the social life of learning

The perspective in Brown and Duguid’s (2002) “Learning – in Theory and Practice” can educate our approach to staff training and development in any library/info organization, I think largely by providing a clear-headed framework for relating to the individual people involved, within their specific social context.

Here are some of the ideas -- implied or stated -- that I think make up such a practical framework:

• Regardless of philosophical debates about epistemology, a useful working hypothesis is: (impersonal) information is not (personal) knowledge; and persons are socially embedded

• Bullet points or prescribed techniques are not as important as the people involved

• to know the people involved, it’s necessary to observe and listen: what’s their experience level, how long have they been there, what do they know that coworkers may not…

• Training staff – or even getting them to participate – is not that easy

• The “classroom” and “textbook” model is limited; real learning happens in situ

• Experiment

• Trying to force a plan won’t work as well as highlighting an actual need and then allowing and encouraging knowledge theft (the legal kind)
  

Social software fits nicely into such a socially-grounded model of learning, but it could be used to compliment (rather than replace) face-to-face cooperation.

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Brown, J., & Duguid, P. (2002). The Social Life of Information. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.