***** The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter (Issue 83, 17 May 2007) *****
A month ago to the day I was writing this Knowledge Letter in Jakarta
where I was running a workshop and Knowledge Cafe.
I have a little experience of Asian culture, having run Knowledge
Cafes in Singapore and Hong Kong and understand people’s reluctance
at times to talk or ask questions and so I was expecting some
learning on my part.
I have written about those lessons in my monthly Gurteen Perspective
column for InsideKnowledge magazine and will give you a link to the
free on-line version next month.
But what was the bottom line? What did I learn as a facilitator? Well
to take my time, to go with the flow and to be prepared to
experiment. And to do all that I can to make it easy and painless for
people to engage in conversation. Everyone enjoys conversation. It’s
at the very heart of being human. You just need to get some of the
barriers out of the way!
It looks like I will be doing a lot more work in SE Asia so I am
looking forward to some more learning!
Jakarta photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gurteen/sets/72157600089718795
*************************** CONTENTS ***************************
1 - Unconferencing
2 - Keep bang up to date with my website
3 - David Weinberger's new book
4 - MS fights back on Flash Video
5 - Twittering Again
6 - Snowden, KM & Lean
7 - Senge on Knowledge Sharing
8 - Nokia N95
9 - Wikipedia on Knowledge Management
10 - KM Event Highlights
************************ UNCONFERENCING ************************
I love it when the main stream media start to pick up on some of the
more exciting things emerging from the KM world as it means more
people get to know about it and start to take it seriously.
I have been rattling on about "unconferences" and "participatory
events" for the last few years and doing my best to help conference
organizers to see the need for change.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/conference-ideas
But look what Business Week has to say
"Unconferences turn the plodding, predictable business gathering
inside out. They're a hybrid of a teach-in and a jam session, with a
little show-and-tell mixed in, and they are attracting hundreds in
cities like Austin, Tex., Bangalore, San Francisco, Sydney, and
Tokyo. Unlike traditional, $1,000-a-head and up conferences, they're
totally unstructured -- the agenda isn't determined until the opening
day of the event. Everyone who shows up is a potential speaker, and
those who don't speak contribute by posting photos, blog entries,
podcasts, and video clips of the proceedings. Neckties and heels are
noticeably absent."
http://tinyurl.com/2njqh5
And take a look at Patti Anklam's ideas for a "Knowledge Management
Unconference". Love it!
http://tinyurl.com/2gvamb
************* KEEP BANG UP TO DATE WITH MY WEBSITE *************
I have a number of great RSS feeds from my website but if you looking
for just one feed to subscribe to then go for my Update feed that
contains all the new pages and recent updates. This will keep you in
touch with new KM events, jobs, books, websites, people and much more
in a single feed.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/GurteenKnowledgeUpdate
But if you are more picky see my full list of feeds here
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rss-feeds
and if you are still in the dark about RSS feeds see below where I
have just added a great new video that explains how to read them.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rss
****************** DAVID WEINBERGER'S NEW BOOK ******************
One of the people who has had a huge influence on my thinking is
David Weinberger, one of the authors of the Clue Train Manifesto from
a few years back. Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book
that I use time and time again in my workshops and talks.
"But the real problem with the information being provided to us in
our businesses is that, for all the facts and ideas, we still have no
idea what we're talking about. We don't understand what's going on in
our business, our market, and our world.
In fact, it'd be right to say that we already know way too much. KM
isn't about helping us to know more. It's about helping us to
understand. Knowledge without understanding is like, well,
information.
So, how do we understand things? From the first accidental wiener
roast on a prehistoric savannah, we've understood things by telling
stories. It's through stories that we understand how the world
works."
Since then David has written the book "Small Pieces Loosely Joined"
and now his most recent book "Everything is Miscellaneous".
You will find a short video interview with him here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aiYWSsuepA&eurl=
and more here about him and his books:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/david-weinberger
***************** MS FIGHTS BACK ON FLASH VIDEO *****************
I noted some time back that on-line video was moving to Flash.
YouTube and Google Video are both Flash based for example. Embedding
Flash video into your website is trivial compared to Windows Media.
But Microsoft is fighting back:
http://tinyurl.com/yv5azb
And in turn Adobe does not intend to let Microsoft catch up and has
plans for the launch of the Adobe Media Player later in the year.
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Media_Player
*********************** TWITTERING AGAIN ***********************
Twitter just a micro-blogging tool. Think again!
http://tinyurl.com/2h823s
The regular BBC updates are really cool.
