Knowledge equity
{{Short description|Concept in social science}}
Knowledge equity is a social science concept referring to social change concerning expanding what is valued as knowledge and how communities may have been excluded from this discourse through imbalanced structures of power and privilege.
History
Knowledge equity developed from the discipline of knowledge management, and referred to the knowledge measurement process where tacit or subjective information is included to more traditional structures of information management.{{Cite journal|last=Glazer|first=Rashi|date=1998|title=Measuring the Knower: Towards a Theory of Knowledge Equity|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2307/41165949|journal=California Management Review|language=en|volume=40|issue=3|pages=175–194|doi=10.2307/41165949|jstor=41165949 |s2cid=154938071 |issn=0008-1256}} This developed into ways of applying a valuation to knowledge, including both those who know and the processes involving accessing, making sense of, and organizing it.{{Cite journal|last1=Baskerville|first1=Richard|last2=Dulipovici|first2=Alina|date=2006|title=The theoretical foundations of knowledge management|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1057/palgrave.kmrp.8500090|journal=Knowledge Management Research & Practice|language=en|volume=4|issue=2|pages=83–105|doi=10.1057/palgrave.kmrp.8500090|s2cid=10908444 |issn=1477-8238}} The connection with accessing various areas of knowledge creation are often connected to open access publications, allowing equitable access to those who may need.{{Cite journal|last1=Matheka|first1=Duncan Mwangangi|last2=Nderitu|first2=Joseph|last3=Mutonga|first3=Daniel|last4=Otiti|first4=Mary Iwaret|last5=Siegel|first5=Karen|last6=Demaio|first6=Alessandro Rhyll|date=2014-04-09|title=Open access: academic publishing and its implications for knowledge equity in Kenya|url= |journal=Globalization and Health|volume=10|issue=1|pages=26|doi=10.1186/1744-8603-10-26|issn=1744-8603|pmc=4046522|pmid=24716579 |doi-access=free }}
Access to knowledge and beliefs about what counts for knowledge has continued to shift within the social sciences, leading to a recognition that those who control what counts as knowledge and how that influences hierarchy and knowledge imbalance. Acknowledging beliefs that some forms of knowledge may be perceived to be better than others establishes an inequity and lack of justice for those who are excluded from systems that privilege discursive knowledge over other forms.{{Cite journal|last=Jaffe|first=JoAnn|date=2017|title=Knowledge Equity is Social Justice: Engaging a Practice Theory Perspective of Knowledge for Rural Transformation: Knowledge Equity is Social Justice|url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/ruso.12143|journal=Rural Sociology|language=en|volume=82|issue=3|pages=391–410|doi=10.1111/ruso.12143}} The Wikimedia Foundation has identified knowledge equity as a key element toward its strategic direction for an ecosystem of open and inclusive knowledge,{{Cite web|title=Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20 - Meta|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20|access-date=2020-10-27|website=meta.wikimedia.org|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2020-02-14|title=How Wikipedia Faces Emerging Knowledge with Collective Capital|url=https://nonprofitquarterly.org/how-wikipedia-faces-emerging-knowledge-with-collective-capital/|access-date=2020-10-27|website=Non Profit News {{!}} Nonprofit Quarterly|language=en-US}} where everybody has the access to create and consume knowledge.{{Cite web|date=2020-07-14|title=Promoting Knowledge Equity|url=https://wikimediafoundation.org/our-work/education/promoting-knowledge-equity/|access-date=2020-10-27|website=Wikimedia Foundation|language=en-US}} This has been connected with education as a social strategy for expanding knowledge equity.
Challenges
Challenges to this notion includes who is involved in the discourse where knowledge is understood and accepted,{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36566982|title=Representation : cultural representations and signifying practices|date=1997|publisher=Sage in association with the Open University|others=Hall, Stuart, 1932-2014., Open University.|isbn=0-7619-5431-7|location=London|oclc=36566982}} how tacit and explicit knowledge interact and get integrated into the larger systems that value multiple perspectives,{{Cite journal|last=Nonaka|first=Ikujiro|date=1994|title=A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2635068|journal=Organization Science|volume=5|issue=1|pages=14–37|doi=10.1287/orsc.5.1.14 |jstor=2635068 |issn=1047-7039}} and difficulties expanding beyond language{{Cite journal |last=Ma |first=Ji |date=2023-09-30 |title=Neutral, Non-Disruptive, and Native: Why Do Chinese Nonprofit Scholars Cite English Articles? |journal=Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=1028–1056 |language=en |doi=10.1177/08997640231196892 |issn=0899-7640|doi-access=free }} and cultural limitations on knowledge assumptions.{{Cite journal|last1=Anthony-Stevens|first1=Vanessa|last2=Matsaw Jr|first2=Sammy L.|date=2020|title=The productive uncertainty of indigenous and decolonizing methodologies in the preparation of interdisciplinary STEM researchers|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11422-019-09942-x|journal=Cultural Studies of Science Education|language=en|volume=15|issue=2|pages=595–613|doi=10.1007/s11422-019-09942-x|bibcode=2020CSSE...15..595A |s2cid=255167486 |issn=1871-1502}} The challenge for social movements to expand entrenched beliefs related to open and free knowledge in a politicized society involves social justice challenges in practice.{{Cite web|last=Harrison|first=Stephen|date=2020-06-09|title=How Wikipedia Became a Battleground for Racial Justice|url=https://slate.com/technology/2020/06/wikipedia-george-floyd-neutrality.html|access-date=2020-10-27|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}}