Exploring sensings in practice: affect and knowledge sharing
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2018-0191 |
| Published date | 13 May 2019 |
| Date | 13 May 2019 |
| Pages | 500-516 |
| Author | Dean Vincent Leith |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Exploring sensings in practice:
affect and knowledge sharing
Dean Vincent Leith
Department of Communications, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purposeof this paper is to investigatethe nature of knowledgesharing and what is experienced
as being shared as knowledge sharing unfolds. In particular, the paper explores affect as a key aspect of
knowledge sharingin an organisational context.
Design/methodology/approach –A practice theoretical approach is applied to the study combined with a
phenomenological research methodology that focusses on the “lived experience”of participants.
Findings –Knowledge-sharing practice was found to encompass cognitive, social, bodily and affective
dimensions. Affect was found to be a significant component of the practice as revealed by participant emotion
and the use of conversational humour.
Research limitations/implications –In light of the findings, the researcher recommends a focus on
participant sensings in practice theoretical research, in combination with sayings, doings and relatings.
Originality/value –The approach to the study is significant in that, in contrast to previous practice-based
research in information studies, it applied a methodology adapted from phenomenology. This combination of
approaches opened the investigation to the multi-dimensional experiential nature of knowledge-sharing
practice highlighting the significant role of affect in knowledge sharing.
Keywords Information management, Generation and dissemination of information, Phenomenology,
Knowledge organizations, Information research, Information organizations
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The successful sharing of disciplinary knowledge is central to the work of project teams
operating in local, state and federal governments as they seek to address the issues of economic
and environmental sustainability. In these organisational contexts, knowledge sharing relies on
contributions from a diverse range of subject specialists including engineers, waste
management experts and environmental managers. In the information studies field, debate has
periodically emergedaround the applicationof the terms information or knowledge to sharing
activities such as those documented by Wilson (2010), Budd (2011) and Pilerot (2012). Some
researchers employ the term “information sharing”whileothersreferto“knowledge sharing”
depending on the phenomena researchers consider shared. These perspectives encompass that
“which makes sense ”asu sed by Veinot (2009, p. 2314), the intangibles of data, information and
knowledge as used by Haythornthwaite (2010, p. 4837), and the materiality of information such
as that described as “information as thing”by Buckland (1991, p. 314). Savolainen (2017)
adopts Sonnenwald’s contention that sharing involves:
[…] a set of activities by which information is provided to others, either proactively or upon
request, such that the information has an impact on other person’s image of the world […] and
creates a shared, or mutually compatible working understanding of the world.
Savolainen suggests knowledge sharing involves acts of externalisation by owners and
internalisation by acquirers (Hendriks, 1999). He identifies a communications approach
(see Carey, 1989) to sharing that adopts a transmission view involving the transfer of
messages, ideas, facts, opinions and documents and a ritual view involving the maintenance
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 3, 2019
pp. 500-516
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-11-2018-0191
Received 18 November 2018
Revised 13 February 2019
Accepted 17 February 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
Research funding: this research is supported by an Australian Government Research Training
Program Scholarship.
500
JD
75,3
of communities by mutually exchanging objects such as ideas, opinions and information in
everyday contexts (Savolainen, 2017). He concludes that despite the terms information
sharing and knowledge sharing arising from two different research streams, they are, in
fact, closely related constructs and may be used interchangeably (Savolainen, 2017).
This study adopted the term “knowledge sharing”as it is more often applied to research
in organisational contexts such as in local government settings. It explores knowledge
sharing through the lens of a practice theoretical approach which views practices such as
knowledge sharing as, “embodied, materially mediated arrays of human activity centrally
organized around shared practical understandings”(Schatzki et al., 2001, p. 11). In contrast
to the previous information studies research, however, it also combines this practice
approach with a methodology based on phenomenology (van Manen, 2014). This approach
focuses on the lived experience of research participants and thus was considered to have the
potential to explore the broadest range of potential phenomenon involved in the practice of
knowledge sharing including affect.
The key question under investigation is:
RQ1. What is it that is actually shared as knowledge sharing happens?
This question focusses on the empirical nature of knowledge sharing and, in particular,
the various dimensions through which knowledge sharing may unfold in practice.
In addition, in the light of more recent research in the literature review below, the study
focusses on the role of affect in knowledge sharing and how this may inform or extend
previous theoretical approaches to knowledge sharing in the information studies and
organisation studies disciplines.
Literature review
The following literature review surveys previous research in the information studies field as
well as other selected social sciences disciplines including organisation studies and
sociology. It also explores the theoretical approaches applied to the investigation; that of
contemporary practice theory.
A range of information studies researchers have explored the dimensions of information
and knowledge that may be shared as the practice of knowledge sharing unfolds. In a
comprehensive meta-analysis of information studies research on information sharing
activities, Pilerot (2012) suggests that the majority of researchers in the information studies
field view the information object as the key to what is shared. He concludes that there is a
widespread approach in the knowledge and information sharing literature, focussing on the
materiality of information in line with Buckland’s (1991) notion of information as thing. In
further research into the information sharing and information literacy practices of doctoral
researchers, Pilerot (2016) suggests that while attention is paid to physical surroundings
and material objects, the practice was inseparable from interaction and discussions with
others, including the evaluation and assessment of materials and through mundane
everyday activities such as meetings, etc.
These social aspects of knowledge sharing are also investigated in a study of
ambulance driver’s information practices by Lloyd (2009), who found that participants
engaged with textual, physical and social sites of information differed according to their
level of expertise, the context shaping their experience and their level of participation in
their work communi ty. She referred to these three sites as epistemic, corporeal and social
sites, or modalities. The “epistemic”modality has a more stable and e ntrenched quality
such as textual information found in training materials; the “corporeal”modality involved
embodied information that is action oriented and drawn from interaction with sensory
and sentient aspects of the information environment impacting on practitioners’bodies;
and the “social”modality refers to information that is tacit in nature and located,
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Exploring
sensings in
practice
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