Explorations in Information Space: Knowledge, Agents, and Organization

by Max H. Boisot, Ian MacMillan, Kyeong Han

With the rise of the knowledge economy, the knowledge content of goods and services is going up just as their material content is declining. Economic value is increasingly seen to reside in the former - that is, in intangible assets - rather than in the latter. Yet we keep wanting to turn knowledge back into something tangible, something with definite boundaries which can be measured, manipulated, appropriated, and traded. In short, we want to reify knowledge. Scholars have been debating the nature of knowledge since the time of Plato. Many new insights have been gained from these debates, but little theoretical consensus has been achieved. Through six thematically linked chapters, the book articulates the theoretical approach to the production and distribution of knowledge that underpins Max Boisot's conceptual framework, the Information Space or I-Space. In this way the book looks to provide theoretical and practical underpinnings to Boisot's book Knowledge Assets (OUP, 1998). Following an introductory chapter, how knowledge relates to data and information is first examined in chapter 1, and how different economic actors - entrepreneurs, managers, etc - use knowledge as a basis for action is explored in chapter 2. Chapter 3 looks at how the heterogeneity of economic actors arises naturally from their respective data processing strategies in spite of any similarities in the data that they might share. Chapter 4 argues, contra much transaction-based economics, that an organizational order must have preceded a market order, something that should be reflected in any knowledge-based theory of the firm. Chapter 5 discusses the cultural and institutional significance of different kinds of knowledge flows. Finally, chapter 6 presents an agent-based simulation model, SimISpace, that illustrates how the I-Space might be applied to concrete problems such those of intellectual property rights. A concluding chapter proposes a research agenda based on the theorizing developed in the book. The approach the book sets out is used by a whole range of organizations to issues of knowledge management, policy, economics, and organizational and cultural change.

228 pages, ebook

First published March 15, 2007

Reviews

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boisot offers a theory of information that centers upon notions of codification and abstraction. The basic idea, in short, is that information generally diffuses more freely and is more useful the more it is formalized. Think of a new production technique that comes to be embodied in standard operating procedures that can be shared online. This account of formalization is based upon a hermeneutic or perspectival view of information development. Data, stemming from physical processes, is interpreted according to specific agents' unique perspectives, history, and interests. Thus, epistemic heterogeneity is the normal condition.

This has important implications for the theory of the firm since economists tend to assume informational homogeneity. Similarly, the fact that formalization often makes information more useful does not negate the fact that highly contextual or tacit information cannot be formalized. Thus, tradeoffs involving information are unavoidable. Likewise, diffusibility stemming from formalization also made it more difficult for knowledge creators to benefit from their information, raising questions about the role of intellectual property rights in fostering economic growth.

Overall, the book offers an interesting theory of information, which is then linked to issues involving organizational strategy and public policy.