***** The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter (Issue 73, 10 July 2006) *****
I have had a busy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I was in Zurich to
run an "Effective Knowledge Worker" workshop and while there I ran a
knowledge cafe for my community members in Switzerland. I was
absolutely delighted that 20 people turned up and we had a great
evening. It also now looks likely that Zurich might become one of
the next cities to host one of my community cafes.
And then last week I spent two days chairing the KM stream at KC-UK
in London. I learnt a huge amount both in terms of content and
process. What delighted me though was the 'speed networking' sessions
that I ran at the start of both days. These sessions always work
tremendously well in getting people up and talking and engaged with
other participants.
And then to round off the last day I ran a knowledge cafe as a form
of 'after action review' where I asked people to review the two days
and share their 'actionable insights'. At the end of the session we
also talked about how we might make conferences more interactive.
This too generated some great ideas that I will feed back to the
organizers. Take a look at the conecpt of the 'unconference' below if
you haven't already.
Effective Knowledge Worker Workshop
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/workshop-01
Knowledge Cafes
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafes
Speed Networking
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/speed-networking
The Unconference
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L002124/
*************************** CONTENTS ***************************
1 - What are knowledge behaviours?
2 - Lesson of the Month from Fifty Lessons
3 - What is knowledge?
4 - Gurteen Knowledge Conversations
5 - KM Event Highlights
6 - Getting Management Buy-in For KM
7 - Wikipedia Arbitration Process
8 - Do patents hinder innovation?
9 - Event Calendar
**************** WHAT ARE KNOWLEDGE BEHAVIOURS? ****************
I occasionally run a short workshop where I get people to work in
groups to identify the personal barriers to sharing knowledge and how
to overcome them. In fact I ran one only a few days ago in Oxford. I
then go on to ask them to identify the personal behaviors that they
need to adopt to become more effective as knowledge workers.
The whole idea is to encourage people to engage with the issues and
to take responsibility for their own 'knowledge behaviors'. I have
been collecting the behaviors that they identify with a view to
publishing them in some way at a future point but looks like Shawn
Callahan is already well down this path.
http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2006/05/what_are_knowle.html
Take the time to browse the Anecdote website while you are there -
its has a wealth of good material.
************ LESSON OF THE MONTH FROM FIFTY LESSONS ************
This month's video lesson is "The Power of Story" from Anita Roddick
and how they are the most important form of communication for the
Body Shop.
Although the examples she gives are creative and amusing I think she
comes dangerously close to equating storytelling to "making up
stories" which to my mind is not what it is about :-)
http://gurteen.50lessons.com
********************** WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE? **********************
My June on-line poll generated a lot of interest judging from the
comments that were posted against it. And it pretty much confirmed my
belief that about 75% people see knowledge as both tacit and explicit
while only 25% say that knowledge can only ever exist in your head.
Remember there is not really a right or wrong answer here. It is
about people's interpretation of the meaning of the word 'knowledge'.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/poll-june-2006
**************** GURTEEN KNOWLEDGE CONVERSATIONS ****************
I have been working some more with Brad Meyer and Jim Hood of I-T-L
on the "Gurteen Knowledge Conversations" website. As we shoot and
develop more material we are stating to improve the overall structure
of the site.
We have now merged the two old sites into a single site that gives
you direct access to all the videos and multimedia presentations we
have created so far.
This month we have added some material from a recent knowledge cafe
in London with Ray Shaw and Sheila Robinson on Double Loop Learning.
There is both an extract from the cafe and a short interview with Ray
and Sheila. Enjoy!
http://www.i-t-l.com/gurteen_kcon
********************** KM EVENT HIGHLIGHTS **********************
This section highlights some of the major KM events taking place
around the world in the next 3 months and ones in which I am actively
involved. You will find a more comprehensive list at the end of this
newsletter.
ICKM2006: Third International Conference on Knowledge Management
31 Jul - 02 Aug 2006, London, United Kingdom
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/ickm2006
I'll be running a knowledge cafe at this event.
KM Australia 2006
14 - 16 Aug 2006, Sydney, Australia
http://www.kmaustralia.com
I won't be attending this event but it looks like being a really good
conference including a panel of international experts to facilitate a
review of KM, CM, and collaboration.
The 7th European Conference on Knowledge Management
04 - 05 Sep 2006, Budapest, Hungary
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/eckm-2006
As in Limmerick last year I will be running a knowledge cafe!
Social Network Tools and their Business Application
20 - 21 Sep 2006, London, United Kingdom
http://www.unicom.co.uk/product_detail.asp?prdid=1516
I have been working with Unicom to help put this event together and
keep it business focused. I will also be chairing it. Should be a
great event!
The European Knowledge Management Thought Leaders Forum
28 - 29 Sept 2006, London, United Kingdom
http://www.kmthoughtleaders.com/tracker.asp?magazineid=144
Another great yearly KM event that I spoke at last year. This year I
will be facilitating conversations at one of the tables.
*************** GETTING MANAGEMENT BUY-IN FOR KM ***************
One of the major barriers to the effective take up of KM - maybe even
the largest - is the inability of KM enthusiasts to sell KM to their
senior management.
To my mind one of the major reasons is the lack of focus on short
term 'business outcomes' - the things that are important to business
managers - the things they are measured on and which if they fail to
deliver may result in a loss of their job! There are of course other
factors too such as using KM jargon rather than the everyday language
of the organization.
If its a problem you face see this project being run by Patrick Lambe
of Straits Knowledge in Singapore. There is lot of good material
on-line in the form of contributions from his website readers
already.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/s?open&id=km-buy-in
***************** WIKIPEDIA ARBITRATION PROCESS *****************
There has been a lot of discussion recently concerning the accuracy
of Wikipedia articles verses other on-line encyclopedias.
Recently an entry in Matt Mower's weblog pointed me to this
fascinating Wikipedia document:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/s?open&id=L002592
Here a contributor is effectively 'tried' for editing articles to
overly reflect his 'point of view'. He is 'judged' found 'guilty' and
'sentenced'.
This gives a fascinating insight into the Wikipedia arbitration
process that is used to ensure the quality of its articles.
I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to argue the pros and cons of the
process but I can't help but feel that this sort of transparent
procedure is going to work out in the long term for Wikipedia.
Matt Mower's weblog
http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002243.html
***************** DO PATENTS HINDER INNOVATION? *****************
This months poll:
Do patents help protect innovation or hinder it?
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/polls
************************ EVENT CALENDAR ************************
My website contains such a comprehensive list of events that it is
no longer possible to display them all. The list below shows only the
major events or ones of special interest that will be held in the
next month or so.
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/events
Event Calendar:
IADIS International Conference Mobile Learning 2006
14 - 16 Jul 2006, Dublin, Ireland
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/S309156/
Social Network Analysis
01 - 02 Aug 2006, Sydney, Australia
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/S415561/
Blogs, Wikis, & RSS
29 - 30 Aug 2006, Sydney, Australia
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/S435258/
Part-time MSc in Knowledge Management
Starting September 2006, Hull, United Kingdom
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/msc-km-hull
ECKM 2006: The 7th European Conference on Knowledge Management
04 - 05 Sep 2006, Budapest, Hungary
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/eckm-2006
I-KNOW 06: 6th International Conference on Knowledge Management
06 - 08 Sep 2006, Graz, Austria
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/i-know-06
***************** 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
