Sociocorpus - old GroupSense Knowledge Management Blog
notes on the evolving life of the socius online
note: sociocorpus has moved here
12 January 2004
Interview with Ross Mayfield, SocialText
This Online Community Report Interview with Ross Mayfield, SocialText by Jim Cashel, January 2004 describes SocialText's social software especially its wiki products. It describes why wikis work and how they can provide an integrated collaborative space for organisations.
posted by Dan Randow 12:11 PM permanent link
Microsoft Collaboration Strategy: Industry Brief
Michael Sampson (of Christchurch) and David Coleman have authored this useful-looking (US$395) report on Microsoft's initiative to dominate the enterprise collaboration space. It looks like it has pointers that would be useful as we develop our strategy for GroupServer. Anyone got a copy I could read?
posted by Dan Randow 11:34 AM permanent link
30 October 2003
we produce as much content as we consume
USATODAY.com - E-mails, digital media produce data mountain
The publication of content by a single source for mass consumption was an artefact of the industrial revolution. Now, as in pre-industrial societies, each of us expresses and ingests ideas in our own network of relationships. It's just that those networks are no longer as limited by space or time as they were.
A University of California study has found that in 2002, people around the globe created about 800 megabytes per person of new information.
How can we organise this stuff so that it can be made use of?
Here are the usual methods:
1 - in structured repositories - libraries, filing cabinets and file systems all allow you to have each item in one place; these work well for single source-multi-consumer content but are too restrictive for producer-consumers
2 - meta-data - enables you to navigate to an item via multiple taxonomies as in document management systems; this is great but relies on the producers attaching meta-data, which we often don't
3 - storing items by content-type - emails here, files there, images in a third place; meets technical requirements specific to each format very well but doesn't make it easier to find things (or people)
4 - Google - an good panacea for the ills of the above but requires you to start from scratch each time and isn't much good at pushing relevant content towards you; works much better in conjunction with the methods above
Other ways are emerging:
1 - online collaboration; when people and documents are visibly associated with the groups and communities that they work and learn in, the knowledge they can provide inherently becomes much more accessible
2 - collaborative filtering; makes connections between people based on their individual consumption and production patterns
3 - topic maps, affinity mapping and other approaches that integrate technology and ontology
posted by Dan Randow 10:41 AM permanent link
14 October 2003
The sociocorpus differentiates due to adverse conditions.
Shirky: File-sharing Goes Social This is an excellent article by Clay Shirky... highly perceptive of the evolution of the socius online.
posted by Walter Logeman 6:03 PM permanent link
03 October 2003
Organic Knowledge Management
Thanks to the The Big Idea (an online community of New Zealand's creative industries) for this transcript of a Radio NZ Interview with David Snowden on Organic Knowledge Management.
Snowden says create attractors and set boundaries. People will naturally self-organise to maximise their gain from interaction. Where cultural groups are too isolated to see that each other have points of view, a common language can begin to form around 'common denominators' ie stories that make sense in both cultures. Sometimes you have to go low to find the highest one.
posted by Dan Randow 10:25 AM permanent link
Seradigm KM Web Log
Here is the KM Web Log of my friend a colleague, Julian Carver of Seradigm. Julian is a seasoned knowledge management strategist and a connoisseur of KM-related software.
posted by Dan Randow 10:19 AM permanent link
OpenOffice 1.1 Released
Word on the street is that OpenOffice 1.1 is "much better". Easier to use. Better compatibility with MS Office. Nice features like output to PDF or even Flash. It's XML-based and free. All it needs is critical mass. 1.1 seems a good step closer to that.
posted by Dan Randow 10:10 AM permanent link
MIT OpenCourseWare Launches 500 Courses
Pursuing their mission "to advance knowledge and education, and serve the world in the 21st century", MIT's OpenCourseWare has the content for 500 regular MIT courses online for free access.
Does this really lower barriers to accessing knowledge or is it a bold test of whether it's content that makes the difference?
I will be interested to observe the processes and communities that evolve to create and share knowledge using this. Are there already self-managing communities of people 'doing' the courses? Will other institutions run programmes using MIT's materials and providing their own learning context and credentials?
As a note, OCW runs on Micrsoft Content Management System 2002.
posted by Dan Randow 10:04 AM permanent link
24 September 2003
What's Your Google Number?
What's Your Google Number?
Valdis Krebs describes the use of Google to provide a fame index. The total number of results returned by Google search on your name provides a simple measure of the 'buzz' that exists around you. Tune your search string to minimise false positives and catch all forms of your name and go.
At this moment, I am incrementing Valdis Krebs' "Google number" by one.
