Role of social networking in an inclusive knowledge society environment

Industrialized countries and emerging economies envision their future to be or to become an inclusive Knowledge Society (IKS). Creation of an IKS is a long-term programme involving all sectors and all sections of society. In an IKS environment, knowledge, including native, traditional knowledge – explicit and tacit – generated, preserved, disseminated and transmitted through various print and other media as well as orally, supports and enhances productivity in all sectors. In this framework Social Network (SN) is an important structure. The constituents may have common interests and reasons to share, say theoretical knowledge, expertise, technology etc. The sharing is most often through some type of communication medium. The structure, on analysis, may display network patterns at different levels – local, regional, global. The analysis and study of patterns enable discovery of ‘influential entities’ and the dynamics within. This interdisciplinary field ‘emerged from studies in the domains of sociology, social psychology, statistical science and graph theory. Factors impacting KS development include Capitalism, economic liberalization, globalization, wide-spread use of ICT, multi-lingual, digital and networked communications; changing lifestyles demanding ‘ready info’ anywhere, anytime; cultural and religious attitudes of people, and the stage and state of development of a society in terms of natural resources, intellectual resources, education, and level of technology development. Increasingly e-communities encompass people at large and non-scholarly and non-business communications among them. This is a feature of the emerging IKS environment.. This paper discusses ‘inclusiveness’, ‘knowledge base’, ‘network components and contents’ vis a vis IKS. Emphasizes importance of leveraging on a mix of traditional community knowledge and scientific knowledge.