Purple on the nose

I attended the afternoon of a full day session the Ministry of Education put on for Etienne Wenger in Wellington. Etienne is a world renowed expert on Communities of Practice. He covered some practical aspects of communities of practice in the morning, and more theoretical content in the afternoon. Those who know me will know it's not often I wish a speaker would be a bit more tangible...

Etienne talked about knowledge being socially constructed, that it was more about your identity as a knower in a community than about storing stuff in your head. He used the example of 'purple on the nose' a phrase used by a friend of his who was a wine connoisseur. Etienne could not 'know' this in that he didn't have the experience or competence to detect it in the glass of wine. Nor could he claim that it was in fact 'yellow on the shoulder' because he didn't have the status within the wine tasting community to make such a claim. The knowledge of 'purple on the nose' he said was a property of the wine tasting community, and knowing it was a socially negotiated act of membership in that community. Human practices, he said, create a universe of knowledge of their own, which is inaccessible unless you join that practice. The path of learning is more about managing your trajectory through a community of knowers than it is about acquiring information.

Great stuff, but a bit like the bottle of red Etienne mentioned, it did make my head swim a bit trying to take it all in. I've often pondered the notion that even though knowledge is essentially 'brain based' (as distinct from information which is paper or electronically based) it is possible for organisations to 'know' things. Etienne solidified these ideas a bit further for me. I'm not sure I agree completely, but it does provide another useful lens through which to investigate the way knowledge works in groups, communities and organisations.

I also like the comments Derek Wenmouth makes about the session in his blog post on Boundary Workers.