The Nexus between Data, Information and Knowledge during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Navigating the Knowledge Management Landscape in South Africa

Francis Garaba; Takatso Nawe

doi:10.25159/2663-659X/9807

Authors

Francis Garaba University of KwaZulu-Natal https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6958-9819
Takatso Nawe University of KwaZulu-Natal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-659X/9807

Keywords:

data, information, knowledge, knowledge management, infodemic, COVID-19

Abstract

This viewpoint paper is based on desktop research focusing on the discourse of knowledge management (KM). We explore the situation in South Africa with reference to this global COVID-19 apocalypse that the world is being confronted with. By using a qualitative research approach, the concepts of data, information and knowledge are unpacked in the context of this pandemic. KM is evident in the creation, storing, using and effective sharing of information and knowledge in light of COVID-19. The sharing and dissemination of information are, however, technologically orientated as advances in this realm continue to elevate opportunities for transforming KM. All information that has been created and is available to inform society about the virus is shared and distributed through technological means such as electronic and print media, the Internet and social media. As people adjust to the new normal, they will have a hefty repository of pandemic stories, enriched with new vocabulary about the virus and centred on the three concepts of data, information and knowledge. Understanding this new terminology plays a key role in helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Incorrect use of this vocabulary can lead to misinformation and could endanger the lives of others. Both the public and government now need “moral knowledge” about the pandemic in the fight against this virus.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Africanews. 2020. “Madagascar COVID-19: Public Hospitals full as Cases Spike.” Accessed July 28, 2020. https://www.africanews.com/2020/07/21/madagascar-prez-dismisses-all-critics-would-they-doubt-european-cure/.

Baxter, K. P. 2021. “The Terror of COVID-19.” Sunday Times (Johannesburg). 17 August, 12.

Borgman, C. L. 2015. “Big Data, Little Data, No Data: Scholarship in the Networked World.” Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Accessed July 29, 2020. University of KwaZulu-Natal Libraries Catalogue. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9963.001.0001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9963.001.0001

Bosch, T. 2020. “Citizen Surveillance and Social Media during South Africa’s Lockdown.” Corona Times Blog, Understanding the World through the COVID-19 Pandemic. Accessed August 22, 2020. https://www.coronatimes.net/citizen-surveillance-social-media-south-africa-lockdown/, 1 July.

Brodie, N. 2020. “Infodemic to Infowar: The Circus of Disinformation Will Spin on.” Mail and Guardian, 18 December. Accessed December 27, 2020. https://mg.co.za/health/2020-12-18-infodemic-to-infowar-the-circus-of-disinformation-will-spin-on/.

Cennimo, D. J. 2019. “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).” Medspace. Accessed July 28, 2020. https://www.medscape.com/answers/2500114-197401/what-is-covid-19.

Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. 2020. “People of any Age with Underlying Medical Conditions.” Accessed July 4, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html.

Chisholm, L. 2020. “Corona, Crisis and Curriculum: History of Health Education in South Africa.” Southern African Review of Education 26 (1): 100–115.

Cowan, K., A. Karrim, and Q. Hunter. 2020. “Mkhize Doubles Down on Keeping Advice Secret as Scientists Push for Transparency.” News24, 19 July. Accessed July 19, 2020. https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/investigations/mkhize-doubles-down-on-keeping-advice-secret-as-scientists-push-for-transparency-20200719.

Davis-Reddy, C. 2020. “Producing Data to Help Fight COVID-19.” National Research Foundation Science Matters Magazine (Special Issue, May): 18–19.

Desai, A. N., and P. P. Patel. 2020. “Stopping the Spread of COVID-19.” JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 323 (15): 1516. Accessed July 27, 2020. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763533. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4269. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4269

eNCA. 2020a. “TV Advertorial on COVID-19 Awareness.” DStv Channel 403, 20 May.

eNCA. 2020b. “President Cyril Ramaphosa Addresses the Nation.” Accessed August 16, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrXEjmH9J.

February, J. 2020. “We Need clear COVID-19 Messaging from Government.” Accessed June 20, 2020. http://www.msn.com/en-za/health/coronavirus/judith-february-we-need-clear-covid-19-messaging-from-government/ar-BB15FMRi?ocid=ientp.

