On being in touch

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has just released a report based on a survey, How Australians spend their time. The section I want to comment on says this (from the media release):
“Time spent on recreation and leisure activities has decreased by 1 hour 45 minutes per week since 1997 (to 29 hours 31 minutes a [...]

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 poetry

I had a coffee and a chat with Matt Moore last week and he told me about his poetry project. He has been blogging about it recently but this post is the one I want to think about today.
When I was at high school my favourite subject was English. Naturally, this education included novels, plays and poetry. [...]

On the collaboration of culture

Check out this great Youtube video….where greek music meets Australian aboriginal dance!
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-MucVWo-Pw

On the fear factory

I intended to write some pithy comments about communication strategy in Australia’s federal election (voting is tomorrow) and how the spin from the current government has focused on fear, fear, and more fear. Fear the opposition Labor Party, fear the future economic tsunami, fear the immigrants, and fear the internet. Perhaps fear losing the election [...]

On identity and social networking

I was reading a great Wharton knowledge article by Jonah Berger and Chip Heath on identity, from a marketing perspective. The article, From cool to passe’: identity signaling and product domains, looked at “how consumers use products to signal membership in social groups, but swiftly abandon those same products when the original message is diluted as other [...]

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 podcasts from SXSW Interactive

When looking to complete a set of podcast downloads for my MP3 player last night, I came across a great selection of podcasts from SXSW Interactive 2007 held earlier this year in Austin, Texas.
The topics cover web 2.0, emerging digital technologies, creative media, and marketing. Check out the podcast list for yourself (note the next page option in tiny, [...]

On KM Australia 2007 (Part 1)

Wow. Today was the first day of the KM Australia 2007 conference in Sydney. I was very impressed with some of today’s presentations, although I must say it was sometimes difficult to hear the speakers due to the noise coming from the vendor and catering area next to the stage.
Not surprisingly, Dave Snowden was in fine [...]

On the cult of the amateur

I have on my “to read” list the book, The cult of the amateur, by Andrew Keen. I read the review of Keen’s book in the NY Times recently and hastily sent off for a copy of the book [the book has now arrived as at the 23rd July].
The basic premise of the book is that the internet and [...]

On the power of art

It’s turning out to be quite a cultural week for me. Having been to the Sydney Film Festival the last couple of days, today I will be heading off to the Art Gallery of NSW to see the new exhibition, The Arts of Islam. As gallery director Edmund Capon says, “the power of art can open our minds”.
Having [...]