I just love this little gizmo. I twitter only once or twice a day. It
has the unexpected side effect of causing me to pause and think of
what I am doing which is always a good thing. Over time I also build
up a daily account of my activities. Take a look at my t-log:
http://twitter.com/dgurteen
********************** SNOWDEN, KM & LEAN **********************
I love Dave Snowden's ability to put his finger on things that go
wrong in organizations when a tool or technique is used that works
well in one context but not in the one where it is being applied.
You may have heard Dave "rubbish" Six Sigma - often calling it "Six
Stigma" but not really understand why as clearly it works well in its
intended domain. He explains why here:
http://www.cognitive-edge.com/2007/04/km_lean.php
Its one of the biggest problems with KM - what works well in one
context does not work at all in another. You need to be acutely aware
of this.
****************** SENGE ON KNOWLEDGE SHARING ******************
I recently found an interesting article by Peter Senge on Knowledge
Sharing and was delighted that he said this:
"Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting
something from them. That is only valid for information sharing.
Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in
helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about
creating learning processes."
Bang on the nail! I always love it when people say things far more
eloquently and succinctly than I ever can :-) This is at the heart of
what Knowledge Sharing is about!
http://www.solonline.org/res/kr/shareknow.html
*************************** NOKIA N95 ***************************
Take a look at the Nokia N95 smartphone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX5eh7eLaVQ
It includes a 5 megapixel camera (with VGA video capture), MP3
player, WiFi, GPS, 150MB of internal memory and a microSD slot and a
ton more.
I want one!
*************** WIKIPEDIA ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ***************
The Wikipedia entry on KM is starting to look pretty good thanks in
large part to Dave Snowden see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management
********************** KM EVENT HIGHLIGHTS **********************
This section highlights some of the major KM events taking place
around the world in the coming months and ones in which I am actively
involved. You will find a full list on my website where you can also
subscribe to both regional e-mail alerts and RSS feeds which will
keep you informed of new and upcoming events.
Events:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/events
RSS Feeds:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rss-feeds
3rd annual Text Analytics Summit
12 - 13 Jun 2007, Boston, United States
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/ustas-07
The fifth Gurteen Knowledge Barbecue (20 June 2006)
20 Jun 2007, London, United Kingdom
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kbbq-2007
I can't believe we are running this for a fifth year!
Knowledge and Content UK 2007
26 - 27 Jun 2007, London, United Kingdom
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcuk-2007
I will be chairing the KM stream at this conference.
The Effective Knowledge Worker
10 Jul 2007, London, United Kingdom
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L003062/
My 1-day workshop on Personal Knowledge Management
Social Tools for Business Use
11 - 12 Jul 2007, London, United Kingdom
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L003060/
I will be chairing this UNICOM conference for the third time.
The Video Knowledge Cafe!
11 Jul 2007, London, United Kingdom
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafe-video
This should be a fun Knowledge Cafe on the first evening of the
UNICOM Social Tools conference.
KM Australia
25 - 27 July 2007, Sydney, Australia
http://www.kmaustralia.com/default.htm
The programme includes a Gurteen Knowledge Cafe facilitated by Helen
Paige - the regional director for the Gurteen Community in Adelaide.
ECKM 2007: The 8th European Conference on Knowledge Management
06 - 07 Sep 2007, Barcelona, Spain
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/eckm-2007
I hope to be attending - so long since I was last in Barcelona.
actKM Conference 2007
22 - 23 Oct 2007, Canberra, Australia
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/actkm-2007
I will be giving the keynote.
KM Asia 2007
29 - 31 Oct 2007, Singapore City, Singapore
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/km-asia-2007
I will be running a Knowldege Cafe and a workshop.
KMWorld & Intranets 2007
06 - 08 Nov 2007, San Jose, United States
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kmworld-2007
I may be running a Knowledge Cafe at this event - maybe more. This
would be my first time to KM World!
******* S U B S C R I B I N G & U N S U B S C R I B I N G *******
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Also see this page if you wish to become a community member and
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***************** THE GURTEEN KNOWLEDGE-LETTER *****************
The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter is a free monthly e-mail based knowledge
management newsletter for Knowledge Workers. Its purpose is to help
you better manage your knowledge and to stimulate thought and
interest in such subjects as Knowledge Management, Learning,
Creativity and the effective use of Internet technology.
It is produced in association with the Knowledge Management Forum of
Henley Management College, Oxfordshire, England.
http://www.henleymc.ac.uk/kmforum
You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to
friends, colleagues or customers, so long as any use is not for
resale or profit and I am attributed.
David Gurteen
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom
