A Collaborative View of Knowledge in a Knowledge Society: An International Perspective

This paper focuses on key topics that rose to the fore at the `Getting the Story Right' Joint Forum Assembly Meeting between business and higher education leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, Poland, and the United States which was held in October 1998 in Banff, Canada. Arising from participant observation notes, conversations, document analysis, and reflective writing, the work centers on four major themes: the nature of knowledge and knowledge workers, the fundamental difference between training and learning, the short-term effects of shifting workplace and economic situations, and the long-term impact of intergenerational influences. Each of these knowledge-related themes emerged in collaborative discussions that transcended national, occupational, and cultural boundaries. The paper takes the position that dialogue regarding the nature and usefulness of knowledge paradoxically takes an inward view as it develops outwardly to the case of others and the world. In a collaborative process of this nature, an important dimension of shared human meaning making becomes briefly revealed.