{"id":12429,"date":"2011-04-28T10:47:51","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T14:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/researchimpact.ydsinc.ca\/no-new-ideas\/"},"modified":"2021-11-23T15:55:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T20:55:20","slug":"no-new-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/researchimpact.ca\/fr\/archive\/no-new-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"There really are no new ideas \/ Il n’y a vraiment pas de nouvelles id\u00e9es"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Phipps (ResearchImpact, York)
\nResearchImpact-R\u00e9seauImpactRecherche (RIR) is new but it is founded on established practices of knowledge brokering: linking researchers and decision makers who can co-produce knowledge and information to inform decisions about public policy and professional practice. The idea might not be new but we are implementing it in new ways.<\/em>
\nLe r\u00e9seau Impact Recherche est nouveau, mais est fond\u00e9 sur des pratiques \u00e9prouv\u00e9es en courtage de connaissances : mettre en lien des chercheurs et des d\u00e9cideurs qui peuvent co-produire des connaissances et de l’information pour \u00e9clairer les d\u00e9cisions en mati\u00e8re de politiques publiques et de pratiques professionnelles. Cette id\u00e9e n’est peut-\u00eatre pas nouvelle, mais nous la mettons en \u0153uvre d’une fa\u00e7on novatrice.
\n\"\"<\/a>I was in London, UK recently and I saw \u00ab\u00a0Blood Brothers<\/a>\u00ab\u00a0, a story of twins separated at birth. It’s not a new story. This archetypal storyline was seen in The Prince and the Pauper<\/a> by Mark Twain, the film Start the Revolution Without Me<\/a> and The Corsican Brothers<\/a> by Alexandre Dumas. As much as I enjoyed the show I realized there really are no new ideas (did you notice that Avatar<\/a> was just Dances with Wolves<\/a> in space?).
\nThe next morning I came across an article titled Using Knowledge Brokering to Promote Evidence-Based Policy-Making: The Need for Support Structures<\/a> by Jessika van Kammen, Don de Savigny and Nelson Sewankambo. The article examined two case studies of knowledge brokering, one from the Netherlands and one from The Regional East-African Community Health (REACH)-Policy Initiative. The article concludes that knowledge brokering functions organize \u00ab\u00a0the interactive process between the producers and users of knowledge so that they can co-produce feasible and research-informed policy options\u00a0\u00bb (does this sound familiar?). This article was published in 2006 which means the work was probably done in 2004-2005 before RIR was anything more than a bright idea. The article also summarizes these functions which I reproduce below and align them with the brokering roles we provide at RIR-York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Knowledge\u00a0 Broker Functions (2006)<\/strong><\/td>\nRIR-York Functions (2011)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Organizing and managing joint forums for policy-makers and researchers<\/td>\nKM in the AM; Lunch & Learn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Building relationships of trust<\/td>\nSupporting research collaborations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Setting agendas and common goals<\/td>\nSupporting research collaborations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Signaling mutual opportunities<\/td>\nResearch translation help desk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Clarifying information needs<\/td>\nResearch translation help desk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Commissioning syntheses of research of high policy relevance<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Packaging research syntheses and facilitating access to evidence<\/td>\nResearchSnapshot clear language research summaries<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Strengthening capacity for knowledge translation<\/td>\nKMb interns; Peer-2-Peer KMb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Communicating and sharing advice<\/td>\nSocial media; telling our stories<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Monitoring impact on the know\u2013do gap<\/td>\nData collection; evaluation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"\"<\/a>Many of the KMb services we offer at RIR-York were anticipated or described in 2006. We think we’re being innovative but as you can see, there really are no new ideas (see my blog post<\/a> about this referencing an even earlier paper from 2003). In fact, according to an article<\/a> written by Jonathan Lomas in 2007, the concept of knowledge brokering can be traced back to the dye industry in Germany in the 1800s. Even though the idea of knowledge brokering isn’t new, RIR is expressing this idea in new ways.<\/p>\n