Spinning the Social Work Web

A Commentary

Abstract

This issue pays special attention to the world of knowledge – how social workers gather it, apply it to practice; how we do this in a principled and a meaningful way. It seems a simple formula, yet the reality of how practitioners locate and integrate current, relevant knowledge into daily practice can be onerous, multilinear, and fraught with questions about accuracy and legitimacy. The source of our angst is somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, we are citizens of the information age and, via internet technology, have access to vast repositories of knowledge; on the other, we can, strangely and somewhat randomly, be excluded or “switched off ” from information that is directly relevant to our daily practice. In this commentary I reflect on my experience of this reality – the curious link between my practice and the knowledge I seek to develop it.