Posted 8:07 PM by George Siemens
I spent the day in a knowledge management (KM) workshop (delivered by James Conklin of IDT)...with a particular focus on using the process for elearning. Before you tune out...quick word about KM: the term is abused and means very little...and should be shot. The concepts of KM, however, are very relevant to helping people and organizations work more effectively...so, forgetting the term and its connotations, and focusing instead on what it actually means, here are some thoughts gleaned from the workshop:

• Learning organizations are essential in today's society. Organizations need to value learning and foster continual learning as part of the regular work process.
  
• Trust is the most critical component to sharing knowledge. If we don't trust...we don't share.
  
• Technology plays a secondary role to the human element...and KM budgets should reflect this (20% tech...80% human element)
  
• Some key questions: What knowledge is vital? Why is it vital? How is it used? How is it stored/accessed? How does tech enable/impede sharing?
  
• What is often perceived as resistance to sharing knowledge, may actually be an issue of lack of opportunities, times, forums...many people want to share what they know...but aren't able to - as a result of organizational structures.
  
• Some barriers: insecurities, people don't know their knowledge is valuable/needed, fear of negative consequences, lack of trust, no time, hoarding knowledge to create a power base, etc.
  
• KM is an enabling process - helping organizations to achieve goals/missions
  
• Some KM links...Knowledge Nurture...not mentioned at the workshop, but I enjoy McGee's Musings (blog)...see also: elearnspace: KM and elearnspace: Change Management
  
• One thing I noticed is that KM discussions usually focus on organization benefits. The employee's value for knowledge sharing is rarely mentioned. Wonder why...
  

At RRC, our grassroots KM site is now up at: Connect!. The heart of our sharing strategy is blogging...we have a few started, but hopefully more will join as we move forward. On a side note...when I talk to people about blogs, I still get looks like I've grown an extra head.

Posted 7:30 PM by George Siemens
INSIDE BLOGGING via SiT
Comment: Neat dialogue...looks like someone trying to convince an audience of the value of blogging.

Posted 7:20 PM by George Siemens
Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution
Comment: Interesting thoughts on piracy...including: "Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy...Customers want to do the right thing, if they can...File sharing networks don't threaten book, music, or film publishing. They threaten existing publishers...There's more than one way to do it."