Blogging for Knowledge Exchange Darlene Fichter Data Library Coordinator University of Saskatchewan Library KMWorld 2003

Overview Blogs What are they? Blog Speak Blogs and KM 10 ways blogs might work for KM

What is it? Blog/ Weblog is a web page containing brief entries arranged chronologically Can be a a journal or diary, ‘What’s New’ page or links to other web sites “To me, the blog concept is about three things: Frequency, Brevity, and Personality.” Evan Williams (creator of Blogger)

Some bloggers at this conference Martin White Louis Rosenfeld John Porcaro

Blogging demo 1. Login in 2. Create a new entry. 3. “Post and publish”.

1. Login

2. Add a new entry Worker blogs hit the radar screen with “Glove Girl” case study in Harvard Business Review.

3. Post and publish

View it

Blog Speak Blogger – person who maintains a blog Blogging – the act of creating a blog Blogrolling – moving form blog to blog Blogrolodex – a listing of other blogs Blawgs, Klogs, Trackback, Ping, Permalink, … See discussion of terminology on MetaFilter

Why blogging boom? Hosted blogs – anyone could publish No need to know HTML No need to know FTP Anywhere, anytime Dozens of features – dynamic, quick and to develop Blog Trivia – What South American country has millions of bloggers?

Blogs – The Bottom Line Simple web publishing Organic communities KISS

From Blogs to K-Logs* Blogs K-Logs Firewall *John Robb, President of Userland is the originator of the concept k-logs.

KM Modes of Knowledge Transfer Explicit knowledge is definable and objective; easily documented and transferred

KM Modes of Knowledge Transfer Tacit knowledge lives in people’s heads and their practices; used every day but you see it only when it’s used. “Know – how” Most difficult and elusive

Solve Real World Problems Explicit Knowledge Information overload Collapse of

1.Filters and Mining Human powered filters Less is more

2. Support Smart Distribution Methods One blog or many RSS Syndication of one blog, categories to specific groups and individuals automatically

3. Teams Blogs Capture the facts Plans Steps in the process Best new web resources Lessons learned Tips Where to look Collaborative content

4. Help you Encourage brain dumps, exploration, think aloud Searchable archives

5. Unlock Tacit Knowledge Stories are a good framework for sharing information, meaning and knowledge (Nichani/Rajamanickam) Blogs encourage story telling Fosters understanding because they usually offer context Good stories resonate, so do good blogs Blogging is a train-of-thought technology. Scott Dinsdale

6. Foster communities The ease of cross-linking and the conversational nature, fosters social networking (track backs) Self – organizing communities emerge

7. Create new relationships Excellent at one-to-many / many-to- many communication Can allow participation and comments Breaks down the silos Create “connected content”

8. Natural expertise locator Who knows what? How can I judge their “credibility”?

9. Overcome Organizational Obstacles KM is great but many KM solutions are complex, mega projects In short, they are overwhelming Blogs are simple and low-cost.

10. Overcome Employee Concerns Employees are reluctant to share My knowledge is makes me valuable. If I share my knowledge, my value diminishes. “What’s in it for me?” Blogs are self-rewarding Often bloggers report they discover their own interests, refine their perspectives … “Peer” recognition

Blogging Software Lots of tools Inexpensive Find out about tools: Weblog Compendium January/February

Guerilla KM? Start small Give a few key knowledge workers blogs

Questions?