SynapShots

2003-01-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

Announcement : SynapShots :
* It is with deep regret that I must inform you that the publication of SynapShots is being suspended – indefinitely.
* It has been a privilege sharing citations with you.

2002-12-19T18:53:00.000-08:00

Status Report : SynapShots :
* SynapShots is taking a break.
* Citations will resume January 2003.
* Your interest and support are appreciated.

2002-12-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

Article : Innovative Measures :
By Tom Ambler - "Innovation can ‘just happen’ serendipitously, but don't count on it. The kind of innovation you need for continued success requires intentionally providing the right inputs and transforming them into valuable innovative outcomes. You need an ‘Innovation Machine’ comprised of the right processes, organization and culture. The diagram below illustrates such an ‘Innovation Machine’ with its typical inputs and outputs. It represents this author's boiled-down visualization of much of the collective wisdom from a number of innovation experts. Please take a moment to absorb and understand the nature of this ‘Innovation Machine.’ … Consistent winners in the innovation arena like 3M, DuPont, Pfizer and HP universally utilize metrics for their innovation efforts … 3M has utilized for many years a high-level corporate metric, ‘Percentage of Total Revenue from products introduced in the last 5 years.’ … HP utilizes BET (break-even time) for each new product development project … One excellent, high-level overall measure of innovation is the Wealth Creation Index (recommended by Gary Hamel in his book, Leading the Revolution) … A more practical, but less elegant overall company measure of the success of innovation is: Return on Innovation = (Cumulative 3-year net profits from commercialized new products) + (Cumulative 3-year new product total expenditures for commercialized, failed or killed products) …Systems that link specific people and teams to specific metrics need to put in place … The ‘Innovation Machine’ is different for every company"
* Go to Innovative Measures, published by the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc. in the December 2002 edition of Course and Direction

2002-12-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

Project : The Licensing Project :
"will build licenses that will help you tell others that your works are free for copying and other uses — but only on certain conditions. You're probably familiar with the phrase ‘All rights reserved’ and the little © that goes along with it. Creative Commons wants to help copyright holders send a different message: ‘Some rights reserved’ and our ‘CC Creative Commons’ logo … If you prefer to dedicate your work to the public domain, where nothing is owned and all is permitted, we'll help you do that. In other words, we'll help you declare ‘No rights reserved.’ … Note: To license a work, you must be its copyright holder or have express authorization from its copyright holder to do so … Creative Commons does not provide legal advice or services. We provide form legal documents; the rest is up to you."
* Follow the 3-step process:
1. Choose licensing options
2. Review licensing options
3. Tell the world
* Go to The Licensing Project

2002-12-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Symposium Videos : DSpace™ - Scholarly Communication in a Digital World : "DSpace is a newly developed digital repository created to capture, distribute and preserve the intellectual output of MIT … As a joint project of MIT Libraries and the Hewlett-Packard Company, DSpace provides stable long-term storage needed to house the digital products of MIT faculty and researchers
* Part One - Ann Wolpert and Hal Abelson - MIT Libraries Director Ann Wolpert defines DSpace and explains that ‘solving the digital problem’ is central to the mission of libraries and librarians. She also announces plans for a federation with other research based universities, and explains the critical role of the H-P MIT Alliance … Hal Abelson discusses the dangers of massive ‘propertization’ in academic environments. He offers some chilling, real-world examples of what can happen if all content in academic discourse is seen as ‘property’, and how a student's class notes can become a derivative work, with restrictions on sharing. He argues that universities need a ‘seat at the table’ as new models for scientific publishing take shape.
* Part Two - James Boyle and Clifford Lynch - In James Boyle's lively presentation on the new ‘intellectual property economy’, he asks the question, ‘If we cannot protect speech in a university environment, where can we protect it?’ … Clifford Lynch reflects on the beginnings of a repository movement, and talks about the need for leadership during this time of significant change in scholarly communication"
* Go to DSpace™ - Scholarly Communication in a Digital World, presented by MIT World

2002-12-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

Article : Asian Cities Connecting Through Communities - Mayors Find Quick Answers Without Leaving the Office : "Four years ago the World Bank linked seven cities in the Philippines in a CoP [community of practice] to share urban development strategies. Within months the original community expanded to include 33 more cities throughout East Asia, and it has recently inspired imitators in China and Indonesia. Here, Cecile Fruman and Hiroichi Kawashima describe how the World Bank has helped foster local government CoPs throughout the region."
* Downloadable as a 4-page, 136 KB PDF
* Go to Asian Cities Connecting Through Communities, posted on the Knowledge Sharing Portal of the World Bank Group (to appear in the January/February 2003 edition of KM Review)

