Friday, May 02, 2003

Can knowledge be captured?. Thinking about capturing knowledge. [Curiouser and curiouser!] Matt - Does your well thought through and elegant  diagram suggest that knowledge can be "captured" by some system? If so I prefer the BP approach where they reject some form of "capture" and see instead that knowledge is most deep and useful in tacit form embedded in a person. So instead of capturing knowledge, BP make it easy to find the person who has the know how. For instance in my case as a novice blogger, Critt Jarvis has kindly given me the code to set up a category section and a blogroll. Now Richard Gayle is helping me automate the blogroll. This quite different fro  say a FAQ which would be the knowledge in "capture" form. For me the novice, being mentored by a person is 10 times better than reading about the technique. [Robert Paterson's Radio Weblog] Interest points Robert.  I would have to say that my opinion is not well-formed right now.  I guess I do believe that knowledge (at least some knowledge) can be captured. Let me turn it around a second and ask this:  For BP to be able to "find" the person who knows something don't you have to know: what it is they know who they are aren't these kinds of knowledge?  And doesn't making them available in a system mean capturing them first? [Curiouser and curiouser!] Good point Matt. They have a system that they call "Connect" Each employee has a template for their own personal website that has space for a lot of biographic and work information plus of course how to reach them. They support this with a search engine that enables you, the guy with a problem, to search for those who might help. In addition they support COP's. The COP's meet both online and in person. For major issues BP will fly in a tream that has done the new before to work directly for say a week with the guys who have the issue. So BP don't really "capture" knowledge, as I see it they set up knowledge transfer environments. Most importantly the acknowlegde that the most useful knowledge is tacit. I think that most KM systemes seek to capture Explicit Knowledge which is less effective 7:03:52 AM    comment []

Palliative Care Protocol - dying with dignity and grace. snip from wiki: The needs of the young often take precedence in our society. But one of those needs is to understand and appreciate how short and precious life is. Can a person who has cared for a dying Elder really remain ignorant of their own death, or casually invoke violence on others by law or by their own hand? [Shiny Glass Beads] Hope starts a course on being a palliative care worker next week. She is 25 6:51:28 AM    comment []

The real risks of knowledge sharing. Don't worry about people stealing your ideas!. I just love this quote from Howard Aiken: Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. So true! [Gurteen Knowledge-Log] I have a new hypothesis about why it's difficult to get people to contribute to knowledge management systems in organizations. Conventional wisdom says it's because people are worried that someone will steal their ideas. I think that's a rationalization. I think the real fear is the fear of being ignored. The fear that the knowledge I share is so obvious or trivial that no one will care.  What's the old maxim from Mark Twain? "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." The issue may still be fear, but it's a fear that we need to address in a very different way. [McGee's Musings] I agree. Really good ideas are outside the Conventional wisdom and as such cause most people either to reject them or not even to hear them. For instance on PEI we have a ton of wind and yet the president of the local utility who is looking for 300 million to finance a gas pipeline announced that there were no local energy resources. He wont hear any idea that does not fit. I think the fear of being ignored is also real. In a world where we all share our insight, wisdom and knowledge - what is the risk is all you know how to do is to manipulate the bureaucratic system? I suspect that a real knowledge organization would ignore anyone who in time had nothing to say of value. I teach courses online at UPEI. The courses demand that all students participate in a running conversation. Students who mainly use platitudes show themselves up. The good news is that after a while most do quite well. I suspect that in fact most of us can contribute but if you have never had to express real thoughts for a long time like many managers and executives, this could be very frightening. Maybe the issue is raw power. If you are an executive who has manipulated your way to the top - why would you want to risk your authority? 6:44:51 AM    comment []