08. Management of Historical Information and Knowledge %28Fr. G. Ravasco SDB-SUE%29


08. Management of Historical Information and Knowledge %28Fr. G. Ravasco SDB-SUE%29

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EAO Regional Conference on the State of Salesian Historiography
Day 3 | Wednesday | 6 Nov 2013
Knowledge Management in Salesian Historiography: the EAO experience
by: Fr. Gerard G. Ravasco, SDB
Abstract
The Salesians and the Salesian Family is a knowledge organization. Every member in a sense
are historiographers because they are witnesses and recorders of events that take place within
their local context. These abundance of data and information which they possess becomes of
interest to the researchers, writers, and archivists of the organization because of their potential in
terms of history. As a knowledge organization, it becomes their commitment not just to create
knowledge but to manage it in order that it may be utilized effectively by each and every
member.
This paper focuses on the basics of knowledge management in the light of its application in
Salesian historiography. It also presents some of the knowledge management tools which are in
use in the East Asia Oceania region in their long term goal of digitizing history. Finally it
recommends ways on how to better optimize knowledge management in the region.
*****
1.0 Introducing the Knowledge Organization
1.1 The Salesian Family as a knowledge organization in general
The Salesian Congregation is a knowledge-intensive organization. If we also consider its role in
the wider vast movement known as the Salesian Family, that reality is even more true (Fox,
2011). As a knowledge organization it makes its knowledge resources available to everyone in
the organization instead of hoarding it the way tangible resources (like cash money) are guarded
heavily. This is because knowledge once created becomes free (with the exceptions of
copyrighted and proprietary information). But a knowledge organization does not just build
knowledge, instead it should also ensure the utilization of that knowledge. In short a knowledge
organization should build, replenish, distribute, and put to use the knowledge accumulated by
every individual component in that organization (Dhawan, 1999; Chaudhary, 2005). The
challenge therefore for the Salesian Congregation and the Salesian Family to be true to its
identity as a knowledge organization is to be able to manage its intellectual capital and resources
accordingly. Thus the need for knowledge management in general.

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1.2 Salesian Historiographers as a knowledge organization in particular
Now particularly in the field of Salesian Historiography, the Association for Salesian Culture and
History (ACCSA) in collaboration with the Salesian Historical Institute (ISS) have come up with
three continental seminars. The first took place in Nairobi (October 11-14, 2011) which focused
on the preservation of spiritual heritage. The second one was at Belo Horizonte (March 17-20,
2012). The third was at Benediktbeuern (October 31- November 4, 2012) where the state of
Salesian Historiography in Europe was investigated. It focused on the analysis and verification of
historical investigations of Salesian works and the conservation and enhancement of the Salesian
cultural heritage (ANS Rome, October 30, 2012). Here the conference highlighted "the need to
collect, select with care, and sort the documentation, paying attention to the challenges of the
new technological means to ensure the permanence of information" (ANS Benediktbeuern,
November 5, 2012). In this present conference here in Cebu (November 4-8, 2013) for the East
Asia Oceania (EAO) region we aim to go higher than the collection of historical data but rather
to focus on how we as a knowledge-intensive organizational force can learn to manage the
intellectual resources of our particular local salesian histories.
2.0 Managing Knowledge
2.1 What is Knowledge Management (KM)?
This brings us to what Knowledge Management (KM) is all about. This field encompasses
identifying and mapping intellectual assets within an organization, generating new knowledge
that would give the assets an edge over others by bestowing on it a value-added characteristic. It
is the "leveraging of collective wisdom to increase responsiveness and innovation" (Frappaolo,
2006, p.8).
Knowledge Management's primary goal is to provide the right knowledge at the right time to the
right person. This enables the individual to make an informed and well-timed decision, based on
the relevant information he or she gets through the intelligent system. This leads us to the
implicit goal of knowledge management which is to build and use the intellectual assets of an
organization efficiently (speed) and effectively (timing). Thus the basic goal of knowledge
management is to be able to form a system in an organization which would collect, store, and
disseminate knowledge from and to its individuals (members) to improve their performance. In
other words, the goal of knowledge management is capturing, cataloging, storing, and facilitating
the use of the organization collective knowledge. (Chaudhary, 2005, p. 40)
2.2 From Tacit to Explicit Knowledge
Knowledge can be classified into two: tacit and explicit. Tacit refers to knowledge which resides
in the minds of people (eg. Salesian pioneers' access to local history). The acquisition of tacit
knowledge is usually developed through a process of trial and error during practical experiences.
This is why tacit knowledge is so difficult to articulate, formalize, and encode. If knowledge