Google is already in widespread use as a way of gathering background information about people. Online, each social incident relating to you in some way leaves a small mark. Together, these marks form an image of you that can be viewed from as many angles as there are viewings. Our identities have always lived outside our bodies; in the imaginations, shared or otherwise, of those who know or know of us. The Internet simply puffs a cloud of vapour that begins to make the collectively projected image visible. This image begins to constitute an extension of your body in the same way as clothes, hairstyle, car and house do. Unlike the physical body and extensions, each moment in the life of this virtual body is captured and made visible to all online. The human body is transcending space and time. Human civilisation is becoming more self-aware.
posted by Dan Randow 10:03 AM permanent link
05 August 2003
Automated Social Network Mapping
USATODAY.com - Mapping and honing our interconnections Visible Path and Spoke Software are software startups automating SNA (Social Network Analysis). Based on the few 'degrees' that separate folks, these developments display the increasing value being placed on 'who you know'.
posted by Dan Randow 10:38 AM permanent link
29 July 2003
Seradigm: Knowledge Management
Seradigm: Knowledge Management is a close associate of GroupSense.
posted by Dan Randow 12:14 PM permanent link
10 July 2003
New Zealand Health Ministry adopts instant messaging
New Zealand Health Ministry adopts instant messaging
IM makes sense as one of a suite of media for KM or eLearning. For 'real work', it needs to be secure and with archives.
In our office today, we experiemented with Jabber (open source). It all worked really well ~ we could IM each other across the room before we knew it. Then (in a room we thought was ours) we met "Spectral", a genial Russian high school student.
We are planning to integrate an IM server into GroupServer.
posted by Dan Randow 11:18 AM permanent link
14 March 2003
Computer Science and Social Science Converge in Christchurch
HCI Masterclass and Symposium Four of the world's leading researchers on human-computer interaction will lead a two day masterclass and symposium on 'Interacting With and Through Next Generation Computing Environments' at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand on the 20th and 21st of March, 2003.
And the following day: a Symposium and Discussion Forum on Social Creativity: What is it, why is it needed, and how can we support it?
posted by Dan Randow 12:17 PM permanent link
Mapping Complex Problem-Spaces
Knowledge Mapping for Complex Social Messes (PDF of 2.5MB) by Robert E. Horn shows an approach to mapping complex problems involving many stakeholders with diverse points of view.
posted by Dan Randow 11:57 AM permanent link
Virtual Architecture of Online Social Spaces and Software where the Users are Groups
Shirky: Social Software and the Politics of Groups. Clay Shirky says that with group collaboration software, even the "cc:" line in email, the user is a group. This raises some questions for useability.
He also reminds us that social software encodes bargains between the participants and owner.
posted by Dan Randow 10:03 AM permanent link
Tunable Social and Informational Context Interfaces
E-Commerce News: Blogging Goes Corporate. With Google buying Blogger, it's official. Now it's all over the media. Blogs are KM. In my mind, however, it is the _effect_ rather than the specific technology that is relevant. With blogs, people can easily tell their stories, providing contextual links to their particular 'competence'. Others can listen in as much or as little as they like. Once people identify others with shared interests and a discerning eye, watching their blog for new yields a flow of new and relevant ideas.
You find ideas through people. You find people through ideas.
By refining the blogs you follow, you can create a 'tunable' set of channels, each with a topic and 'volume control'.
For all that, blogs are not the only technology that can provide that. Good old email groups, for example can be used to achieve a similar effect. You can have one, two or more people posting and as many receiving the posts by email or simply able to search them online.
posted by Dan Randow 8:56 AM permanent link
16 October 2002
Documentum To Acquire eRoom Technology, Inc
Content and Conversations are complementary. Documentum (content management) and eRoom (virtual collaboration spaces) are combining their technologies to produce a "fully integrated collaborative ECM offering".
posted by Dan Randow 9:40 AM permanent link
05 August 2002
DAVE SIBBET: THE SIBBET/LE SAGET STAGES OF ORGANIZATION MODEL The Stages of Organization Model provides a system-level language for understanding the evolutionary development of organizations. It represents a synthesis of thirty years of organizational consulting experience, several conceptual models of organizational evolution, and the emerging sciences of evolutionary biology and process theory.
The profound aspect of this model is that it ties in with self-organising princilples.
posted by Walter Logeman 6:41 PM permanent link
14 July 2002
WriteTheWeb: What is a k-log? Giles Turnbull interviews John Rob of Userland on the use of Weblogs for KM.
posted by Walter Logeman 12:34 AM permanent link
03 July 2002
KPMG Consulting Knowledge Management Framework Assessment Exercise
An online questionnaire providing graphical feedback as to "how well advanced your organisation is in Knowledge Management".
posted by Dan Randow 3:27 PM permanent link
27 June 2002
Knowledge Inc is a Web-based resource for executives who are developing their strategic communication and knowledge management strategies. This site contains KM-related interviews, case-studies and links.
posted by Dan Randow 11:53 AM permanent link
Melcrum Publishing: KM Review's knowledge management page. Contains articles on Knowledge maps, Communities of Practice, Motivating knowledge-sharing...
posted by Dan Randow 11:46 AM permanent link
Learning to Fly: Practical Lessons from one of the World's Leading Knowledge Companies by Chris Collison, Geoff Parcell. The renowned book sharing experiences from KM at BP. Describes the use of the "Peer Assist" approach.