2002-12-17T18:41:00.000-08:00

Article : Rising Stars in Virtual Education - A Peek into 2010 :
By James Shimabukuro - "[depicts the author's vision of the future of technology in education and is published here in full to stimulate discussion regarding that future] … Winter, 2010. Maile is on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, drying and warming herself in the early morning sun that has just appeared over the Koolaus. Her surfboard, gleaming wet, is on the sand next to her. Today, nanotechnology is responsible for the assimilation of computers and computer technology into every aspect of our lives. The notebooks that students use are small, extremely powerful, plentiful, and cheap. Computers are now a part of almost everything (Feder, 2002; Matthews, 2002). Maile surfs on a smartboard, which automatically tenses and relaxes as wave conditions change (Pyper, 2001; Swanson, 2001; Fairley, 2001) … She activates her Voice Internet Pad, or VIP. 'VIP' is a generic term for these computers, which are mass produced and marketed under many different brand names. The supply is ahead of the demand, keeping prices low. From the moment it was released, students called it ‘viper,’ and the name has stuck, despite initial protests from the industry. The viper is an Internet-based computer the size of what used to be called a notebook, but it's thinner, lighter, and much more robust. Advances in microminiaturization (or ‘M&M’) and integration have resulted in simpler designs, and simpler has meant lower prices and less fragility in the end products—less to protect from rough handling, accidents, and the elements. Nearly the entire width and length is a screen. The ancient keyboard is gone. All commands and input are via voice (Gates, 1996, p. 85) or stylus. The viper is made of a flexible synthetic that is nearly impervious to the impact of a ten-foot drop, sand, sun, and saltwater. In fact, Maile often tucks it into the back of her bathing suit and takes it out to the lineup on days when the waves are small and the wait between sets is long. It is solar powered, of course, and she has wireless Internet connections, which are universally free or very affordable (Gates, 1996, pp. 284, 292), wherever she happens to be. [Readers are encouraged to respond via the ‘discuss’ feature in the Options menu and to participate in the live Author Forum session that will be broadcast online]"
* Go to Rising Stars in Virtual Education - A Peek into 2010, published in the November/December edition of The Technology Source
* Source: Originally encountered on the e-Learning Portal on the Development Gateway

2002-12-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

Conference Proceedings : Social and Human Capital in the Knowledge Society - Policy Implications :
Held October 28-29, 2002 (Brussels)
* A sampling of presentations includes:
- Human and Social Capital in the Knowledge Society: Background Paper
- The Knowledge Revolution: Old Myths and New Opportunities in a Networked Society
- Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Virtual Work - Work-Life Balance in the Knowledge Society
- Human and Social Capital for a Sustainable Knowledge Society
- Seizing the Benefits of New Technologies in a Changing Economy: Key Requirements for Human and Social Capital Policies
- Panel I: Human and Intellectual Capital, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Panel II: Social and Human Capital for Sustainability
- Panel III: Sharing and Transferring Knowledge
* Presentations are downloadable in PDF format
* Go to Social and Human Capital in the Knowledge Society - Policy Implications

2002-12-17T18:38:00.001-08:00

Interview : Taking a Positive Approach to Change - Appreciative Inquiry :
By Kali Saposnick - "An Interview with Jane Magruder Watkins … The expression ‘You find what you look for’ often describes those naysayers with an unerring capacity to identify what's wrong with a situation. Negative energy usually bogs everyone down and impedes the search for a solution. But what happens when people champion the positive? In most cases, tremendous forward momentum and enthusiasm emerge … A unique approach to organizational challenges called ‘Appreciative Inquiry (AI)’ captures this energy. It focuses on the best in people—their greatest successes and peak experiences—in order to produce extraordinary results. 'AI is a perspective on the world,' says Jane Magruder Watkins, organizational consultant and author of the newly released The Essentials of Appreciative Inquiry: A Roadmap for Creating Positive Futures (Pegasus Communications, 2002). ‘Rather than being a specific technique, AI is a process that easily aligns with many methodologies. If you want to do strategic planning, team building, or any type of organization development, AI can help you do it with accelerated speed and effectiveness.’ …"
* Go to Taking a Positive Approach to Change - Appreciative Inquiry, published in the December 2002 edition of Leverage Points

