Knowledge Ecosystems, Information Pollution, and Open-Source Intelligence from the Bottom-Up

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Knowledge itself may rapidly lose its relevance due to hyperturbulent environments involving rapid changes in human systems. Compared to ordinary turbulent environments, hyperturbulent environments require greater interindividual knowledge exchanges to adapt. Examples of such environments include 9/11, the anthrax events of 2001, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Organizations that must confront such seemingly chaotic environments include those involved with intelligence gathering and public health emergency response, to include the US Central Intelligence Agency, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Organizations like the CIA and CDC represent the future of governance strategies for large private and public sector organizations alike.

With increasing frequency, corporations and world governments comprise globally distributed individuals, who must exchange time-sensitive knowledge to deal with hyperturbulent environments, increase organizational adaptedness, and increase organizational survivability. Achieving these information system-mediated exchanges, without producing either ‘information pollution’ or group friction, represents a serious challenge for 21st century organizations. Employing open-source intelligence from the bottom-up represents a viable strategy for this challenge.