ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of knowledge ecologies. Knowledge ecologies are enabling innovative research, learning and policy solutions. More work of both a qualitative and quantitative nature is needed to fully appreciate what impact knowledge ecologies will have on the study of international affairs and the conduct of its community. The chapter examines the elements shaping today's knowledge ecologies, and briefly introduces a number of online examples for the reader's reference. The study of knowledge ecologies has grown out of several intellectual and academic disciplines. It also owes a debt to concepts such as memetics and the noosphere. To an international relations (IR) scholar, as to anyone active in a wide-ranging field, knowledge ecologies consist of the individuals, institutions and ideas that contribute to the production, collection, analysis, disputation, management, distribution and consumption of research or policy-relevant knowledge. Knowledge ecologies are a reflection of emerging organizational structures in both the public and private sector.
