, help constitute. Seemann shows that this relation can be marshaled to address a range of questions about the social aspect of the mind and its perceptual and cognitive capacities. Seemann begins with a conceptual question about a complex kind of sociocognitive phenomenon—perceptual common knowledge—and develops an empirically informed account of the spatial structure of the environment in and about which such knowledge is possible. In the course of his argument, he addresses such topics as demonstrative reference in communication, common knowledge about jointly perceived objects, and spatial awareness in joint perception and action.

Knowledge Café is a process for sharing information, whether face to face or virtual. This popular and practical knowledge management tool supports a culture where projects and innovation thrive. The Knowledge Café is a mindset and environment for engaging, discussing, and exchanging knowledge within a group either face to face or virtually. At the café, participants can discuss hard-to-solve project issues or resolve a family or community crisis. This metaphorical town square supports knowledge circulation and rejuvenation and increases its velocity—making it a breeding ground for innovation. The aha moments at one Knowledge Café can match the benefits of multiple conferences, workshops, and training put together. When knowledge management (KM) is part of an organization's culture, performance improves, collaboration increases, and the competitive advantage accelerates. No one can force knowledge transfer. We must create the right environment where knowledge is freely shared, rewarded, and fun. This book demonstrates why the Knowledge Café is such an effective KM tool and shows how to design optimal café experiences and increase learning agility. The premium on knowledge and agility has never been greater. This book offers a technique for managing knowledge toward the greater good. Tips; templates; practical and relatable experiences; case studies; and examples of knowledge brokers, creators, and sharers across cultures are sprinkled throughout the book to show how the café interfaces with other KM techniques and in different work and project spaces.

This volume offers a simple, systematic guide to creating a knowledge sharing practice in your organization. It shows how to build the enabling environment and develop the skills needed to capture and share knowledge gained from operational experiences to improve performance and scale-up successes. Its recommendations are grounded on the insights gained from the past seven years of collaboration between the World Bank and its clients around the world—ministries and national agencies operating in various sectors—who are working to strengthen their operations through robust knowledge sharing. While informed by the academic literature on knowledge management and organizational learning, this handbook’s operational background and many real-world examples and tips provide a missing, practical foundation for public sector officials in developing countries and for development practitioners. However, though written with a public sector audience in mind, the overall concepts and approaches will also hold true for most organizations in the private sector and the developed world.

Within the past 10 years, tremendous innovations have been brought forth in information diffusion and management. Such technologies as social media have transformed the way that information is disseminated and used, making it critical to understand its distribution through these mediums. With the consistent creation and wide availability of information, it has become imperative to remain updated on the latest trends and applications in this field. Information Diffusion Management and Knowledge Sharing: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice examines the trends, models, challenges, issues, and strategies of information diffusion and management from a global context. Highlighting a range of topics such as influence maximization, information spread control, and social influence, this publication is an ideal reference source for managers, librarians, information systems specialists, professionals, researchers, and administrators seeking current research on the theories and applications of global information management.