Core Ideas
Acknowledge the role of experiential knowledge in informing soil use and management.
Investigate knowledge needs and discourse in a deeper and all‐encompassing way.
Train work‐ready graduates who can succeed as existing staff retire.
Form knowledge partnerships with genuine commitment, trust and social cohesion.
Broaden the way the discipline communicates and engages with social networks.
Provide a dynamic learning environment which balances the digital and real world.
Evaluate impact of activities and appraise their worth through reflection.
Our aim was to examine the challenges and opportunities to soil knowledge sharing in the 21st Century. Soil can only be effectively managed if we are better connected to it by being well‐informed and with appropriate support. A central observation has been the diminishing human capital and capacity in the sectors of higher education, training and outreach, and the ramifications for knowledge sharing between the various groups: educators, policymakers, researchers, outreach agents and practitioners (including the public). We encourage a movement away from a linear learning model to a socially constructivist learning approach to address the consequences of declining resources, including: a loss of legacy soil information, moribund social networks, loss of experienced outreach staff, and finally a loss of expertise in soil science to prepare graduates for the workplace with improved soil knowledge and practical experiences. Blurring the lines between knowledge generator and user will encourage solutions for the sustainable use of soil from outside traditional knowledge‐holders. We suggest the solution, to a shrinking on‐the‐ground presence, is to invest in relationships and social networks to foster understanding of soil‐building practices and achieve wider adoption of technologies. We need to balance placing information in a digital environment with providing opportunities for sharing information via interpersonal interactions, over a sustained period. This opinion piece reflects on how soil education, training and outreach can form a genuine partnership between those with experience and those with expertise to create a dynamic learning environment with a high probability of ensuring a more sustainably managed landscape.
Increasingly knowledge is shared using new web-based channels. The use of these channels is relatively new in the realm of soil science. However, they may prove to be very useful for connecting time-poor, geographically dispersed audiences in an efficient and cost-effective way. There has been limited study of this form of knowledge sharing for natural science (let alone soil science). In New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) has coordinated the Soil Network of Knowledge (SNoK) monthly webinar over 3 years, with over 40 webinars targeting an audience of next users of soil information. Aggregated data collected from these webinars indicated that the majority of information is used for professional development by participants. Whether this will eventually lead to onground practice change because of the improved professional and technical knowledge of participants is still a moot point and will require further investigation over time. The information collected on attendance and participation showed that webinars are a good way to connect with some target audiences such as other government bodies that have a historical relationship with NSW DPI. However, other target audiences that NSW DPI has always found difficulty in engaging, such as private advisers, require more active overtures to drive participation. The growing subscriber base is encouraging.
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