There is a Learning to Fly Yahoo! Group.
posted by Dan Randow 11:27 AM permanent link
Common Knowledge The website of consultants Dr Nancy Dixon and Dr Bruce Kaplan. Services and resources in the areas of KM, organisational learning, action learning, Dialogue and a useful model of "Five Types of Knoweldge Transfer".
posted by Dan Randow 11:24 AM permanent link
After Action Reviews David Gurteen says all "Projects should have business objectives and LEARNING objectives". He goes on to list some key pointers for of building learning into everyday business objectives and projects.
posted by Dan Randow 11:16 AM permanent link
09 May 2002
UnderTheOak: ComPracGlossary A glossary of terms associated with CommunitiesOfPractice. The glossary is an initiative headed up by members of com-prac-project@yahoogroups.com (see http://www.yahoogroups.com/groups/com-prac)
posted by Dan Randow 5:58 PM permanent link
01 May 2002
WriteTheWeb: What is a k-log?
"Some people are taking the concept of weblogs and applying it to the wider concept of knowledge management. The result is k-logging ("knowledge-logging"). But will it catch on - will your employer dump Lotus Notes databases in favour of browsers and blog-style brain-dumps?"
I think it will catch on... maybe in many years, when we teach weblogging as a *form* much like we teach essays, novels and poems as forms of writing today.
posted by Walter Logeman 12:21 AM permanent link
26 March 2002
Seven Solid Reasons To Invest In A Virtual Workplace from the website of Bill Bruck's Collaboration Architects, this article lists seven practical benefits of collaborating online.
posted by Dan Randow 5:02 PM permanent link
14 March 2002
Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. this new beeok by by Etienne C. Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder (Harvard Business School Press, 2002) looks to become a standard manual for Community of Practice managers.
You can obtain the first chapter “Communities of Practice and Their Value to Organizations” from the HBS Press site (note this is a link to a 277kb PDF file).
posted by Dan Randow 11:26 AM permanent link
12 March 2002
iManage Collaboration SoftwareProvides collaboration software for business,
commerce, and supply chain collaborative solutions.
An integrated application suite providing an enterprise virtual work environment including:
- iManage WorkDocs MP Web-based document management
- iManage WorkTeam MP - a collaboration application that provides
geographically dispersed teams with virtual work spaces
- iManage WorkRoute MP - a workflow application
- iManage WorkSite MP - a portal application that provides each member
of the extended enterprise with a secure and consolidated view of business
content from multiple internal and external data sources and applications
through a single portal page
posted by Dan Randow 6:16 PM permanent link
15 February 2002
Peer-To-Peer: The Next Hot Trend in E-Learning?
This article from "Learning Circuits" says "P2P is the ultimate knowledge management (KM) system". People share what they know with the people they know - themselves.
The article expands on P2P's application in eLearning: "The unmoderated environment lends itself to informal information exchange rather than formal training. As more peers join the network, opportunities for more information to be stored, accessed, exchanged, and learned increase."
Time this late adopter got Groove?
posted by Dan Randow 11:10 AM permanent link
13 February 2002
KnowMap - The Knowledge Management, Auditing and Mapping Magazine
This site contains a number of interesting articles related to knowledged-sharing, culture and learning in organisations. Some are available online, others are tantalisingly only available in the print version.
Titles include:
- "Enriching Distance Learning with Experiential Learning"
- "Modeling A Culture of Collaboration: Part II - Implementing a Social Venture"
- "The Knowledge Audit: The First Step in Knowledge Management"
The latest edition appears to be September 2001.
posted by Dan Randow 8:51 AM permanent link
07 February 2002
Collaborative Strategies [On-Line Self-Assessment]
This is a useful tool for assessing an organisation's readiness for collaboration. It is based on the idea that there initiatives to establish collaboration beyond what a culture is ready for will fail. It only takes a few minutes to complete, including reading useful feedback on the results.
posted by Dan Randow 11:03 AM permanent link
Love Is the Killer App
It is not often that I hear Love expounded as a key to successful business. In this article, Tim Sanders explains clearly how "the three critical drivers of professional success, the three elemental particles of love in business [... knowledge, networks, and compassion [have made him] an impact player (sic) in business".
Business based on these principles is an inspiring vision and it makes sense to me that giving away ideas is an individual motivation and success factor.
posted by Dan Randow 10:37 AM permanent link
04 January 2002
KmMapTools A collection of knowledge mapping tools. Started by DenhamGrey on 03/04/1999.
posted by Dan Randow 11:26 AM permanent link
31 December 2001
Open Text Corporation
Open Text's flagship product Livelink® "is a highly scalable collaborative commerce application that delivers Web-based intranet, extranet and e-business solutions. Livelink removes boundaries and connects you to what matters most. People."
