Knowledge Networks & Local Realities: Learning Things We Don’t Know
TLDR: Deep, nuanced understanding of local ground realities is vital to success when introducing any innovation into old, rigid systems with little documentation. “Tribal Knowledge Networks” can help unlock this. While we’re seeing an increase in such communities globally, in the context of EdTech in Pakistan, these need to be built and nurtured, bringing together three kinds of expertise: education specialists, technology experts and people with deep knowledge of the traditional system. Each of us has a responsibility to contribute and share what we know. The question is, can we build knowledge communities that are genuinely accessible, inclusive and efficient?
Full Rambling
In his article “Edtech Entrepreneurs Must Find New Ways to Build Community,” Ash Kaluarachichi discusses “Tribal Knowledge Networks.” These are important in any ecosystem, but they are absolutely essential when trying to innovate and build new, tech-based solutions for an education system like Pakistan’s. Here, like many service sectors in emerging economies, knowledge about ground realities (that will directly impact the effectiveness of your product) is extremely nuanced, deeply fragmented, highly localized and mostly undocumented.
Let me elaborate with a real-life example of things learned the hard way: if I’m building an app to help teachers improve teaching and learning by providing lesson plans, videos and assessments on an LMS, I absolutely must know numerous things in order to get take-up and usage. While that list is long and daunting, I’ll outline just 2 of those system ‘must-knows’ that come before you can even begin discussing product quality. No teacher will use my app, which is a new, unfamiliar way of doing things, unless:
1) There is goal alignment and high level buy-in from administrators. How you get that buy-in from a private network of schools in Islamabad will differ from how you get that from a government education department in KP. There will be a steep learning curve to understand the complex landscape of existing players, practices, constraints, sensitivities and power dynamics. Would it help to talk to somebody who already understands the system you're targeting and can map it out for you, highlighting all the important players and relationships you need to make? Yes. In fact, that could shrink your implementation time by 6 months. But how do you know who to talk to or where to find this deeply localized, entirely undocumented knowledge?
2) You can prove to teachers that your product actually makes life easier for them and reduces their existing workload. Contrary to popular belief, Pakistani teachers are not usually lazy – they often have a whole lot of unrealistic responsibilities on their plate. If you can show them how you’re reducing the cost of implementing a better lesson, they may happily jump on your solution. But first you need to know what their existing responsibilities are and then you need to figure out what features to build into your product to address them. You also need to understand their constraints and preferences, which are often things they won’t tell you in your first few meetings.
So how do we find out more before diving in? This is where community becomes vital. Knowledge networks traditionally rely on talking to people: I talk to you, you direct me to person X, who directs me to person Y, who directs me to report ABC, and I keep learning through the process. Like-minded groups of practitioners, coalitions, researchers, all try different ways (Whatsapp groups, social media, physical conferences, digital libraries, etc.) to bring together people working in similar areas and to package, share and disseminate knowledge. The question is, is there a way to build more accessible communities and efficient knowledge networks, that can a) help share localized, historically undocumented knowledge and b) be easily tapped even by newcomers into the field?
By Zainab Qureshi