2002-12-17T18:38:00.000-08:00

Report : New Work Organisation, Working Conditions and Quality of Work - Towards the Flexible Firm :
By Peter Oeij and Noortje Wiezer; Published in 2002 - "In order to remain competitive, the European Union Member States have to adopt new work organisations which are innovative and create a high quality of work. What impact have the new forms of work organisation had on workers and companies? Has it led to greater control over work and more flexibility? Or has it resulted in increased pressure and loss of control? This report focuses on the relationship between new forms of work and working conditions and the impact on the quality of work. It looks in particular at the effects on workers’ physical and mental health, safety, working time, lifelong learning, job security, job satisfaction and job control. It concludes that satisfaction with working life in Europe is determined by factors such as the pattern and duration of working time, the pace of work, job content and job autonomy. The literature used for the report is drawn from a variety of sources, including Foundation studies"
* Downloadable as a 100-page, 418 KB PDF
* Go to New Work Organisation, Working Conditions and Quality of Work - Towards the Flexible Firm

2002-12-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Article : Making Work-at-Home Work for Everyone : By Jimmy Guterman - "Thanks to technology and the increasing mobility of society and business, decentralization has become a massive trend. The fears and aggravations associated with business travel in the wake of September 11—not to mention the financial costs—have pressured companies to cut back ‘face time’ with far-flung colleagues and have increased the demands on virtual work … But this rearrangement of the conventional office comes at a cost: It breaks up the informal social network of work—the way that people informally meet, talk, solve problems, and interact up, down, and across the chain of command. Knowledge management research has shown that this kind of ‘indirect learning’ is key to successful companies, although it rarely shows up in business plans and organization charts. But as John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid write in The Social Life of Information, the truth is ‘people often find what they need to know by virtue of where they sit and who they see.’ … So how can managers and employees bridge the gap when the person with the answer to an important question may no longer be down the hall but in an office halfway around the world? Experts warn that as important as planning and technology are, they are no replacement for in-person meetings. Managers can, however, create a strategy for meetings and online follow-up that keeps communities working together … ‘If we ever give up our need to be face-to-face, we might as well pack it in and become automatons,’ says Jessica Lipnack, CEO and cofounder of NetAge, a West Newton, Massachusetts, firm that offers software and services intended to help people work together better. ‘The value of face-to-face can't easily be replaced, just augmented. When you decide between remote and in-person interactions, it's hardly ever an 'either/or.' It's a ‘both/and.' … In their book, In Good Company: How Social Capital Makes Organizations Work, Larry Prusak and Don Cohen point out that the companies with the most success at virtual work have strong internal networks, a clear sense of values and culture, and a deep reservoir of trust between bosses, employees, and coworkers. For that reason, they say, one consumer-products company discourages distance work for anyone who has been at the company less than a year."
* Go to Making Work-at-Home Work for Everyone, published in the December 16, 2002 edition of HBR Working Knowledge

2002-12-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

Article : Psychologists Now Know What Makes People Happy : By Marilyn Elias - "The happiest people surround themselves with family and friends, don't care about keeping up with the Joneses next door, lose themselves in daily activities and, most important, forgive easily … Now a burgeoning ‘positive psychology’ movement that emphasizes people's strengths and talents instead of their weaknesses is rapidly closing the gap, says University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman, author of the new book, Authentic Happiness. The work of Seligman and other experts in the field is in the early stages, but they are already starting to see why some people are happy while others are not: The happiest people spend the least time alone. They pursue personal growth and intimacy; they judge themselves by their own yardsticks, never against what others do or have … Everyone has a ‘set point’ for happiness, just as they do for weight, Seligman says. People can improve or hinder their well-being, but they aren't likely to take long leaps in either direction from their set point … Life satisfaction occurs most often when people are engaged in absorbing activities that cause them to forget themselves, lose track of time and stop worrying. ‘Flow’ is the term Claremont Graduate University psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced cheeks-sent-mee-hi) coined to describe this phenomenon … Everyone has ‘signature strengths,’ Seligman adds, and the happiest use them. Doing so can lead to choices that astound others but yield lasting satisfaction … Gratitude has a lot to do with life satisfaction, psychologists say. Talking and writing about what they're grateful for amplifies adults' happiness, new studies show. Other researchers have found that learning to savor even small pleasures has the same effect. And forgiveness is the trait most strongly linked to happiness, says University of Michigan psychologist Christopher Peterson."
* Go to Psychologists Now Know What Makes People Happy, published December 10, 2002 in to USA Today
* Source: Originally encountered on the nibbs newsletter