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gained from practice (eg. their Salesian experience and retelling of history) remains only in the
minds of people who had them, then this knowledge will be lost when these very persons pass
away. To turn their personal knowledge into organizational knowledge, their subjective tacit
knowledge must be externalized to an explicit form of representation. Once the knowledge is
externalized, it is easier to move that information across communication networks. This brings
three challenges to the organization: [1] capturing and formulating tacit knowledge in a
communicable form (eg. interviews of pioneers, photos, chronicles, diaries), [2] making the
knowledge easily available to the entire organization (eg. Salesian publications and website
articles), [3] developing an organizational culture for seeking and using that tacit knowledge (eg.
Salesian culture of historiography and dititizing history).
Explicit knowledge is formal knowledge or information. Once tacit knowledge has been
articulated in formal language, then it is much easier to convey and to disseminate that
knowledge across varied types of media (eg. Salesian historical documents, books, articles,
research outputs).(Chang-Albitres & Krugler, 2005, p.5).
3.0 Knowledge management tools
3.1 Integrating human assets and technology
Knowledge management utilizes information technology tools to manage explicit knowledge.
With this explicit knowledge can then be handled in a tangible way. Documents,
databases/repositories, and web sites are some of the means used to communicate explicit
knowledge. However there must be a balance between human-oriented knowledge management
and technology-oriented knowledge management. Thus there exists the need to develop a
strategy to integrate organizational knowledge into the knowledge management tools. (Chang-
Albitres & Krugler, 2005, p.7)
3.2 Introducing the KM tools in the East Asia Oceania Region
The challenge organizations face concerning explicit knowledge is not its capture and
formulation but rather how to handle the volume of knowledge and ensure the relevance of that
knowledge to the organization. In the East Asia Oceania (EAO) region there exists an abundance
of explicit knowledge which could be overwhelming. These however can be and are little by
little being managed by information technology and other knowledge management tools. Some
examples are given of existing EAO information technology tools which help in knowledge
discovery, capture, storing, and sharing. This is not a comprehensive list of tools and categories
found in the region. Hopefully this present conference can identify more through the various
country representatives and can propose a re-classification to add technologies and best practices
being used but were not mentioned here.

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3.2.1 Web Portals and Websites
Web Portals
A Web Portal is a web page which acts as a gateway or an entry point for the users by providing
useful content and linking to various sites and features on the world wide web. Many of the
websites of the provinces of EAO region act as portals which lead the user to view the site links
to various houses and presences within their jurisdiction. This page usually contains a search
engine feature to help the user find a particular information within the province's context. They
may offer other services as a dedicated e-mail, relevant news, and may link to databases.
(Frappaolo, 2006, p. 35)
The ibosco.net maintained by the Korean province is an example of a portal which links to
various sites and attempts at translating salesian documents into Korean.
URL is http://ibosco.net/enhome
Web sites and web pages
Most of the provinces and respective houses of the EAO region have websites. The list of their
official websites could be found at the salesian congregation's website - sdb.org
URL is http://www.sdb.org/en/Links
Blogs and personal websites
Individual Salesians in various provinces make their own blogs or personal websites. Here they
post various topics according to their interests. Some salesians make use of this to chronicle their
daily pastoral activities. There are many who use blogs to write weekly reflections of the Sunday
liturgy. Still there are others who blog about books, others about food and culinary experiences,
and there are those others who just wish to share the informal moments of their Salesian
community. The links to their websites can usually be found from their house website.
There is also an attempt at an EAO blog found at sdb.org
URL is http://say.sdb.org/blogs/eao
3.2.2 Repositories and databases
Repositories in simple terms are places where things are kept and collected. In information
technology they are websites that provide a central place in which data is aggregated, kept, and
maintained in an organized way, and where they could be extracted efficiently. (Frost, 2010)
The Salesian Termbase, although website in form, is actually a "database" of terminologies used
in the Salesian domain. This was developed by Fr. Julian Fox, SDB from the Australian
province.
URL is http://www.bosconet.aust.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php