Fleming, M. 2020. “‘Verified’ Initiative Aims to Flood Digital Space with Facts amid COVID-19 Crisis.” Accessed July 26, 2020. https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/%E2%80%98verified%E2%80%99-initiative-aims-flood-digital-space-facts-amid-covid-19-crisis.

Furner, J. 2015. “Information Science is Neither.” Library Trends 63 (3): 362–367. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2015.0009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2015.0009

Gumede, W. 2020. “A New Coach for our Fractious Team.” Sunday Times (Johannesburg). 2 August, 5.

Guterres, A. 2020. “Good Communication Saves Lives.” Accessed July 28, 2020. https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/good-communication-saves-lives.

Hlomuka, S. 2020. “KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ (KZNCOGTA) Webinar Reflects on Government’s Response to COVID-19, Outlines Recovery Plan.” Accessed July 28, 2020. http://www.kzncogta.gov.za/kzncogtas-webinar-reflects-on-governments-response-to-covid-19-outlines-recovery-plan/. Webinar, 2 July.

Hugo, W. 2020. “Open Science and Societal Benefit: It Needs a bit of Work.” University of KwaZulu-Natal data@breakfast. Accessed August 14, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P68ONWqFLDM. Webinar, 14 August.

International Council on Archives (ICA). 2020. “COVID-19: The Duty to Document Does not Cease in a Crisis, it Becomes more essential.” Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.ica.org/en/covid-19-the-duty-to-document-does-not-cease-in-a-crisis-it-becomes-more-essential.

Kamatula, G. A. 2017. “Social Media: A Potential Technological Tool in Fostering Knowledge Sharing in Government Agencies.” In Managing Knowledge Resources and Records in Modern Organizations, edited by P. Jain, N. Mnjama, and P. A. Hershey. IGI Global, 29–43. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1965-2.ch003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1965-2.ch003

Karrim, A., and K. Cowan. 2020. “Scientists Plead for COVID-19 Transparency: ‘The Social Contract with Government is Broken’.” Accessed July 19, 2020. https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/investigations/scientists-plead-for-covid-19-transparency-the-social-contract-with-government-is-broken-20200718.

Klepper, D. 2020. “Misinformation on the Virus Is Proving Highly Contagious.” Accessed July 30, 2020. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/misinformation-on-the-virus-is-proving-highly-contagious-1.5044206.

Lessels, R. 2020. “Responding to the COVID-19 Epidemic: Local and Global Perspective.” University of KwaZulu-Natal data@breakfast. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWVQw_SA0jg. Webinar, 27 March.

Mai, J. E. 2016. “Big Data Privacy: The Datafication of Personal Information.” The Information Society 32 (3): 192–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2016.1153010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2016.1153010

Marivate, V. 2020. “Use of Available Data to Inform the COVID-19 Outbreak in South Africa.” University of KwaZulu-Natal data@breakfast. Accessed May 29, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF4gMsCtJNY. Webinar, 29 May. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-019

Mashaba, N., and R. Nqola. 2020. “Malema Calls for Review of COVID-19 Data.” Power News, 28 July. Accessed July 28, 2020. https://www.power987.co.za/news/malema-calls-for-review-of-covid-19-data/.

Matiwane, Z. 2021. “ANC eThekwini Councillor Says ‘5G Towers Spread COVID-19’ and ‘Whites have Vaccine’.” The Sowetan, 4 January. Accessed January 18, 2021. https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-01-04-anc-ethekwini-councillor-says-5g-towers-spread-covid-19-and-whites-have-vaccine/.

Mayer-Schönberger, V., and K. Cukier. 2013. “Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform how we Live, Work and Think.” John Murray.

McIntosh, C. 2013. Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Millar, L. A. 2017. Archives: Principles and Practices, 2nd edition. London: Facet Publishing. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783302086. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783302086

Mukwevho, J., M. Ngoepe, and P. Ngulube. 2019. “Doing More with Less: Application of Soft Power Theory to Enhance Visibility and Accessibility of Public Archives in a Resource-strained Environment.” In Handbook of Research on Advocacy, Promotion, and Public Programming for Memory Institutions, Information Science Reference, 1–30, edited by P. Ngulube and P. A. Hershey. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7429-3.ch001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7429-3.ch001

Mutula, S. 2020. “Infodemic during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ethical Implications.” Accessed June 26, 2020. https://clms.ukzn.ac.za/infodemic-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-ethical-implications/.