2002-12-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Article (Short) : Researchers Discover Gene that Controls Learned Fear : Published December 13, 2002 - "The gene identified by researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Columbia University encodes a protein that inhibits the action of the fear-learning circuitry in the brain. Understanding how this protein quells fear may lead to the design of new drugs to treat depression, panic and generalized anxiety disorders … According to Kandel, further understanding of the fear-learning pathway could have important implications for treating anxiety disorders. ‘Since GRP acts to dampen fear, it might be possible in principle to develop drugs that activate the peptide, representing a completely new approach to treating anxiety,’ he said. However, he emphasized, the discovery of the action of the Grp gene is only the beginning of a long research effort to reveal the other genes in the fear-learning pathway."
* Go to Researchers Discover Gene that Controls Learned Fear
* Source: Originally encountered on the nibbs newsletter

2002-12-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

Article (In Two Parts) : Personal Knowledge Publishing and Its Uses in Research : By Sébastien Paquet - "In this two-part document, I analyze an emerging form of knowledge sharing that I call personal knowledge publishing. Personal knowledge publishing has its roots in a practice known as "weblogging" that has been rapidly spreading on the World Wide Web over the last three years. It is a new form of communication that many expect will change the way people work and collaborate, especially in areas where knowledge and innovation play an important role … If you are a researcher or knowledge worker who is not very familiar with weblogging and personal knowledge publishing, reading this document should help you grasp the significance of this practice and better understand how you might benefit from getting involved in personal knowledge publishing. Although the emphasis is on research work, most of the ideas generalize to other kinds of creative knowledge work where knowledge sharing plays a role … In the first part, I describe what weblogs are, and explain how they are altering communication patterns on the Web. The second part focuses on personal knowledge publishing and similarly describes the new patterns of communication that this practice is giving birth to. In particular, I explain how these patterns can facilitate the emergence of new communities of knowledge. I also point out the current limitations of personal knowledge publishing. I review the most important points in the conclusion."
* Go to ‘Personal Knowledge Publishing and Its Uses in Research’ - Part 1 and Part 2 (posted December 16, 2002 on the Knowledge Board)

2002-12-16T03:56:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 15, 2002

2002-12-16T03:46:00.000-08:00

Article : Five Barriers to Executing Your 2003 Plan... and Proven Methods to Overcome Them : By Bob Zagotta - "Annual Planning - Powerful Management Tool or Exercise in Bureaucracy? … Each year the average organization spends 20,000 person hours in planning, budgeting and forecasting for every $100 million in annual revenue (source: The Hackett Group). With an investment of this magnitude, it would follow that most companies expect significant results from their plans … Unfortunately, this is often not the case. The ability to bring together people, strategies, and operations to drive results evades even many seasoned management teams. Based on experience with over 50 companies on the topics of strategy, planning and execution, it is evident that the most critical barriers to successful execution typically fall into the five categories described below:
- Barrier #1 The Underlying Strategy is Not Clear
- Barrier #2 The Plan is Overly Optimistic
- Barrier #3 No One is Accountable for Results
- Barrier #4 The Plan Has Not Been Actively Deployed
- Barrier #5 The Plan is Static (in a dynamic world)
… Successful strategy execution is a living, dynamic process. Strategy itself begins life as a set of agreements about markets, products, revenues, growth and the like. The rest is execution. Unless there is an ongoing process for evaluating execution, making decisions about it, and closing the loop with the original strategy, the effort dies. That’s why it is important to distinguish between strategic planning (those high-level agreements) and execution -- an ongoing process for reviewing and maintaining strategic progress."
* Go to Five Barriers to Executing Your 2003 Plan, published in Issue 4, Fall 2002 of Virtual Strategist

