• To identify and analyze the various communication problems that typically arise in situations characterized by knowledge asymmetries
• To analyze the challenges of communicating knowledge between people with different disciplinary backgrounds or between members of different occupational subcultures
• To account for the required reading and to illustrate points from the literature with examples from an empirical case
• To understand theoretical-empirical relationships, i.e. demonstrate an ability to establish an explanatory relationship between theory and empirical data, and use theories to account for practical problems
• To use a case to discuss fundamental assumptions, possibilities, and limitations of the applied theories
• To carry out critical assessments of the scope of alternative theories and compare their relevance to the case.

The course has both a theoretical aim, namely to improve the students’ understanding of the communication problems that can arise between "experts" and "laypersons" or between members of different occupational subcultures, and a practical aim, namely to learn how to translate domain-specific knowledge so that it is intelligible to non-experts in this domain.

The course aims to provide provisional answers to some very basic questions: what is “knowledge”, what is “knowledge communication”, why is it a problem, how did it become one, and what can we do about it? Having sketched the big picture, we introduce a number of theories and concepts that offer a more nuanced understanding of specific problem areas. such as the causes of miscommunication between members of different occupational subcultures. Similarly, we examine how notions like “boundary objects” and “frames of reference” may afford alternative angles on similar problems. Throughout, we will shift focus back and forth between understanding the problems in theory, and solving them in practice.

The compulsory readings are accessible online through CBS library.