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Subject: search.filters.subject.Knowledge management

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    A Survey on the Sri Lankan Black Magical Cultural Heritage: a Study based on Deniyaya and Pallegma Villages in the Southern Province
    (3rd International Conference on Library and Information Management, Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Heshini, K.G.J.
    The similar term for the traditional knowledge is the indigenous knowledge which can be described as an art that reflects the vernacular or the hereditary or the indigenous knowhow, ideas and practices, belief systems of each other over time in a particular community living in a particular region or location. Therefore this study belongs to knowledge management. When it comes to local knowledge, it can be classified in to two parts. Namely tangible heritage and intangible heritage. The intangible heritage is threatened with the decadence of such a knowledge system owing to the people’s ignorance of the value of such a knowledge system. Man's complex lifestyles, attitudes and the influence of modern knowledge systems have made it impossible to keep up this valuable indigenous knowledge system or intangible cultural heritage. Therefore, the root of human society is getting closer to the extremes and miss-practices of the human society. In Sri Lanka, this intuitive knowledge is mentioned with the knowledge of the invisible knowledge of agriculture, local medicine, folklore and folk literature, religious practices, or chemistry, and rite and rituals including belief system related the gods. The objectives of this study are to identify indigenous knowledge practices in the area of black magical heritage prevailing in Sri Lanka with a special reference to two selected villages in the Southern Province to identify the attitudes of people towards such practices and to study factors affecting the popularity towards the practices. The research method to be used is an ethnographic study or culture based study and the sample includes two villages in Southern province called Deniyaya and Pallegam. Research approach is a qualitative study covering qualitative data. For primary data collection, a survey is carried out covering two villages in the sample with communities using black magical knowledge practices and belief systems through a participatory observation and conducting interviews. The analyzed data will be presented through tabulation and interpretation of qualitative data
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    Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) in Sri Lank: An overview
    (Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Amarakone, L.R.
    Sri Lanka is rich in Indigenous Knowledge (IK) as is the case in many developing countries in the South Asian Region. The island is yet to be taken proper mechanism to identify, record, protect Sri Lanka’s IK. The islands IK consists of different cultural heritages of main different communities. Therefore, there is a pressing need to establish a mechanism for identification and preserve IK in Sri Lanka and also it becomes a challenge due to Sri Lanka’s complex social, religious and political history that mixes Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Islam beliefs and also the influence of colonization that took place in the 18th century. As seen above this island’s IK consists of many different cultural heritages of above main communities. On the other hand, formation of a viable mechanism in order to identify, locate, record and protect IK in the island becomes crucial in the phase of redevelopment and reconciliation of communities which is ongoing at present. This paper highlights the great achievements obtained by Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in the past history in the areas of Ayurveda, Agriculture, Astronomy, Architecture, Education and sustainability of Sri Lanka’s ecosystem and water management. It also attempts to observe how the Sri Lankan IK system was sufficient and relevant and also supporting in maintaining a balanced healthy, social interaction and how IK need to be researched and adapted to meet the current challenges faced by the island nation. At present Sri Lanka is facing problems of poverty, conflict, inadequate education facilities, damages made to the ecosystem, non-communicable diseases such as high-blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol which increase the financial allocations for the nation’s healthcare system. Hence this paper attempt to analyze the aforesaid issues and proposes that being Sri Lankans need to clearly understand our IK systems and adapt them wisely in order to face the challenges that we are facing today.
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    Organization and management of Buddhist verbal knowledge tradition
    (University of Kelaniya, 2013) Dhammaloka himi, Wewala
    The present study is an attempt to understand the features of knowledge organization and management in Buddhist verbal tradition. I hypothesizes here that no knowledge will be survived without a proper knowledge organization and management. The study is based on tipitaka, commentaries, sub commentaries and related literature. Information gathered from these sources was compared with modern knowledge organization methods expounded in the western world in order to prove the validity of ancient Buddhist methods. Outcome of the study can be summarized as follows: Lord Buddha‟s teachings form a vast corpus of knowledge that has been prevailing for centuries in the form of pitakas (baskets of knowledge). Buddha‟s verbal teachings were retained in their memories by his close disciples. The steps had been taken at Councils (sangayana) to preserve this memorized knowledge for future generations. It is clear that learned Bhikkhus gathered at these Councils have used a number of methods for the purpose. Collection of scattered knowledge, presentation of collected knowledge using bibliographical features in the form of suttas, systematic classification of knowledge and formation of particular groups of Bhikkhus in order to ensure the existence of verbal tradition for the benefit of future generations are some of these methods. Altogether, they form the foundation of Buddhist knowledge management. Recorded knowledge in a physical format is the basis of modern knowledge organization systems. Collection of recorded formats, organization of the contents therein and dissemination of the same are basic features of such systems. However, it is interesting to note that the corpus of ancient Buddhist knowledge in spite of its verbal tradition used modern bibliographic control methods for organization and dissemination purposes. It is apparent that irrespective of the tradition of existence or the time of origination knowledge organization and management have universal features. Long before the introduction of modern classification and cataloguing methods in the western world, the Buddhist knowledge tradition had been using such methods successfully. This suggests that for the continuation, preservation, use and dissemination of a verbal tradition even such methods were instrumental. The organization of tipitaka is entirely based on a sound classification system which is divided into main classes, sub classes and sections. The structure of suttas in tipitaka is enriched with cataloguing features. Even today the study of tipitaka is impossible without an understanding of these particular knowledge organization and management features contained in it. Creation of a strong verbal tradition for the perpetual continuity of Buddhist teaching through the formation of groups of reciters or bhanakas is also one of the important management features contributed to the preservation of dhamma.