2002-12-16T03:44:00.000-08:00

Book (Forthcoming) and Companion Web Site : Visualizing Argumentation - Software Tools for Collaborative and Educational Sense-Making : Edited by Paul A. Kirschner, Simon J. Buckingham Shum and Chad S. Carr; Available in January 2003 - "Computer Supported Argument Visualization is attracting attention across education, science, public policy and business. More than ever, we need sense-making tools to help negotiate understanding in the face of multi-stakeholder, ill-structured problems. In order to be effective, these tools must support human cognitive and discursive processes, and provide suitable representations, services and user interfaces … ‘Visualizing Argumentation’ is written by practitioners and researchers for colleagues working in collaborative knowledge media, educational technology and organizational sense-making. It will also be of interest to theorists interested in software tools which embody different argumentation models. Particular emphasis is placed on the usability and effectiveness of tools in different contexts … Among the key features are: Case studies covering educational, public policy, business and scientific argumentation"
* Content is organized into the following sections: Authors (About the); Contents (Table of) with links to related materials; and Resources (Argumentation Tools with Structural Visualizations)
* Go to Visualizing Argumentation
* Pre-order this book at Amazon

2002-12-16T03:43:00.000-08:00

Briefing : Forward to the Future – Nanotechnology and Regulatory Policy : By Glen Harold Reynolds; Published November 2002 - "Nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of matter at the level of individual atoms and molecules, promises to revolutionize many aspects of human society. At the very least, it can be expected to drastically reduce energy consumption, to dramatically advance medicine’s ability to cure a prevent disease, and to significantly increase the precision and effectiveness of military devices and weapons … The dramatic capabilities of nanotechnology are also likely to lead to calls for regulation or perhaps prohibition. This paper examines three possible regulatory futures for nanotechnology: prohibition, limitation to military applications, and modest regulation with an emphasis on civil research … Prohibition seems clearly unworkable, as the knowledge and tools needed for research into nanotechnology are widely available, and the capabilities offered by nanotechnology so potent. Military nanotechnologies, by their very nature, will be more dangerous than the civilian versions since these tend to be more robust, and founded on a much deeper experience base. Also, a military monopoly would cause society to forego many benefits of nanotechnology or place them under control of Pentagon bureaucrats … Drawing on expereince with other regulatory technologies ranging from atomic energy to recombinant DNA, the paper concludes that a regime of modest regulation, civilian research, and an emphsis on self-regulation and a responsible professional culture offers the greatest prospects for reaping nanotechnology’s benefits while minimizing any risks."
* Downloadable as a 26-page, 224 KB PDF
* Go to Forward to the Future (listed on the right panel), published by the Pacific Research Institute

2002-12-16T03:42:00.000-08:00

e-Zine (Issue no 1, Volume 4, December, 2002) : Next Practice - Creating the Context for Commitment : By Roger Said and Johan Roos – “In observing and analysing traditional strategy-making processes, Imagination Lab researchers have noticed that a root problem may be the lack of commitment by the strategists themselves, which suggests that the strategy process itself may inhibit commitment. Our research indicates that the strategists must themselves commit to the strategies they create in order to spur commitment effectively throughout the rest of the organisation. To bring this about, strategy-making processes should allow participants to:
1) embody themselves in the strategy; and
2) engage in open and honest dialogue."
[NOTE - Next Practice is a quarterly, two-page management summary of one of our latest research findings]"
* Downloadable as a 2-page, 109 KB PDF
* Go to Creating the Context for Commitment (located at the bottom of the page), published by the Imagination Lab
* While you are there, checkout their Working Papers

2002-12-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

Article (Short): Following the Telework Compass - Lessons from Two Enterprise Transformation Projects : "There is a great difference between tactical telework, as an informal or alternative work arrangement, and strategic telework, as a formal component of a firm's business strategy. The ‘Telework Compass’ illustrates this move from tactical to strategic - from the familiar to the unknown."
* Go to Following the Telework Compass, Published September 2002 in the AT&T Telework Webguide

2002-12-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

Article : Intellectual Capital - Accumulation and Appropriation :
By Laurie Hunter; Published November 2002 - "This paper seeks to develop a literature-based perspective on intellectual property from the standpoint of business strategy and strategic human resource management. Distinctive competitive advantage is increasingly built on a firm's knowledge, one of the principal ingredients of intellectual capital. Competitive capability is strongly influenced by the organisation's ability to develop, differentiate, appropriate and disseminate its knowledge base. Section 2 identifies the principal characteristics of knowledge assets and explores the means of extracting and protecting the value of those assets, e.g., through R&D, patents and trademarks, licensing and human capital investment. Section 3 reviews the significance of knowledge as a strategic asset and reflects on its growing importance vis-a vis physical capital. However, where knowledge is embodied in people as part of their personal intellectual capital, questions of ownership and appropriability arise in ways that are absent with physical capital. This is discussed in Section 4. Section 5 focuses on the human resource management issues arising from the disputability of ownership of knowledge, especially embodied or intrinsic knowledge. Attention is paid to problems of 'stickiness' of knowledge transfer and diffusion, and employer expropriation of value. Section 6 presents conclusions, including reference to the role of governmental agencies concerned with the public interest in the protection of property rights and the social benefit to be derived from advances in knowledge. An appendix briefly surveys three main approaches to the valuation of intangible capital and observes some of the problems posed in the development of effective measures of intangible assets, particularly where these are embodied in people."
* Here’s a direct link to the Paper
(71-page 324 KB PDF)
* Go to Intellectual Capital - Accumulation and Appropriation

