Knowledge Sharing as Communication via James W. Carey’s Communication as Culture

Abstract

Knowledge sharing in the academic setting can be conceptualized as a form of communication that has a potential for socio-cultural communication studies. This study argues that examining the discourse of James W. Carey on communication as culture, particularly his discussion on transmission and ritual views of communication, can deepen understanding of knowledge sharing among the research academics from a communication standpoint. Applying one of Herbert Blumer’s assumptions on symbolic interactionism, this study further argues that the meaning of knowledge sharing as a form of communication among research academics could be found in the process by which the academics interact symbolically with others within and outside the academic community. The findings affirm through a phenomenological research design that knowledge sharing is communication. New perspectives in this communication phenomenon are examined through the ritual view of communication with interesting implications with the New Media Theory and with the symbolic interaction framework.