Production of Knowledge

Knowledge production is a complex and time­consuming process, since for knowledge to be produced someone must think of an idea and decide to pursue it further. Sometimes an idea takes years to germinate in a person’s mind.

In addition to the time needed to do research and produce new knowledge, a person must find the appropriate funding to pursue the research. Scientific research costs a considerable amount of money, and while research in the social sci­ences and humanities may cost less, both require investments of money and time.

Research is usually done by people associated with large institutions because of the time and resources needed to produce new knowledge. Most of the research is pursued by individuals who work for government agencies, universities, large non-profit organizations, or large corporations.

1.2.1. Information Produced by the Government

Government, governmental agencies and insti­tutions are knowledge producers. Usually, they produce country official data. The official data can be found in yearbooks, statistical bulletins, newsletters and studies.

1.2.2. Information Produced by Academic Institutions

Universities and colleges are also major produc­ers of knowledge. Faculty performs research in the sciences, humanities and social sciences, the so called scholarly research. The results of this research can sometimes be applied directly to practical and social problems and it sometimes benefits companies or public institutions. Much of the research and knowledge produced by scholars is used by other scholars to advance the state of knowledge in a specific field of study.

Research and knowledge generated by faculty at universities and colleges is most often published in the form of books and scholarly journals.

The publication of an article or book encour­ages other scholars to evaluate the research to cor­roborate or dispute it. This exchange and debate of ideas and findings contributes to the production of the larger body of knowledge within a discipline.

The way academic disciplines structure knowl­edge affects searching. In order to effectively locate information, one must have an idea of how academic disciplines and libraries structure knowledge.

One way to assess the similarities between EEE and Arab countries from the point of view of scholarly research is to study the evolution of one indicator reported by the World Bank regard­ing the number of journal articles. Scientific and technical journal articles refer to the number of scientific and engineering articles published in the following fields: physics, biology, chemis­try, mathematics, clinical medicine, biomedical research, engineering and technology, and earth and space sciences.

Taking into account the values of this indicator over time shows us that there is slightly the same pattern for EEE and Arab countries: the number of journal article published by researchers from those two regions was pretty much the same for the period 2000-2007(between10000 and 18000), and the trend is a positive one.

1.2.3. Information Produced in the Private Sector

The private sector (i.e. non-governmental) also produces information and knowledge. Commer­cial newspapers, magazine and book publishers, the film and television industry, corporate labo­ratories, business research firms, associations, advocacy groups, and think tanks, all gather data and produce information.

These publications take many forms: maga­zines, books, bulletins, conferences, pamphlets, videos, technical reports, and company annual reports are but a few. Some are intended for in­ternal use within the organization and may not be available to the general public. Companies and laboratories often patent or trademark informa­tion as it is the result of their research. Patents and trademarks give the holder of the patent or trademark exclusive rights to the information.

When using any publication, it is important to know as much as possible about the organization, its goals and motives, and its reputation. Points of view, as well as goals and motives, are reflected in the information organizations produce.

How might the information from a business publication--primarily concerned with the re­search, development and promotion of a product- -differ from that of a consumer advocacy group? Advocacy groups or organizations which are formed around particular issues, political or social agendas, have differing and sometimes conflicting perspectives of the same issue.

1.3.