Part 3 in my series on e-Learning in Small and Medium Enterprises. In the last part ,I said that to fully understand the uses of ICT for non formal learning in SMEs we need more detailed understandings of the different type of knowledge being acquired and developed.

Jenny Hughes (unpublished text) has produced an analysis of different forms of knowledge based on the Welsh language. Whilst English has few words to differentiate knowledge, in Welsh there are at least six different terms for knowledge processes and six different terms for different types of knowledge, each with their own distinct meaning.

The general word for knowledge in Welsh – the translation from the English word knowledge is Gwybodaeth. Even this is not an exact translation. Gwybodaeth means something like ‘knowing-ness’, rather than knowledge.

However, the word Gwybodaeth – or knowing-ness comes in different forms defining different types of knowledge.

The first six words would appear to relate to knowledge processes. They can, in turn be divided in two – the first three possibly dealing with Knowledge ‘absorption’ and the following three referring to knowledge generation:

1. Cynnull (gwybodaeth) – to gather knowledge (as in acquisition) ‘along life’s way’
2. Cynhaeaf (gwybodaeth) – to harvest (purposefully) knowledge– or set up systems for harnessing knowledge or organise knowledge
3. Cymrodedd (gwybodaeth) - to compromise what you know to accommodate the unknown
4. Cynnau (gwybodaeth) - to light or kindle knowledge (in someone else) – can also be used to ‘share knowledge’ but implicit is that it is an active process not simply an exchange of information, which is an entirely different concept.
5. Cynllunplas (gwybodaeth) - to design (new) knowledge, paradigm shift
6. Cynyddu (gwybodaeth) - to increase or grow (existing) knowledge

The second six terms deal with different types of knowledge. The first three are arguably internal and the second three external.

1. (Gwybodaeth) cynhenid - original, congenital knowledge
2. (Gwybodaeth) cynhwynol - innate knowledge (collective)
3. (Gwybodaeth) cymrodeddol - compromised knowledge – knowledge adjusted to cope with the unexpected or unknown
4. (Gwybodaeth) cymdeithasol - sociable knowledge – not ‘social skills’ but knowledge about the social context in which the knowledge is used and the appropriate way of using it
5. (Gwybodaeth) cynefin - shared and passed on knowledge – implies usual, accustomed knowledge
6. (Gwybodaeth) Cynddelw - archetype /model / exemplary knowledge

These distinctions are very important and could prove extremely powerful in analysing non formal learning and knowledge development processes in Small and Medium Enterprise. For instance both ‘Cynnull (gwybodaeth) – to gather knowledge (as in acquisition) along life’s way’ and ‘Cynhaeaf (gwybodaeth) – to harvest (purposefully) knowledge – or set up systems for harnessing knowledge or organise knowledge’ take place in SMEs. But there is a very different quality to the different processes and the implications in terms of learning are quite distinct. It would be very interesting to go back to some of the SMEs we have studies and to analyse which of these processes in taking place.

In a similar vein the idea of ‘Cynnau (gwybodaeth) - to light or kindle knowledge as an active process” as opposed to passing on information is a very useful distinction.

Most valuable of all may be the distinction between ‘Cynyddu (gwybodaeth) - to increase or grow (existing) knowledge’ and ‘Cymrodedd (gwybodaeth) - to compromise what you know to accommodate the unknown’. As a quick hypothesis I would suggest that much of formal learning is ‘Cynyddu’ – increasing and building on existing knowledge. Much of the non formal learning using ICT that we have observed falls in the definition of ‘Cymrodedd (gwybodaeth) - to compromise what you know to accommodate the unknown’. This may be why non formal learning using ICT can be so powerful.

I also particularly like the idea of ‘(Gwybodaeth) cymdeithasol - sociable knowledge – not ‘social skills’ but knowledge about the social context in which the knowledge is used and the appropriate way of using it’ as a way of explaining the social contexts to which knowledge is used in SMEs.

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