2002-12-14T12:18:00.000-08:00

Conference Proceedings : IntelligentCities™ 2002 : Held October 1-2, 2002 (Chantilly, VA) "provided the best networking and informational opportunity for the cities and businesses that are evolving into new dynamic public-private partnerships. As they use information technology to transform themselves in new and innovative ways, they enable businesses, institutions and their citizens to improve and enhance their social, cultural and economic wealth. In effect, they are empowering them to more effectively compete in an increasingly globally competitive economy … The development of community-based broadband networks and the convergence with vertical market enterprise campus networks, such as multiple tenant and real estate networks and services has stimulated increased demand for broadband access and services. The Internet, large private networks and educational, medical and hotel campuses have contributed to this increased demand. The ubiquitous need for communications anytime/anywhere is enabling the creation of intelligent cities, communities, buildings and campuses in the public and private enterprise domains."
* A sampling of presentations includes:
- The Rush for Community Control: The Status and Future of Intelligent Cities, Communities and Municipalities
- Public/Private Initiatives to Stimulate Broadband Access and Last Mile Competition
- Proactive and Collaborative Funding Approaches for IntelligentCites and Campuses
- Generating and Acquiring Custom Sticky Content to Ensure Customer Loyalty
* Papers/Presentations are downloadable in PDF format
* Go to IntelligentCities™ 2002

2002-12-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

Conference Presentations : ProjectWorld – Santa Clara :
Held December 10-13, 2002 - "Want to learn or brush up on the basics? Project Management Essentials is the place to start. Looking to hone your skills and boost performance? Intermediate Project Management Skills has what you need. Are you a senior manager charged with selling project management to you organization? Attend the Senior Project Manager Program track. Want to know more about hot topics like managing e-business projects? Check out Next Generation Project Management. Trying to impove your team management and motivational skills? You'll discover a wealth of tips in The People Side track."
* A sampling of presentations includes:
- People Love Change...If it's GOOD Change; by Don Zook
- Do or Die: 13 Smart Project Management Behaviors, by Ken Hanley
- Effectively Shaping the Strategy of an Organization, Initiative, or Program from a Practitioner Perspective, by Shelley Gaddie
- Project Success in a Project Adverse Environment, by Steven G. Hill
* Presentations are downloadable in PDF format
* Go to ProjectWorld – Santa Clara

2002-12-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

Article : Elements of Trust - The Cultural Dimension of Internet Diffusion Revisited : By Thomas Volken -
"For quite some time sociologists have been discussing information and communication technologies (ICT) as the heart and engine of societal change. But only recently have researchers begun to investigate the cultural preconditions of technological change. Trust as a cultural resource not only acts as a lubricant for transactions and fosters economic growth, which has been empirically demonstrated by recent research, but also facilitates more, and more innovative, actions. Bornschier in his seminal work on Internet diffusion in 34 developed countries finds strong empirical evidence that generalized trust is a necessary precondition for successful technological change. The context in which Bornschier (2001a) considered this question, however, as well as the conceptualization of trust, may have seriously affected his findings. Trust is a complex construct with multiple dimensions, and their relative effects on innovative actions may be highly dependent on their respective social context. The latter may be especially relevant in the highly fragile context of Eastern European transformation societies. This paper leads to the thesis that institutional properties (trust in systems) – rather than interpersonal generalized trust – substantially account for the differences in the diffusion of ICT not only between the transformation societies, but between developed societies as well. Using data of 47 countries from the World Values Survey and other sources, I can present strong empirical support for this thesis. Effects remain persistent even after controlling for material wealth, Internet access cost, early proliferation of tertiary education and density of scientists and engineers in research and development."
* Go to Elements of Trust - The Cultural Dimension of Internet Diffusion Revisited, published in the Electronic Journal of Sociology - Volume 6 Number 4 (2002)

