IIM Calcutta professor Somprakash Bandyopadhyay has launched a book on “Social Knowledge Management for Rural Empowerment: Bridging the Knowledge Divide Using Social Technologies.” He along with co-authors Sneha Bhattacharyya and Jayanta Basak from Social Informatics Research Group at IIMC have attempted to provide a theoretically embedded practical guide-map to achieve holistic rural empowerment in developing nations, using digital technologies.
The book published by Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, launched on September 1, and is currently available for purchase on Amazon. The book was conceptualised to study the aspects of rural Indian marginalisation and in turn, work upon devising holistic empowerment strategies by deploying a social knowledge management framework.
Lays conceptual foundation
The book, an outcome of a five-year-long journey undertaken by the research group at IIM Calcutta, covers diverse issues such as conceptual foundations; bridging the rural-urban knowledge and information divide; information and knowledge asymmetry; a knowledge-theoretic perspective of rural empowerment to provide a comprehensive outlook on building a knowledge society through digital empowerment.
Talking about the book, Prof Somprakash Bandyopadhyay, Head of Social Informatics Research Group, IIMC said,“Our book attempts to expand the notion of knowledge management as practised inside business organisational perimeters to social knowledge management, referring to the aspect and effectiveness of managing social knowledge for rural empowerment.”
What is social knowledge management
“Social knowledge management in our context is a framework for rural empowerment using knowledge creation, assimilation, and dissemination, through digital connections and social collaboration, enhanced by contemporary digital technologies. We have attempted holistic rural empowerment by facilitating rural-urban virtual community formation through our proposed social knowledge management framework, whose motto is dedicated to eradicate knowledge asymmetry of rural members and empower them in the process by triggering purposive virtual collaborations,” he added.