***** The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter (Issue 60, 13 June 2005) *****
I can hardly believe that this is the 60th issue of the
knowledge-letter. I published the first issue just over 5 years ago
on 30th May 2000 that was distributed to about 300 people compared to
over 12,000 in 138 or so countries today. Wow! Its scary - how time
flies! Take a look at the first issue:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/newsletter001
or the complete archive:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/knowledge-letter
What I love is that this just started out as an experiment ... I just
felt like doing it ... and did not dream at the time I would still
be going strong after five years and have built up such a large
readership and made so many good friends around the world. There is a
lesson I have learnt in all of this ... "do what you love - and see
what unfolds".
*************************** CONTENTS ***************************
1 - New York Knowledge Cafe
2 - The Gurteen Knowledge Community
3 - Making Knowledge Work Materials
4 - America's Eroding Knowledge Edge
5 - A "Good Idea" from KnowledgeBoard
6 - How many people have ever lived?
7 - Free Global Knowledge Review
8 - How to Save the World
9 - Lesson Cards Update
10 - Google Video
11 - 15 Things you can do with RSS
12 - My Top Ten Stuff
13 - The Dawn and Drew Pod Show
14 - KM Australia 13-15 July 2005
15 - Gurteen Event Calendar
16 - What's New?
******************** NEW YORK KNOWLEDGE CAFE ********************
Back in March, I announced the launch of the NW of England Knowledge
Cafe. This kicked off on the 25th May in Warrington with ten people -
we would have had more but Steve Hales and I not being football fans
did not realize that it clashed with the European Cup Final where
Liverpool - the local football club - were playing AC Milan. And hey
Liverpool won! This inaugural meeting went well and the next
Knowledge Cafe in the NW will be held on July 13th in Manchester.
But in a few weeks time on Tuesday 12th July I am launching the
Knowledge Cafe in New York City with Jo Singel. I will be flying out
especially for it - and am really rather excited as its almost 20
years since I last visited NY. We have just found a venue and have
about 30 people interested so far!
If you would like to attend either of these k-cafes you can learn
more and register at:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafes
**************** THE GURTEEN KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY ****************
Starting the knowledge cafes in the NW of England and New York has
helped me take a more focused look at the purpose of my website,
newsletter and k-cafes.
The heart of what I am about is building the Gurteen Knowledge
Community. If you receive this knowledge-letter then you are
automatically a part of the community and as a member your only
commitment is to receive the free monthly newsletter.
The knowledge cafes are 'meeting places' for the community. And over
time as I set up more k-cafes around the world - most of you will get
the opportunity to attend the k-cafes and become a real part of the
community. On the other hand if you are content to just to receive
the monthly knowledge-letter - that is fine too :-)
The Gurteen Knowledge website is a resource site for the community -
though in the spirit of 'knowledge sharing' it is totally open.
This begs the question as to 'what is the purpose of the community?'
Its roots have very much been in 'knowledge management' but clearly
it has always been about much more than that. And so I have tried to
sharpen up what the community is about and to summarize it in a few
words:
"The Gurteen Knowledge Community is a global learning community of
over 12,000 people in 138 countries across the world. The community
is for people who are committed to making a difference: people who
wish to share and learn from each other and who strive to see the
world differently, think differently and act differently."
For me, this captures the essence of what the community is about but
I don't feel the need to be too definitive about it and am happy to
let it evolve over time.
I hope you like this vision and I would love to get your feedback but
please keep in mind - I get so much e-mail that I only find it
possible to reply to a fraction of them. So please do not be offended
if I am unable to reply to you :-)
For more about the community and the k-cafes:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/gkc
**************** MAKING KNOWLEDGE WORK MATERIALS ****************
My "Making Knowledge Work" conference in London on 17-18 May was
another great success - although I say it myself :-)
If you missed it but would like to download the materials see my
download center:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/downloads
Or if you would like to read a detailed write-up by Ed Mitchell of
KnowledgeBoard:
http://www.knowledgeboard.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=141744
*************** AMERICA'S ERODING KNOWLEDGE EDGE ***************
A very interesting article in BusinessWeek Online ...
"Businesses and economies run on knowledge and the workers who
transform highly technical ideas, designs, concepts, and engineering
know-how into innovations that respond to customer needs and open up
new markets. The race to create and deploy new knowledge carries high
stakes. Countries that consistently field the strongest knowledge
teams will win out."
