The Knowledge-Based Economy: Globalization and Self-Organization in the Dynamics of Communication

[David E. Wojick]

Dear Loet (and all),

This abstract and the paper are written in a technical language (or 
code?) that I barely understand, so I may be off the mark. (A 
nontechnical version would be most useful). But I have two related 
observations.

1. Technological innovation and science are two different domains and 
only loosely coupled. Most innovation is part of economic activity, 
not science. I therefore question whether scientific discourse has in 
fact become a coordination mechanism at the social system level. But 
scientific knowledge diffusion beyond science is largely invisible, 
precisely because it is diffuse, so I may be wrong.

2. Conversely, there is an historic activity in progress whereby 
scientific discourse and political control are in direct 
communication. This is the climate change debate. I have been 
studying this debate for many years and it is unprecedented. The 
latest scientific findings are circulated and debated in real time in 
the US Congress and in the national press. The Internet is playing a 
leading role. The economic implications and proposals are staggering. 
This might be an exemplar of your coordination mechanism model, but 
it is not about economic or technological innovation, it is about 
science and public policy.

With best regards,
David Wojick


<http://www.leydesdorff.net/codification/index.htm>The Knowledge-Based Economy:

<http://www.leydesdorff.net/codification/index.htm>The Potentially 
Globalizing and Self-Organizing Dynamics of Interactions among 
Differently Codified Systems of Communication



Alongside economic exchange relations and political control, the 
organization of codified knowledge in scientific discourses has 
become increasingly a third coordination mechanism at the level of 
the social system. When three coordination mechanisms interact, one 
can expect the resulting dynamics to be complex and self-organizing. 
Each coordination mechanism is specific in terms of its code of 
communication. For example, "energy" has a meaning in physics very 
different from its meaning in the economy or for policy-makers. In 
addition to providing the communications with functionally different 
meanings, the codes can be symbolically generalized, and then meaning 
can be globalized. Symbolically generalized codes of communication 
can be expected to span competing horizons of meaning that 
'self-organize' given historical conditions. From this perspective, 
the historical organization of meaning-for example, in discourses-can 
be considered as instantiations or retention mechanisms. In other 
words, meaning can further be codified in communication flows. 
Knowledge, for example, can be considered as a meaning which makes a 
difference. In the case of discursive knowledge, this difference is 
defined with reference to a code in the communication. When 
discursive knowledge is socially organized (e.g., as R&D) its 
dynamics can increasingly compete with other social coordination 
mechanisms in the construction and reproduction of a knowledge-based 
order. 



<<http://www.leydesdorff.net/codification/codification.pdf>pdf-version>




Loet Leydesdorff
Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR)
Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam
<mailto:loet at leydesdorff.net>loet at leydesdorff.net ; 
<http://www.leydesdorff.net/>http://www.leydesdorff.net/

Visiting Professor 2007-2010, 
<http://www.istic.ac.cn/Eng/brief_en.html>ISTIC, Beijing; Honorary 
Fellow 2007-2010, <http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/>SPRU, University of 
Sussex
Now available: 
<http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581129378>The 
Knowledge-Based Economy: Modeled, Measured, Simulated, 385 pp.; US$ 
18.95;
<http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581126956>The 
Self-Organization of the Knowledge-Based Society ; 
<http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581126816>The 
Challenge of Scientometrics




-- 

"David E. Wojick, PhD" <WojickD at osti.gov>
Senior Consultant for Innovation
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
US Department of Energy
http://www.osti.gov/innovation/
391 Flickertail Lane, Star Tannery, VA 22654 USA
540-858-3136

http://www.bydesign.com/powervision/resume.html provides my bio and 
past client list.
http://www.bydesign.com/powervision/Mathematics_Philosophy_Science/ 
presents some of my own research on information structure and 
dynamics.
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