Musings on the Social Life of Information

Today I read a chapter by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid in their book The Social Life of Information that I wanted to comment on. They talk about the difference between “know that” and “know how.” “Know that” refers to learning about facts, data and information. “Know how” is how to do something. And “we learn how by practice” (quoting Ryle, 128).

Brown and Duguid quote from Lave and Wenger describing how communities of practice add to “know how.” They describe different settings in which newcomers were able to associate with expert practitioners and learn from them. They also describe how situated learning is more effective than learning out of context. Using an example of learning how to speak by reading, listening and talking as opposed to looking up new words in a dictionary they found the former to be much more effective.

To lampoon the “know that” crowd they quote from Hard Times in which Gradgrind states, “Teach these boys nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing less and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts…Stick to Facts, Sir” (135).

Using the metaphor of “supply and demand” Brown and Duguid point out that although we often think of teaching and learning stemming from supply (finding somebody who can teach us), the more critical part is the “demand” that students have to learn. If one really wants to learn, it will make all the difference.