Mvumvu, Z. 2020. “Take your Umhlonyane, but no Evidence it can Cure COVID-19: Mkhize.” Sunday TimesLive, 27 May. Accessed July 20, 2020. https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2020-05-27-take-your-umhlonyane-but-no-evidence-it-can-cure-covid-19-mkhize/.

Nazim, M., and B. Mukherjee. 2016. Knowledge Management in Libraries. Cambridge, MA: Chandos Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100564-4.00009-0. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100564-4.00009-0

Nenungwi, F. 2018. “Readiness for Knowledge Management Implementation: The Case of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Department of Public Works in Pietermaritzburg.” Master’s dissertation. School of Social Sciences. Information Studies. Pietermaritzburg Campus: University of KwaZulu-Natal. Accessed August 8, 2020. http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10413/15875/Nenungwi_Fulufhelo_2018.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

Nigam, M., Maria Atanassova, Abhay P. Mishra, Raffaele Pezzani, Hari Prasad Devkota, Sergey Plygun, Bahare Salehi, William N. Setzer, and Javad Sharifi-Rad. 2019. “Bioactive Compounds and Health Benefits of Artemisia Species.” Natural Products Communications (July): 1–17. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1934578X19850354. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1934578X19850354

Ngulube, P. 2019. “Mapping Methodological Issues in Knowledge Management Research, 2009–2014.” International Journal of Knowledge Management 15 (1): 85–100. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJKM.2019010106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/IJKM.2019010106

North, K., and G. Kumta. 2018. Knowledge Management: Value Creation through Organizational Learning, 2nd edition. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59978-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59978-6

Pillay, D. G., B. Damonse, and M. Ellis. 2020. “Coronavirus Shows the Urgency of Ensuring that Research Gets into the Public Domain.” National Research Foundation Science Matters Magazine (Special Issue, May): 20–23.

Reuters News Agency. 2020. “WHO: Coronavirus Pandemic is a ‘once-in-a-century’ Health Crisis.” Accessed August 1, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/coronavirus-pandemic-century-health-crisis-200731153149323.html.

Rubin, R. E. 2016. Foundations of Library and Information Science, 4th edition. London: Facet Publishing.

SAcoronavirus. 2020a. “COVID-19 Statistics in South Africa.” Accessed August 18, 2020. https://sacoronavirus.co.za/.

SAcoronavirus. 2020b. “Online Resource and News Portal.” Accessed July 28, 2020. https://sacoronavirus.co.za/.

SAcoronavirus. 2021. “COVID-19 Statistics in South Africa.” Accessed January 18, 2021. https://sacoronavirus.co.za/.

Steenhuisen, J. 2020. “Lockdown: Steenhuisen Outlines DA’s Coronavirus Plan.” SABC News, 13 April. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cJyCLJIqg4.

Swart, A. J. 2019. “Citation Analysis of Master Dissertations at the Central University of Technology, South Africa.” African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science 29 (2): 115–129.

United Nations Department of Global Communications. 2020. “UN Tackles ‘Infodemic’ of Misinformation and Cybercrime in COVID-19 Crisis.” Accessed July 20, 2020. https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-communications-team/un-tackling-%E2%80%98infodemic%E2%80%99-misinformation-and-cybercrime-covid-19.

World Bank Group Records Management Roadmap. 2020. “Part 8: Records Management Glossary.” Accessed August 6, 2020. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/902721594065773238/WBG-RM-Roadmap-010-Part-8-Glossary-FINAL-PDF.pdf.

World Health Organisation COVID-19 Dashboard. 2020. “Global Cases.” Accessed August 18, 2020. https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI34ems4vw6gIVSYBQBh3wwgxQEAAYASABEgKfiPD_BwE.

World Health Organisation COVID-19 Dashboard. 2021. “Global Cases.” Accessed January 18, 2021. https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI34ems4vw6gIVSYBQBh3wwgxQEAAYASABEgKfiPD_BwE.

World Health Organisation. 2005. “Knowledge Management Strategy.” Accessed August 1, 2020. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/69119/WHO_EIP_KMS_2005.1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

Yeo, G. 2018. Records, Information and Data: Exploring the Role of Record-keeping in an Information Culture. London: Facet Publishing. https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783302284. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29085/9781783302284

Zins, C. 2007. “Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information and Knowledge.” Journal of American Society of Information Science and Technology 58 (4): 479–493. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20508. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20508