Abstract
This chapter summarizes the current state of practice in the application of information technology (IT) for knowledge exchange amongst key health care stakeholders: healthcare consumers, health service providers, and researchers. The objectives are to review the practices that facilitate collaboration amongst stakeholders, the role of new technologies in facilitating exchange of information amongst key stakeholders, and the role of three key stakeholders as creators, consumers, and/or translators of information. The emphasis is on exploring an increasingly collaborative exchange of knowledge online.
TopCollaborative Research Strategies
Three key emerging collaborative research strategies seem to offer the best fit for meeting the challenge. These are knowledge exchange strategies, Community Based Research (CBR) (Flicker & Savan, 2006) and Communities of Practice (CoPs) (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Each of these three strategies involves a greater degree of collaboration amongst producers and consumers of knowledge than has been traditional in research.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Expertise: Information that is valid and derived from well-informed experience.
Knowledge Exchange: A variety of processes and theories that encourage research involving potential beneficiaries of the knowledge in the creation of that knowledge.
Community Of Practice: A group of individuals who learn from each other’s expertise and create new information resources through that process.
Knowledge Transfer: A variety of processes and theories that encourage the application of research findings to practice or policy decisions.
Knowledge: Information that is valid and derived from accepted research.
Information Technology: The intersection between computer technology and information management, i.e. the use of computer-mediated information management.
Community Based Research: Research that is carried out in close consultation with communities who will use that research.
Social Software: Software that enables users to share information with each other.