2002-12-13T19:02:00.000-08:00

Article : Learning is a Community Experience : By Adele Goldberg - "Perhaps it is obvious - you do not learn alone, but you do take responsibility for your own education. Part of that responsibility is fulfilled by your creating or finding affinity groups - the collection of places or people that provide a motivating context in which you can learn. Your choice of affinity group reflects the social and experiential nature of the learning process. What interaction style suits you best - push or pull? What timeframe provides the best retention - preparing forward or just-in-time, on-the-job? … Much learning takes place on-the-job, but is retained by taking that experience and storing it as part of a more general knowledge base - the set of enduring principles that allows you to succeed in new situations, using new technologies or applying old ones. The enduring principles of object technology are often lost in the battle over programming language, engineering methodology, or architectural preference. The need to be an expert in transient technology creates an atmosphere of immediate training rather than long-term education, and often creates practitioners crippled by the currency of their expertise. But the lessons learned from the introduction and use of object technology highlight the need to foster a community of learners who help one another develop themselves as practitioners while they develop the practice itself … This paper is a story about how we might experience learning in the near future, and the role of computers in that experience - not as computer-assisted instruction, but as communications-assisted learning. The story is based on my own history as a promulgator of object technology, and what I think I learned about education from that adventure. Many of us enjoy the learning experience I describe, and so the story is told to encourage wider spread inclusion of supportive learning experience as a regular part of our professional community building. In telling the story, I will share with you a little of my own activities in developing learning as supported by communications within a community context."
* Read it on-line or download it
(14-pages, 206 KB PDF)
* Go to Learning is a Community Experience, published in the July/August 2002 edition of the Journal of Object Technology

2002-12-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

Article : Posthuman Law - Information Policy and the Machinic World :
By Sandra Braman - "It has been an unspoken assumption that the law is made by humans for humans. That assumption no longer holds: The subject of information policy is increasingly flows between machines, machinic rather than social values play ever-more important roles in decision-making, and information policy for human society is being supplemented, supplanted, and superceded by machinic decision-making. As the barrier between the human and machinic falls with implantation of chips within the body and other types of intimate relationships, and as dependence upon the information infrastructure continues to grow, the question of the rights of technological systems themselves is entering the legal system. This paper explores information technologies as the policy subject, as determinant of the values that inform information policy, and as policy-makers. All of these are manifestations of a transformation in the legal system so fundamental that it may be said that we are entering a period of posthuman law."
* Go to Posthuman Law - Information Policy and the Machinic World, published in the December 2002 edition of First Monday

2002-12-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

Conference Presentations : Fourth International Conference on Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management : Held December 2-3, 2002 (Vienna) - "To succeed in the accelerating business pace of the ‘internet age’, organisations must efficiently leverage their most valuable and under-leveraged resource: the intellectual capital of their highly educated, skilled, and experienced employees. The compression of communication cycles and the omnipresence of information forces enterprises to seek a faster return on knowledge - knowledge that ages rapidly in a market place brimming with innovation. One of the most important prerequisites in achieving this return is the systematic management of the key success factor ‘knowledge’ - previously left to manage itself ‘somehow’."
* Conference tracks include:
- Track 1: Introduction of Knowledge Management
- Track 2: Knowledge Management Case-Toolkits
- Track 3: Knowledge Management Case Studies
- Track 4: Agent based approaches
- Track 5: Metasearch and Ontologies
- Track 6: Learning and KM
- Track 7: Frameworks for Knowledge Management
- Track 8: Visualization and Knowledge Management
- Track 9: Knowledge Processes
- Track 10: Web Communities and Knowledge Management
- Track 11: Knowledge Distribution
- Track 12: Knowledge and Risk Management
* Some of the presentations that are downloadable in PDF format include:
- KMap: Providing Orientation for Practitioners when Introducing Knowledge Management
- A Domain-Specific Formal Ontology of Archeology for Knowledge Sharing and Reusing
- Integrating Knowledge Management, Learning Mechanisms and Company Performance
- A process for acquiring knowledge while sharing knowledge
- A Framework for Analysis and a Review of Knowledge Asset Marketplaces
- Are the Knowledge Management Professionals up to the Job?
- Challenges and Directions in Knowledge Asset Trading
* Go to the Fourth International Conference on Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management

