Contributed by Isabelle Antes

What is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge Management is broadly the process by which knowledge is created, identified, organized, stored, and distributed. Often this is discussed in reference to a specific organization or company as seen in IBM’s definition, though this may be more due to the term’s origins in management consulting. 

Whose information?

As with most things in the Open Ecosystem, the information available to be managed is a reflection of the society we live in – for better and for worse. More specifically, this means that open materials face similar issues around accessibility, representation, and information ownership that exist in academic and publishing spaces. 

How would this improve the open effort?

Centralized knowledge management would address a variety of challenges that continue to persist in the Open Ecosystem. A centralized knowledge management for OER would allow for increased findability, increase scholarly conversation, and increase transparency about material origins and cost. 

Increase findability

With a centralized knowledge management system (which one or what platform 

is a whole other article!), finding OER could be more streamlined. Currently, finding OER involves knowing the specialized language for finding OER, knowing where to look & how to get there, and an understanding of how each of these unique systems work (using MOM isn’t the same as using MERLOT, which isn’t the same as using OERCommons). If there was a centralized Knowledge Management for OER, this findability issue would be (at least in part) addressed. 

Increase scholarly conversation (5Rs)

With increased findability, there is a greater probability of scholarly conversation 

increasing. When resources are easier to find, individuals can contribute to the scholarly conversation via the 5Rs (Retain, Reuse,Revise,Remix, Redistribute) more readily, and in a space that allows for centralized retention and redistribution. For me this is the most exciting part! To imagine, openly published research in conversation with open textbooks and ancillary materials and assignments that create knowledge (hurray for open pedagogy!). 

Increase transparency about material origins and cost

Increased findability, and more engagement in scholarly conversation, creates an open, and transparent record of academic contribution to the materials. This would speak to the academic rigor of the material, and its contributors, and it would illustrate the importance of open content. Beyond this impact, the central location of this information would allow for the more transparent conversations about the cost of scholarship, what funding bodies expect of their recipients, and who at the end of the day is paying for research and scholarship. 

What would that mean for marketability and replicability of OER? 

Increasing the marketability of OER is huge – the amount of OER is vast, yet the amount that faculty and staff know is slim. This marketing problem could partially be addressed by the consolidation of information in one place. Centralized knowledge management would allow for increased marketability of open content – being able to find material and link to one location makes the user experience, in my opinion, better. In addition marketability, centralized knowledge management for OER allows for others to replicate- OER can be used in classes at an institution in the northeast and an institution in the southwest can replicate that experience, learn from it, and remix the material to better suit their needs. This extends to OER research, too. Being able to reproduce what other institutions have researched around OER is crucial for making data-driven decisions, advocating for OER with faculty, and closing the loop on the scholarly conversation – ensuring that actionable steps are taken from the ideation and research. 

We here at OER & Beyond would love for you to share your thoughts! Comment below, or consider submitting an article of your own!

About the Author 

Hi! My name is Isabelle Antes, and I am the Open Educational Resource Librarian for Texas State (TXST) University Libraries and one of the Co-Editors for the OER & Beyond Blog. I live, work, and meet on the unceded ancestral lands historically cared for by the Coahuiltecan, Lipan Apache, Comanche, Tonkawa, Jumanos, and Sana nations and peoples. I am interested in connecting individuals with materials for their success and creating sustainable and scalable solutions through intentional infrastructure creation.  

The content in this article is human-generated content.