Livelink 8 "provides three customizable workspaces—Enterprise, Personal and Project allowing for the presentation of information in a variety of ways."
posted by Dan Randow 2:03 PM permanent link
What is a hyperlinked organization? Here is David Weinberger's definition of a hyperlinked organisation. It makes sense that "hyperlinked teams require a new type of hyperlinked management that facilitate the teams while also providing the appropriate layer of structure and oversight."
posted by Dan Randow 1:51 PM permanent link
07 December 2001
Buckman Labs share knowledge. They have made their learnings about KM publicly available.
posted by Dan Randow 12:46 PM permanent link
04 December 2001
All Teams are Virtual
I could argue that people are virtual, that we are constructed of signs and symbols in the collectively negotiated field that we call 'reality'. But I won't. Teams on the other hand have no physical body. They exist in our imaginations ~ especially when several of us are imagining the same thing.
The concept of "virtual teams" is unhelpful as all teams are virtual.
Here is a preliminary list of attributes of teams that are useful to know when working to develop successful teams:
- motivation of members (formal)
- motivation of members (informal)
- shared purpose
- geographic distribution
- temporal distribution
- life expectancy/span
- proportion of the members' time spent in the team
- formal roles/structure
- the range of capabilities brought to the team by its members
- informal roles/culture
- relationships with other groups
- the other teams or communities that each team member is also a member of
posted by Dan Randow 9:50 AM permanent link
20 November 2001
vrtprj - virtual teams and distributed projects vrtprj (pronounced “virtual project”) is a portal dedicated to Virtual Project work. It "concentrates the available market information, products and services, about virtual teams and distributed projects."
posted by Dan Randow 10:44 AM permanent link
iTools Online Home Page iTools "Tools@work" is a web-based group collaboration and process improvement software tool designed for the Internet. All team members have access to everything they need - in a collaboration environment - from wherever they happen to be, regardless of distance or time.
An NZ product!
posted by Dan Randow 10:36 AM permanent link
Professional Services Automation (PSA) from Portera Collaboration portal optimised for Professional Services.
posted by Dan Randow 10:33 AM permanent link
09 November 2001
SiteScape, Inc. - The Collaboration Company SiteScape bought AltaVista Forum after Compaq bought AltaVista. SiteScape Forum is an enterprise collaboration portal. They say "Shell International saved $200 million last year by using our software."
posted by Dan Randow 2:11 PM permanent link
07 November 2001
Companies Move Away From Centralized Offices
From this NYT article:
"For more than a decade, [heretics] have promoted the idea that a decentralized network of workplaces might serve the needs of employees and companies better than a large central headquarters."
but the idea has failed to catch on until...
"the current confluence of crisis and technology appears to be prompting a reassessment of old thinking about the way big organizations should organize people."
Some of the motivators are:
- "you're better positioned for business continuity if you're distributed"
- "a lot of people that they want a better balance between their personal and professional life"
- "alternative workplace arrangements [can produce] reduced real estate costs and higher productivity"
- "the desire to find one large space for their displaced employees as quickly as possible"
posted by Dan Randow 11:20 AM permanent link
29 October 2001
Nerve Wireless - Live Better, Unplug And one more virtual collaboration environment. Nerve Wireless is accessible from wireless devices.
They say about themselves: "Collaboration for the next generation
Nerve Wireless offers products that allow people to work effectively with their peers across different enterprises and locations - regardless of the technology they use to manage their business."
posted by Dan Randow 3:15 PM permanent link
eProject Another virtual office technology. Its features include:
- Mesasge (web-based discussion that can send email)
- Calendar
- Documents (including folders)
- Tasks
- Directory (ie Contacts)
Looks nice.
posted by Dan Randow 3:08 PM permanent link
Douglas I. Kalish Home Page Doug Kalish is an experienced KM practitioner and consultant. This page contains various useful links. Of particular interest is Creating Communities at Scient: Hardware, Software and Culture a PowerPoint presentation about the "Scient Zone", a KM portal at Scient.
posted by Dan Randow 2:56 PM permanent link
26 October 2001
Intraspect - Enterprise Collaboration Management Software A virtual workspace (like eRoom). Provides web-based shared storage, discussion, structured features like calendar, tasks lists, polls and notification. Integrates with enterprise systems.
posted by Dan Randow 2:01 PM permanent link
Enterprise Collaboration: The Big Payoff This article is by contains Intraspect describes the business benefits of collaboration within and across corporate borders. Snippets include:
- "In [InformationWeek's] 2001 survey on Information Sharing and Collaboration, more than nine out of 10 business and IT executives indicated that collaboration—the sharing of business information within and across corporate organizations—will increase sales opportunities and about half say it will cut costs."
