Create a space for the literature of knowledge

An open letter to Secretary of State Ola Burton Mo

When announced AO Vinje That “knowledge will rule the kingdom and the earth”, 164 years ago, we must believe that many believed that what should rule was more than “theoretical knowledge”.

In this article We shall deal a blow to biblical knowledge – what we propose to call the literature of knowledge. These are scientifically proven books written in Norwegian in a way that is accessible to non-professionals interested.

Knowledge literature It is distinguished by the fact that new scientific knowledge is written and given a literary form that places very high demands on the reader without being understood or distinguished by an internal specialized language. Thus the books are written in ways that provide new profound knowledge and original thinking needed in the open and enlightened exchange of words.

When the state According to the constitution, it should facilitate an “informed exchange of words” in Norway, and we believe one of the wisest things the Minister of Education can do is to create space for such literature. We therefore propose a new supplementary scheme for such books.

There are good reasons That knowledge of Norway must also be formulated in Norwegian. In many areas of knowledge, it is essential for professionals to be able to speak to and write to people in their native language. Then they must master a professional Norwegian language. This position is well summarized in the Language Council’s contribution to the report of the Kierulf Committee on Academic Freedom.

but wanted Whether the Norwegian research published in Norwegian also has support in everyday practice. Let us use ourselves, the authors of the articles, as an example: in recent years, we have expressed ourselves in the following types and forms of publication:

• Scientific articles published internationally for peers
• Books/studies published internationally for peers
• Textbooks/professional articles in Norwegian/Scandinavian language aimed at a Norse/Norwegian audience and peers
• Advertising-oriented textbooks and information included in the Procurement Plans of the Cultural Council for Realism
• Textbooks / teaching aids: paper and digital
• Reports
• Popular scholarly articles and essays as well as various forms of knowledge-based opinion in books, magazines, newspapers, radio, television, podcasts and social media.

This is it We refer to one third of these spellings as “literature literature.” the book Have your say. Political Communications 1814-1913 By Anders Johansen from 2019 is a typical Norwegian example of knowledge literature.

We can safely The internationally published peer-reviewed scientific article is the dominant form of scientific knowledge dissemination in our time.

One main reason The success of the scientific article is undoubtedly effective. This drive has not dampened our digitization: actual online article production is fast compared to previous print runs.

scientific studies Published as books obviously have other qualities. It can have a significant impact on the level of knowledge and the development of knowledge in both general and scholarly writing culture. The medium of the book does not die, but it goes through constant transformations, and the medium does not survive on its own.

The form of the book is Clear but still wide frame. For several millennia, the book format has proven to be a wonderful carrier of longer and consistent messages, whether the message comes through fiction or what we today call non-fiction.

can book It has many authors, it is not necessary to print it on paper and its types are numerous. But a book is a cultural artifact that takes time to write and usually only acquires meaning when the publisher puts effort into it.

The book provides the basis For a reading experience that requires time and focus, and perhaps most importantly, it can be the common starting point for a large amount of speech in other media and forms. The book can be part of – and often begins – the circulation of knowledge and wisdom that together form important parts of the enlightened discourse enshrined in the Constitution.

When the norwegian language doctor The books are as strong as they are in Norway, not least because we have a relatively good literary policy, with exemption from value-added tax, library fees and purchase plans as effective tools. However, there are significant shortcomings in the literary policy.

Promote cultural policy Norwegian fairy has our good fortune. There is general agreement that things are reasonably good with the prose of a typical purchase scheme, which should be particularly distinguished in terms of mint-oriented communication qualities.

But in terms of knowledge policy Teaching materials at all levels and the state of international scientific publishing should be described as a crisis area, similar to what our topic is:

This applies What we call “Norwegian knowledge literature”.

These are books Which is aimed at readers with special knowledge of the topic, so-called peers, and interested readers outside this niche group. Therefore, the literature of knowledge is a type of text that falls between several chairs.

knowledge literature page In our opinion it belongs to the politics of knowledge, let us limit ourselves to the definition of scientific publications which are the basis of the so-called publication index.

there will be Among other things, it was required that the texts be “in a form that makes the results verifiable” and “be in a language and have a distribution that makes them available to most researchers who may be interested in them”.

with small handles The publication indicator may include literature of knowledge of the Norwegian language. The point about “verifiability” is rarely relevant in the knowledge literature. It belongs to an evidence-based, often experimental science.

condition Language and distribution should only be modified for the sake of researchers. We therefore propose a definition in which the knowledge literature in Norway is books written in the Norwegian language characterized by four criteria. All four must be fulfilled. A book in the literature of knowledge must:

1. Provide new insights into the field of knowledge

2. It should have a form that makes the logic and results applicable in the new research

3. It should be in a language and have a distribution that makes the book available to all readers who are interested in it

4. To be in a publishing channel with routine procedures for peer review, but peer reviews must not be limited to anonymous and “double-blind” reviews as in purely scientific publications.

as mentionedWe know very little about studa and the challenges facing the knowledge literature of the Norwegian language. We therefore urge the Minister to take the initiative to discuss the situation and scope of the Norwegian knowledge literature as we have identified it.

must be settled Mapping of what has already been published in Norway in recent decades, important book projects stranded due to lack of funding and what are the conditions for writing, publishing and making such literature available.

Moreover, it must be settled Provide an overview of current public and private funding sources for the knowledge literature. It should offer concrete tools that can increase the scope, quality, and dissemination of this literature.

Let’s end with two business ideas:

A grant scheme will be established for cognitive literature, in which the publisher can apply to the Ministry of Education and Research for a grant for production expenses, including the publisher’s editorial work on specific book projects. There should be clear requirements that the publisher must publish and market books effectively and report on this activity.

2. Under the Free Projects (Fripro), the Scientific Research Council opens to research projects whose primary objective is to publish a publication in accordance with the standards of the epistemological literature. Secondary outcomes can be the sale, publication, and dissemination of the book in other formats and in other languages.

(The post is an abbreviated version of one Posted in Prose)

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