Configuring Knowledge: An Essay on Knowledge in the Information Age

Abstract

This article attempts to articulate in broad outline the post-industrial regime of knowledge and information and point out its fatal flaw. The Internet is treated as a socio-technological complex animated by capital and information. The notion of information is interrogated and an alternative notion closer to our everyday intuitions is proposed. Through this idea of information and ‘being informed’ a bridge is found to ways of talking about knowledge that are valid in different realms. A brief narrative of the development of knowledge in the context of society is provided. This article locates the key to the new regime of knowledge in the normative framework of ‘knowledge management’ that is reflected in the practices of big corporations and governments. The absence of a model of knowledge quest in this framework is noted, and it is argued that this will eventually undermine this regime. The article concludes by affirming the possibilities of constructive knowledge work.