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The Salesian Digital Library (SDL) is a repository in database format with an extensive
collection of salesian documents that empowers users by giving them access to documents
fundamental to an understanding of the charism of St. John Bosco. This repository had its
beginnings in the Australian province as it was begun by Fr. Julian Fox, SDB. It continues to be
under the watch of the Salesian Generalate in Rome.
URL is http://sdl.sdb.org/cgi-bin/library?a=p&p=home&l=EN&w=utf-8
The Don Bosco Research Repository is a collection of bibliographic data of the research outputs
of students, researchers, and academics of Don Bosco Higher Education Institutions in the
Philippines. It is hosted at Don Bosco Technical College, Mandaluyong.
URL is http://repository.donbosco.net/
The Salesian Literature Center is a website with a collection of digital resources from
translations of salesian news, documents, and books into Thai, as well as other Thai literary
works and documents in the province. Fr. Joseph Banchong Santisukniran, SDB heads the
Commission on Salesian Literature which is responsible for this work.
URL is http://www.salit.org/web/main.html
3.2.3 Social Networking sites
Various social networking sites (facebook, twitter, yahoo groups) which often include also
instant messaging sites facilitate the informal transfer and sharing of knowledge across the
salesian world in real time. They are too numerous to be enumerated here since a good number
within the Salesian family makes use of this medium because of its ease, speed, and ubiquity.
(Cornelius, 2008)
3.2.4 Communities of practice
A Community of Practice (CoP) is an essential feature of KM and is composed of a group of
people who are peers in the execution of work. They are not a formal team but an informal
network, where each of the members have a shared set of interests and agenda and are motivated
to do something about them. Communities of Practice are self-generating, the membership is self
selecting and they are not necessarily co-located. (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Kimble, C., 2004;
Frappaolo, 2006, p. 12)
In the EAO region this is done through the formal Bulletin Boards or collaborative tools found
many times within the province or house websites or sometimes as stand alone. An example of a
CoP could be a bulletin board or a discussion forum which deals with various apostolates of a
province. Here the different stakeholders (salesians and lay collaborators) could discuss
asynchronously and offer their suggestions in the improvement of work pertaining to an
apostolate. Members of the provincial council could use this as springboard for opening of new
works as it gets feedbacks from confreres from the different parts of the province. Provincial
commissions could use this forum to discuss and improve their policies and guidelines. The

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output details of all these are the stuff of which will make up the local salesian history in the
future.
On the congregational level, there is the SDB AGORA which is already widely used by the
America South Cone region and the Missions Office of Fr. Vaclav Klement, SDB. The SDB
AGORA is for in-house exchange of ideas which is not visible to the rest of the world thus
making it an opportune KM tool for the EAO region to optimize.
URL is http://say.sdb.org/agora/
A good example of CoP in the EAO region is the AustraLasia where every Salesian or any
Salesian Family member can be and is a correspondent to the events happening within their
locality. More, every Salesian news they cover, be they great or small, from all over the region is
treated equally in its publication where the editor(s) take responsibility for the content.
Url is http://www.bosconet.aust.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=EAO.Austra-L-asia11
3.3 Evaluating the KM tools in the EAO region
Knowledge Management is not all about technological discipline; it is more about managing
people, culture, practices, and structures of the EAO region. Effective Knowledge Management
initiatives should never just be technology driven, and should not try to seek a total KM
information technology solution. However, if knowledge management's tools of information
technology are used right and when they are used as supporting and enhancing mechanisms for
sound, existing KM practices, then they can be very valuable tools.
4.0 A Suggested To Do list for KM historiographers of EAO
4.1 Democratization of historiography
It is often heard that social media has gradually democratized journalism. Readers are no longer
passive receivers of information but are now also creators of information. In the same way
Salesians and Salesian Family members through their use of the social media proprietory to us
do not just receive information about the Salesian world but rather they too disseminate news
and information to the rest of the Salesian world. And when the news and information of today
is selected, analyzed, and compiled, it becomes knowledge that form the building blocks for
historiography. Thus there is need to empower every member to be involved in this effort.
4.2 A metadata mentality
Any data brought to a historiographer is a recording of a fieldwork activity (documents, photos,
audio/movie file, notes, records). But most of the times the historiographer or compiler of these

