20011104: Brown & Duguid, Organizing Knowledge

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Brown, J.S., & Duiguid, P. (1009). Organizing Knowledge. Retrieved
     November 4, 2001 from http://slofi.com/organizi.htm.

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"Conclusion: Dialectical Thinking"

But of course: if organizations (and by extension organizing) exist to
create a synergistic synthesis then there must be the comparative
force of the dialectic. Things, information, people must be put in
relationships--they must be organized--so that new stuff may form. 

The dialectic is at the center of Information Science, but thus far
rarely mentioned. Distinctions, categories, classification,
organization, representation are all illuminated if placed in the
evolutionary context of thesis=>antithesis=>synthesis (which
transforms to thesis, endless process). 

In this context, the healthy organization is one that is constantly
reacting  and adapting to its environment. 

As B&D say, the organization of a firm provides the sometimes
invisible scaffolding by which groups effectively think so as to
survive in their environment.

A corporation is not, contrary to US law, a person but it does create
and utilize cognitive scaffolding in ways quite similar to a person. 


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