On blogs and CoP’s

Joitske Hulsebosch blogged about the potential of using blogs with communities of practices (Cop’s). Joitske gives four very useful ways in which blogs can support CoP’s but I just want to focus on one of them. Quoting Joitske:
“A weblog with summaries of discussions can be a repository for the community. An example is the weblog [...]

On harvesting text

In most organisations there is a plethora of text that is composed, written and sent out. Sometimes the text circulates and sometimes text comes back. We take text for granted because it is so ubiquitous. But in the digital world we can do more with text.
A recent blog post from Nancy White highlighted some techniques for making [...]

On measuring library value

I have been reflecting on some of the methods I have used in library and information services in the past to measure and report on success.
At a former workplace, we used software to measure online useage statistics and hit rates.  From memory, it wasn’t sophisticated software but gave basic information. The library was consistently in the [...]

On what’s in a name?

You may have heard that in the high definition DVD format ”war”, Blu-ray has emerged victorious over its rival HD DVD format. In fact, HD DVD is in its death throes. Anyone left holding a HD DVD player is trying to offload them on to ebay.
The popularity of Blu-ray discs over HD DVD in Australia (and elsewhere) is [...]

On conversation

One of the questions I am often asked is why people in knowledge management are so preoccupied with conversations. Why does conversation need to be facilitated, is another question.
Let me answer with the following points:
1) Sometimes conversations inside organisation need permission since there is still the belief that conversation is just idle chatter. Knowledge managers like [...]

On tailoring content in the world of Web 2.0

I gave my talk and presentation yesterday in Sydney at the Ark Group conference, Collaboration in the world of Web 2.0. My topic was on “tailoring content for Web 2.0″. The focus was on setting the scene for content within a Web 2.0 world (blogs, online collaboration, podcasting, wikis, and social networking) within the enterprise. Instead of [...]

On communities of practice

Yesterday I commented on rewards and communities of practice. I also included the link to my 2003 paper on how I established several communities of practice (called pubs) at a previous workplace.
A couple of days ago, Shawn from Anecdote released the revised short paper,  Tacit knowledge retention with communities of practice. I pretty much concur with what was said, [...]

On rewards for communities of practice

There was a short discussion recently on a list-serv I belong to about whether constructing a rewards programme for an online community of practice should be developed or not.
My general view on reward systems is that they often create a behaviour that seeks to maximise the reward rather than trying to maximise the outcome the reward [...]

On KM Australia 2007 (final)

I had intended to give a brief synopsis and some comments on the remaining presentations that I heard at the KM Australia 2007 conference but I have decided to concentrate on the final presentation by Etienne Wenger.
Wenger is best known for his work on communities of practice (CoP). I have read some of his published [...]