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data could not make heads or tails of them. Data unprocessed becomes useless and cannot be
used as information. Thus each data should also have metadata attached to help the
historiographer compile data into relevant folders or containers. This metadata can be used to
capture its context (eg. author, date and time, place, organization, and other file properties). It's
like tagging your pictures in facebook to reach those persons you would like the pictures to be
seen immediately. Plus it makes it easier for you to compile your pictures in their pertinent
folders. A metadata mentality facilitates data sorting and storing and makes data efficiently
accessible to its users. In this way, data is processed easier and faster into information, which is
eventually processed into knowledge.
4.3 Continued support for what has begun
There is no need to re-invent the wheel. KM tools exist in the EAO region but they have to be
supported, utilized, and promoted otherwise they die and wither. Websites must be updated and
the members have to patronize them, not only by reading but by giving feedbacks using the
"comment" feature. Repositories have to be filled. Contribute your works and papers or point
the repository administrators to relevant content you find. Sign up in a CoP. Start a discussion
thread in a board or forum. Read and respond to posts.
5.0 Summary
The building block of history is not information but knowledge. The internet probably contains
all the details needed to create historiographies. But then, these raw data or objects (pictures of
events, interviews of persons, descriptions of works, chronologies of communities) would not
make sense if not put properly into the right containers where they could be seen in their rightful
context (Heerdt, 2012). But these containers are meant to be used and its objects shared and
disseminated which turns our attention to people rather than the tools. Thus people have to learn
to use and manage these tools. For when more and more people are involved in the creation of
these objects and containers, a culture is promoted which ensures the best of practices for
historiography. This process is Knowledge Management. And this is the process that
distinguishes the Salesians and the Salesian Family as a knowledge-intensive organization.

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References:
ANS Rome, October 30, 2012. SDB.org.
ANS Benedictbeuern, November 5, 2012. SDB.org
Chang-Albitres, C. & Krugler, P. (2005). A Summary of Knowledge Management Information
Gathered from Literature, Web Sites, and State Departments of Transportation. College Station,
Texas: Texas Transportation Institute.
Chaudhary, H.C. (2005). Knowledge Management for Competitive Advantage. New Delhi,
India: Excel Books.
Cornelius, D. (2008). Are social networking sites Knowledge Management? KM Space.
http://kmspace.blogspot.ca/2008/04/are-social-networking-sites-knowledge.html
Dhawan, R. (1999). The Knowledge Corporation. Business Today. New Delhi, May 7.
Fox, J. (2011). Salesian Common Sense. manuscript.
Frappaolo, C. (2006). Knowledge Management. West Sussex, England: Capstone Publishing
Ltd.
Frost, A. (2010). KM Tools. KMT: an educational KM site.
http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/
Heerdt, Anne. (2012). The Container Theory of Life.
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/08/08feb11d.cfm#.UgXN8z9Qfl0
Kimble, C. (2004) Knowledge management and Communities of Practice. Chris-Kimble.com
http://www.chris-kimble.com/Courses/Sogn_og_Fjordane/KM_and_CoPs.html
Lave, J., Wenger, E (1991). Situated Learning - Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge
University Press.
Townsend, Sean, Chappel C., Struijve O. (1999) Digitising History.
http://hds.essex.ac.uk/g2gp/digitising_history/