Unifying knowledge creation process through cascading modes of communication

Abstract

In this short paper, we elaborate the concept of Cascading Modes of Communication (CMC) for knowledge creation in social media. Through a review of CMC and Multi-Stakeholder Learning Dialogue (MSLD), the 3 distinct dimensions of knowledge creation processes: the Epistemological, the Ontological and the Communicative, are posited as reference for the analysis of the processes. Each SECI process is framed as a conversion of knowledge along all 3 dimensions. The relationship of Expansive Learning and SECI cycles is then explored. Two previously discussed SECI processes: Boom-up and Slip-down are explained as phenomenon observed in boundary crossing. Furthermore, two new SECI processes symmetric to Boom-up and Slip-down are identified: Boil-Up and Percolate-down, pointing to the pervading tension between tacit-explicit, local-global, and consensus-dissensus knowledge conversion processes. This tension provides a theoretical explanation for the self-sustaining nature underling all knowledge creation process. Thus, the social media scaffold in CMC is to function as boundary objects created to bridge the stages of knowledge creation processes.