FICS Dean Delivers SEARCA UP Centennial Professorial Chair Lecture

 

 

Communities of practice (CoPs) should give way to communities of champions (CoCs) in the knowledge management for development (KM4D) arena.

This, in one sentence, was the theme of Dr. Alexander Flor’s SEARCA UP Centennial Professorial Chair Lecture on Shifts in KM Models to Address Natural Resources Management Imperatives. Flor’s lecture was held on 7 July 2009 at the Drilon Hall, SEAMEO SEARCA, UPLB Campus, Los Baños, Laguna.

In his paper, Flor submits that knowledge management for development, exemplified by the Los Baños brand of KM, goes beyond conventional models that focus on knowledge sharing and reuse. Owing to the social urgency of NRM problems, KM4D is shifting to engage communities of champions that would take the KM agenda to the next level, i.e., advocacy and mobilization. CoCs are ICT enabled social networks that focus on solving societal problems through direct action and changes in legislation or social policy. Flor cited examples of such CoCs and proposed what he refers to as the “ultimate” CoC for NRM, rural mobile communities empowered by cellular technology.

Flor is Professor and Dean of the UPOU Faculty of Information and Communication Studies. He is one of four UP System-wide awardees of this special SEARCA Chair, which was made available only for the University’s Centennial and which provides a grant double the usual amount.

 

 

 

date posted: July 11, 2009