- "The Harvard Business Review reports that a 5% increase in customer retention can result in a 25% to 95% increase in profits from that relationship."
- "according to the Gartner Group, 80% of a company’s useful knowledge is unstructured information, residing in email, on desktops, in internally generated documents, on pages pulled off the web and in human-readable reports generated by enterprise applications."
If you read one bit though, make it the list beginning with "An effective enterprise collaboration solution must provide a technical means for people to".
posted by Dan Randow 1:55 PM permanent link
www.KMWorld.com A major KM portal. Inlcudes "Knowledge Community", KMWorld Magazine and KMWorld 2001 f2f in Santa Clara October 29 - November 1, 2001.
posted by Dan Randow 10:31 AM permanent link
Inxight Software A tree-based navigation structure for content repositories. A competitor to the Brain?
posted by Dan Randow 10:18 AM permanent link
16 October 2001
Creating an e-culture at work An article by esoutions Brand Manager Sophie Perham describing some of the benefits and ways of building an eculture in organisations.
The article cites "a McKinsey consulting report [which] recently studied new software implementation in a large firm. The investment had yielded savings of US$15 million a year – but the study found that failure to adequately change the workplace culture and processes to support the new technology meant another US$55 million of potential annual savings remained unrealised."
This is why GroupSense Online Groups projects aim to use existing software where possible. Introducing technology is easy. Building the culture and practices of using it to support ecollaboration is complex. It takes time and doesn't respond readily to usual product methodology and measurement. Where adequate technology (eg MS Exchange) is already in place, building eculture is a good place to start. It is low-risk, incremental, sustainable and everyone benefits from it. Once it begins to be established, the participants themselves will begin to demand better technology. The exact requirements will be easy to identify and the implementation will be pulled not pushed.
posted by Dan Randow 11:36 AM permanent link
Envisioning the eWorkplace Co-sponsored by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation and eRoom Technology, this PDF documents a "two day virtual conference -- featuring visionary thought leaders -- explored how the evolving workplace dynamics and technologies are changing the future of work. ".
It is an exciting a broad-reaching vision for how we will all be working in 9 years. A good reminder of why it is worth building capabilties for working online.
posted by Dan Randow 10:05 AM permanent link
05 October 2001
Web Crossing - Customer Support Web Crossing has implemented their platform as "Support Crossing" optimised for help desks.
posted by Dan Randow 2:35 PM permanent link
01 October 2001
The Brain Nice software that creates link-based representations of knowledge-bases.
posted by Dan Randow 1:15 PM permanent link
27 September 2001
Why E-Mail Is Creating Multiple E-Personalities A New York Times article about people using multiple email accounts to deal with email overlaod.
posted by Dan Randow 9:22 AM permanent link
19 September 2001
iKnow NZ Ltd. - Knowledge Management"iKnow NZ Ltd specialises in Knowledge Management and implementing solutions to fit your business knowledge need. We investigate the way you need knowledge to be managed, rather than simply selling you the technology. This means we ensure we cover all of the management, process and cultural issues that impact on the success of the technology chosen."
posted by Dan Randow 12:31 PM permanent link
02 September 2001
LLRX -- Knowledge Management : Can it Exist in a Law Office?
Nice overview. Broad perspective on the nature of km.
posted by Walter Logeman 10:29 PM permanent link
29 August 2001
He Drills for Knowledge. An interview with John Old of Texaco about "how he helps the company's 18,000 people tap their collective brainpower -- and the ideas to help the company operate faster and more productively."
Though Texaco uses specific KM technology (Knowlege Mail from Tacit Knowledge Systems), Old emphasises that what makes the difference is communities, culture, relationships and trust.
posted by Dan Randow 11:09 AM permanent link
Interview with Paul Duguid On Knowledge, Information and People (from HR.com Human Resources Management, Training, Jobs, Information)
Paul Duguid is a co-author of "The Social Life of Information". Paul shares the GroupSense view that knowledge is to do with information and (significantly with) relationships (see About Online Groups).
He makes the interesting point that most organisational PC systems continue to corral knowledge-workers into cubicles even tho the office have been deliberately organised as open plan.
Note: you can get access to HR.com as "guest".
posted by Dan Randow 10:57 AM permanent link
31 July 2001
AMR Capability Solutions (AMR CS) focuses on the human side of the enterprise, building the capability of your people using an integrated approach to knowledge and learning this Wellington company provides a range of knowledge management services.
posted by Dan Randow 9:07 AM permanent link
30 July 2001
Web Crossing has a new product called Team Crossing - "a specialized implementation of Web Crossing optimized and configured especially for Intranet and workgroup use.
posted by Dan Randow 10:42 AM permanent link
01 June 2001
KMunity Home Page
About KMunity
(say Community ... KM=Knowledge Management, unity= well, you know...)