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/s?open&id=L001718
The article is about America but I think Europe faces an even bigger
challenge.
*************** A "GOOD IDEA" FROM KNOWLEDGEBOARD ***************
How can we turn an idea from "my good idea" into "our idea" and put
"ouridea" into motion? This is the topic of a new book for children
about leadership executives by Debra Amidon with wonderful
illustrations by the Dvirs.
Please join us online to discuss this with the authors on June 16th.
http://www.knowledgeboard.com/item/140072
*************** HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE EVER LIVED? ***************
I have a huge interest in the history of humanity and consider myself
very privileged to be alive today and not expect to be killed by
disease, war or famine - the fate of so many of humankind. But one
question that has always intrigued me - how many people (humans like
us) have ever lived.
So I did a Google search recently and was not too surprised to
discover that someone had done the sums. Take a guess before you read
the article. Funnily enough I got it right - given the assumptions in
the article are correct :-)
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=1820
Now another question that I could not find an answer to: "How many of
these people did not die prematurely?" I'd hazard a guess that it is
less than one percent and most are alive today!
***************** FREE GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE REVIEW *****************
To encourage you to take a look at the Global Knowledge Review and to
subscribe, I have made the May issue available for download from the
Download Center on my website for FREE.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/downloads
Please forward it on to as many of your friends and colleagues whom
you think will enjoy it!
For a load more information on the GKR, including past articles and
bios of contributors and to subscribe see :
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/gkr
********************* HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD *********************
One of my favorite weblogs must be "How to Save the World" by Dave
Pollard.
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/
This is how Dave got started ...
"Five years ago, at the age of 48, I decided it was time to stop
complaining and being depressed about the state of the world, and
start doing something about it. I began to read voraciously, an
average of two books a week, and gradually put together a picture in
my own mind of the current state of the world, how we got here, and
what we needed to do about it. In February of last year I started a
weblog, in part because I wanted to share what I had learned, and in
part to discuss it with others and find out if they felt the same way
that I did."
Take a look - its one hell of a site - in particular don't miss out
on his 'signature essays'.
You will find some more of my favorite weblogs here:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/weblogs
********************** LESSON CARDS UPDATE **********************
The response to the NHS Lesson Cards I announced last month has been
fantastic - over 440 people have signed up for them so far.
The cards were developed to aid the NHS but I am sure you will find
the lessons contained in them hugely useful whether you work for
another health service or indeed any organization.
You may register to receive a lesson card by email, once a week, on a
day of your choosing.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L001489/
************************* GOOGLE VIDEO *************************
Even more hot stuff from Google - Google Video:
"Our mission is to organize the world's information, and that
includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day.
Google Video enables you to search a growing archive of televised
content -- everything from sports to dinosaur documentaries to news
shows."
http://video.google.com/video_about.html
***************** 15 THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH RSS *****************
Are you using an RSS news reader yet. No? Don't understand why you
should? Then take a look at this article from Tim Yang that lists 15
things that you can do with RSS:
http://timyang.com/wiki/doku.php?id=lists:thingsyoucandowithrss
If you are looking for a good RSS news reader try Bloglines. It runs
in your browser - so nothing to download and its free:
http://www.bloglines.com/
Gurteen RSS Feeds:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rss-feeds
RSS:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rss
*********************** MY TOP TEN STUFF ***********************
With more and more material on my website even I am finding it hard
to find the 'good stuff' - so I have just created a new page where
you can see what I consider to be my 'top ten' resources in a number
of different categories ... not complete yet ... but take a look:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/top-ten
****************** THE DAWN AND DREW POD SHOW ******************
Anyone can create their own podcast and broadcast their own talk
show. I 'tuned in' to this podcast out of curiosity and found it
quite addictive but its just a 'conversation between husband and
wife'. Listen in yourself but only if you are not easily offended it
has some adult themes.
Anyone with a bit of talent and technology nouse can do this!
http://www.dawnanddrew.com/
More on podcasting:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/podcasting
***************** KM AUSTRALIA 13-15 JULY 2005 *****************
KM Australia is coming up in July. Keynotes from :Etienne Wenger and
Karl Wiig who I know well. But also Amit Khanna who heads up KM at
Tata Steel in India. and Johnny Martin who is Operations Excellence
Coordinator at BP.
http://www.kmaustralia.com/