KMunity, Inc. is a consulting practice specializing in developing sustainable community initiatives, distribution channel strategies and organizational development for large-scale enterprises and technology companies. Founded in 1998 by Casey Hughes, KMunity has helped numerous clients establish community initiatives effective at empowering learning organizations, meaningful customer experiences, channel relationships and communities of practice.
posted by Dan Randow 1:55 PM permanent link
29 May 2001
I.B.M. Meets With 52,600, Virtually
This is an intresting experiment in knowledsge-sharing among a huge group online. Could they have used Open Space Technology?
They say: "I.B.M. invited all 320,000 of its employees to a marathon brainstorming session called WorldJam last week, capping a nine- month, multimillion-dollar effort to imagine and build a suitable room in cyberspace for an event that would be impossible to hold anywhere else.
By the end of the three-day exchange, at noon on Thursday, nearly 52,600 workers had logged in at one time or another, according to WorldJam's delighted managers. The visitors generated more than 6,000 proposals and comments, and viewed five postings each on average."
[you need to log in to the NYT site to view the article]
posted by Dan Randow 9:34 AM permanent link
24 May 2001
Etienne Wenger says:
I am an independent thinker, researcher, consultant, author, and speaker.
I am mostly known for my work on communities of practice.
Theoretically, my work focuses on social learning systems.
I am trying to understand the connection between knowledge, community, learning, and identity.
The basic idea is that human knowing is fundamentally a social act.
This simple observation has profound implications for the way we think of and attempt to support learning.
Practically, these ideas are helping people who face all sorts of challenges, such as:
design more effective knowledge-oriented organizations
create learning systems across organizations
improve education and lifelong learning
rethink the role of professional associations
design a world in which people can reach their full potential.
I make a living helping people and organizations apply these ideas.
I do consulting, workshops, and public speaking.
I also work in collaboration with a number of special partners.
You might also want to check the consortium we have just started.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted by Dan Randow 10:32 AM permanent link
22 May 2001
eProject
eProject Software provides the tools you need to plan, manage, and work on all of your projects. No matter how large or small your projects are, we can help you and your team communicate, collaborate, and complete your projects faster and more efficiently.
posted by Dan Randow 4:27 PM permanent link
18 April 2001
Who Was Robert K. Greenleaf?
"Robert K. Greenleaf was an American original, an essayist in the tradition of Emerson. Back in 1970, he wrote a small essay called The Servant As Leader, which introduced the term "servant-leadership." That and other writings have influenced an entire generation of management experts and institutional leaders.
"Bob Greenleaf (1904-1990) spent his first career in management research, development and education at AT&T. After retirement, he began a second career teaching and consulting at institutions ranging from Harvard Business School to the Ford Foundation to scores of churches and not-for-profit institutions. During the tumultuous 1960s, Greenleaf tried to understand why so many young people were in rebellion against America's institutions, especially universities. He concluded that the fault lay with the institutions: they weren't doing a good job of serving, therefore, they were doing a poor job of leading.
"In 1970, Greenleaf wrote The Servant as Leader, a powerful little essay that continues to gain influence today. In it, Greenleaf described some of the characteristics and activities of servant-leaders, providing examples which show that individual efforts, inspired by vision and a servant ethic, can make a substantial difference in the quality of society. Greenleaf said true leaders are chosen by their followers. "
posted by Walter Logeman 12:34 AM permanent link
Removed duplicate - 010902
posted by Walter Logeman 12:32 AM permanent link
17 April 2001
Breakthrough Results:
more value for your key relationships A pdf whitepaper from SCT, a global information technology solutions company.
"Leading enterprises focus on relationships as the key to success. They
rethink and align their business models and processes to use knowledge about
key relationships to deliver more valueŠmore quickly and more effectivelyŠ
and at a lower cost. Relationship leverage requires shifting the focus from
internal tasks to activities that establish, support, and enhance relationships.
Relationship leverage initiatives might start with customer relationship man-
agement, or supply chain planning, or 1-to-1 marketing, or e-commerce. Dell
Computer started with a model of dealing directly with its customers. Then,
the company leveraged that knowledge to impact every part of its own
operationsŠand all its other key relationships with suppliers, partners, and
logistics companies.
"Like customer focus, relationship leverage means more than superior cus-
tomer service. It means using relationships as a fundamental organizing
principle to develop strategic plans, create business models, and rethink
business activities.
posted by Walter Logeman 9:56 AM permanent link
16 April 2001
Knowledge management is a solid concept that fell in with the wrong company. Software companies, to be precise.
BY ERIC BERKMAN
"It's a gorgeous early fall day in northern California, but you'd never know it on the air-conditioned expo floor at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The KMWorld2000 trade show constitutes a full frontal assault on the senses: software vendors sporting corporate-logoed golf shirts pounce from all directions, promising knowledge management nirvana. All you need to do is spend megabucks to install their portal-vortal-intranet-extranet-search-engine-interactive-collaborative-commerce e-solution. Bob Armacost, director of internal knowledge management at Bain and Co., likens it to the swarms of souvenir hawkers who greet incoming boats of tourists. "You go to one of these shows and you feel like you're stepping off a cruise ship in the Bahamas," he says. Unfortunately, this is knowledge management (KM) today—a good idea gone awry. KM has fallen victim to a mixture of bad implementation practices and software vendors eager to turn a complex process into a pure technology play. The result: Like many a business concept, KM has evolved from a hot buzzword to a phrase that now evokes more skepticism than enthusiasm. "
posted by Walter Logeman 12:05 AM permanent link
15 April 2001
knowledgeer-at-large
Weblog - excellent and one that will accept posts from members. Worth exploring regularly!
posted by Walter Logeman 11:51 PM permanent link
Online Social Networks 2001
"Every organization is also a social network. The business of the organization is conducted by people whose communications most often take place as conversations. Skillfully structured and represented, those conversations can become sources of social and intellectual capital. Knowledgeable use of message boards, chat, instant messaging, can enhance and enable online social networks.
This conference will help companies understand why and how to organize, lead, manage, value, and sustain internal online social networks for teams, communities of practice, learning cohorts, and other mission-oriented groups.
For two weeks, MARCH 28 to APRIL 11, registered participants, speakers, and workshop leaders will join together in structured conversations about practical issues related to online social networks. Caucus webconference software enables registered participants to interact at any time during the event, from anywhere, using text and images, through a net-connected web browser (Netscape 4.x or IE)."
posted by Walter Logeman 11:44 PM permanent link
22 February 2001
STUFF: INFOTECH - PRODUCTS - STORY : New Zealand's leading news and information website
J D Edwards goes collaborative
19 FEBRUARY 2001
By HEATHER WRIGHT
C-commerce and supply chains will be the focus for United States software company J D Edwards this year, says New Zealand general manager David Batkin.
C-commerce, or collaborative commerce, is the latest American buzzword that refers to the collaboration between partners, suppliers and customers.
J D Edwards New Zealand has established an in-house supply chain team in preparation for an explosion of interest in that area.
The team has two staff though Mr Batkin says it is expected to employ at least six by the end of the year. J D Edwards employs 55 staff in New Zealand, with offices in Auckland and Wellington.
The moves spring from J D Edwards' purchase in 1999 of Numetrix, a maker of Internet-enabled supply chain planning software. The Numetrix software has been integrated into J D Edwards' software and Mr Batkin says existing customers – including New Zealand Dairy Group, Fletcher Challenge and Carter Holt Harvey – are using the supply chain planning product.
"Collaborative commerce has been far easier to talk to businesses about than e-business."
"Chief executives are going to be creating, modifying and changing partnerships on a daily basis, so it's second nature for them to have trading relationships. And when you talk about having collaborative trading relationships between the systems, that's something they now expect, whereas when you're talking e-business quite often the person putting forward the e-business idea didn't make the connection between what's happening in business and what's happening in technology."
He says the amount of value businesses can derive from collaborative commerce makes it a popular option.
Analysis from United States e-business company Benchmarking Partners, now Surgency, shows that about 10 per cent of the value that can be derived from a software application such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), comes with the installation of the software.
"If you stop at ERP you're only going to get 10 per cent of the true value. The next 30 per cent is by integrating the ERP to your legacy systems and having a fully integrated process."
"That gets you up to 40 per cent. The other 60 per cent comes through collaboration: hooking up your system to that of your suppliers and so on.
"So until a company takes on collaborative commerce they're only ever going to achieve 40 per cent of value."
Collaborative commerce also simplifies things, he says.
"For years companies have been doing point-to-point integration, so this is rationalising a lot of what has historically been done.
"It's simpler than managing a network with point-to-point relationships and EDI relationships, because it brings all of those to a central broker," he says.
Last year J D Edwards scooped up 12 new deals including ones with Nelson Marlborough Health, Open Polytechnic, Circo Project Engineering, Foodstuffs and the New Zealand Fire Service.
J D Edwards recorded 56 per cent growth in New Zealand software licences for fiscal 2000, over fiscal 1999. Worldwide the company recorded revenue of US$1 billion (NZ$2.2 billion) for the year ending October 31, 2000. Net income was $4.9 million.
posted by Dan Randow 10:26 AM permanent link
Knowledge Pays - GET REAL WITH JOHN SVIOKLA - CIO Magazine Feb. 15, 2001
" FACE IT. Most knowledge management efforts are doomed to failure. They are internally focused, and they have fluffy measures of success. Often, the KM team counts inputs ("We have 20 people working on KM") and activity ("We have 1,500 best practices codified"). You end up keeping very smart people busy producing lots of paperwork, and increasing overhead costs, for fuzzy benefits. "
"To succeed, CIOs must redefine knowledge management in terms that focus on what would make it most valuable to a business. That means having a deep knowledge of your company's supply chain, from what your customers want to when they want it and which suppliers can quickly deliver high-quality parts to meet those wants. You can use this knowledge to focus on the critical goal of improving the return on capital for your company, your customers, suppliers and business partners. And by mastering KM—one of the squishiest IT concepts out there—you can help your company seize an enormous digital age opportunity."
posted by Walter Logeman 10:14 AM permanent link
Marc Andreessen: Act II What's still true -- and what was never true -- about the Internet.
| Email remains the Internet's killer app. |
"I keep a list of the 10 most serious threats to the company. The lawyers hate this. It's actually called "Ten reasons we're going to go out of business." It definitely focuses the mind as much as the prospect of imminent hanging. So we ask ourselves, If we end up failing, what will be the reason? And we go through the list. You're starting to build in what seems like paranoia, but it's really just clear-eyed objectivity. I always enjoyed it. In fact, working on the risk-factor section is my favorite part of drafting prospectuses. It lets you look at your company and say, Okay, what might go wrong? You have an obligation to be as complete as you can, so it liberates your mind. "
posted by Walter Logeman 2:59 AM permanent link
State of the KM Art - Lessons Learned From Early Adoption of KM
| The majority of knowledge resources lie in the "unformatted" tacit knowledge of employees, partners and stakeholders. |
"Summary: This paper is based on a series of information gatherings about the pioneering efforts in Knowledge management. The intent is to draw from the experimentation an understanding of the conditions of success. Some of the lessons learned are identified and the article concludes that there is a broad chasm between what is being proposed and what is being espoused in the domain."
posted by Walter Logeman 1:40 AM permanent link
Knowledge Management Resource Center: What's New
"What's New
New resources are being added all the time. Check here to find the latest entries. We also alert you to selected resources that have been added within the KM resource sites that we monitor."
Comprehensive.
posted by Walter Logeman 1:30 AM permanent link
Dots Dashed Bob Lessin,
Chairman and CEO,
Wit SoundView Group Inc.,
New York, New York.
"My advice to B2C companies trying to make a go of it alone? Don't do it. If you don't already exist on the Web, don't bother now. You'll be wasting your time. That is, unless you have an idea that touches the consumer in a unique way. But I've got news for you: There aren't many unique ideas out there.
Why is it so impossible to enter the Internet space as a stand-alone B2C? Primarily, because brands rule. And the cost of building a brand has grown from $10 million to several billion. The events of last year have made me understand, like never before, the power and legitimacy of brands. When the dust settles, we'll have only a few brands left: Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, and perhaps a few others.
Many B2Cs made the mistake of presuming there would always be an abundance of capital. They didn't focus on building their brands. Today, unless those companies have found a physical partner or another way to extend their brand, they're facing a tough road.
When the dust settles, we'll have only a few brands left: Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, and perhaps a few others. |
I don't think most people anticipated that in one day, one hour, one minute, everything would change. But in the market, there's rarely a gradual landing. When CEOs ask, "What's the secret to venture capital?" I say, "Not running out of money."
Don't get cute with capital. Presume that you'll never raise another dime, and run your business accordingly."
posted by Walter Logeman 12:00 AM permanent link
20 February 2001
J D Edwards goes collaborative
"Collaborative commerce has been far easier to talk to businesses about than e-business."
posted by Walter Logeman 11:43 PM permanent link
STUFF: INFOTECH - SPECIAL REPORTS - DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AND WORKFLOW - STORY : New Zealand's leading news and information website
" In the broader knowledge management market, organisations are also investing in tools to support employee decision-making, and provide swift access to information, IDC says."
"Sales of KM software are expected to climb to US$5.4 billion (NZ$11 billion) by 2004, compared to US$1.4 billion (NZ$3 billion) in 1999."
posted by Walter Logeman 11:40 PM permanent link
19 February 2001
Strategy as if Knowledge Mattered
"Managing knowledge is hot! Before we get carried away, why not stop to link knowledge and strategy?"
by Brook Manville and Nathaniel Foote
illustrations by Regan Dunnick
from FC issue 2, page 66
"In an industrial loading area in the cold, gray drizzle, 40 miles south of London, workers in blue overalls loaded and unloaded 200-gallon steel drums of knowledge. The barrels contained a mix of specialty ingredients, designer essences a manufacturer would soon add to laundry detergent to produce a distinctive "fragrance of spring." If the strategy worked, 10 million consumers would desert "air of lemon" for "fragrance of spring" when they reached for their next box of laundry detergent."
Old but relevant article.
posted by Walter Logeman 12:56 AM permanent link