2002-12-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

Article : Community Development as a Natural Step : By Richard McDermott - "Like all living things, communities of practice have a natural lifecycle. The key to starting, developing and sustaining them is understanding and resolving the natural tensions of each stage of development. In this article, Richard McDermott describes what community leaders and organizers can do to help communities move through these stages with grace."
* Downloadable as a 4-page, 133 KB PDF
* Go to Community Development as a Natural Step, posted December 12, 2002 on the Knowledge Board (originally published in November 2000)

2002-12-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

Article : Partner With Purpose & Passion : By: Heather Shea-Schultz and John Fogarty - "Partnering is ‘hot’--especially in e-learning. IT managers new to the concept, or those without considerable external expertise, often ally themselves with content providers, infrastructure vendors, or services companies only to find themselves dancing with different partners long before the music stops. The two most common mistakes we've seen in online learning partnerships are the Accidental Partnership and the Porcupine Partnership. Here's what to watch for, and how to avoid them … Accidental Partnerships are no ‘accident.’ They are the result of poor planning, incomplete (or missing) needs assessment, or a willful reliance on technology for technology's sake … Porcupine Partnerships … often begin with great promise only to become prickly, problematic, and just plain painful … Following are six ‘take it to the bank’ protocols or commitments key to partnership greatness: Expect the best; Work to be ALL there; Assert the truth; Honor your partner; Keep your promises; Stay...on purpose"
* Go to Partner With Purpose & Passion, published in the December 2002 edition of e-learning Magazine

2002-12-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

Book Chapter : Strategic Knowledge Measurement and Management :
By John W. Boudreau - "The strategic value of human capital, knowledge and talent is now well established. The other chapters in this volume attest to their essential roles in organizational value creation, uniqueness and competitiveness. This chapter focuses on measuring knowledge. Most research in industrial-organizational psychology (I-O) and even human resource management (HR) has focused on knowledge measurement at the level of the individual (e.g., competencies, skills, abilities, understanding, etc.), so this chapter will focus on knowledge measurement at more aggregate levels, and on the connection between knowledge measures and the competitive value proposition of organizations … Knowledge is increasingly important to competitive advantage (DeNisi, Hitt & Jackson, this volume; Evans & Wurster, 1998, 1999; Rayport & Sviokla, 1995; Seely-Brown and Duguid, 2000), so information about knowledge – knowledge measurement – becomes even more critical. As Boudreau and Ramstad (in press) have noted, human capital measures, including knowledge measures, not only enhance decisions of HR leaders (Boudreau, 1991; 1996), they send signals to constituents such as financial analysts (Low & Seisfeld, 1998), prospective and actual employees (Cappelli, 2000) and shareholders. Measuring knowledge systematically supports better decisions about human capital, and signals how knowledge is valued … Simply creating knowledge measures does not achieve these goals (Boudreau & Ramstad, in press). Researchers need to look beyond merely developing measures, and develop measures that connect talent to strategic success. Rich and articulated connections, supported by measurement, explain the effectiveness and prominence of decision systems such as Finance and Marketing (Boudreau & Ramstad, 1999; 1997). Thus, knowledge measurement should articulate, test and reinforce connections between knowledge and competitive advantage. DeNisi, et al. (this volume) similarly note that competitive advantage rests not on simply possessing resources, but in the way they are exploited by organizations."
* In S. Jackson, M. Hitt & A. DeNisi (Eds.). Managing Knowledge for Sustained Competitive Advantage: Designing Strategies for Effective Human Resource Management. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers
* Download the chapter at Strategic Knowledge Measurement and Management (48-page, 108 KB PDF)

2002-12-12T19:26:00.000-08:00

e-Journal (Special Issue) : The Innovation Journal - A Special Issue on Innovations in Leadership (Volume 7, Number 3) :
* Peer Reviewed Articles:
- Classic Theories – Contemporary Applications, by Michael Miles, Arun Thangaraj, Wang Dawei and Ma Huiqin
- Governance, Power and Ego Development: Toward the Democratic Organization, by Aïda A. Warah
- The Reality of Innovation in Government, by Nada Teofilovic
* Discussion Paper:
- Leadership and Innovation: Relating to Circumstances and Change, by Jim Selman
* Case Study:
- Federal-Provincial Business Registry Services and Payment System: Offering Electronic Inter-jurisdictional Services Based on Business Needs, by Stuart MacLean
* Book Reviews (by Mark Hammer):
- Beyond work-family balance: Advancing gender equity and workplace performance
- Primal Leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence
* Go to The Innovation Journal - A Special Issue on Innovations in Leadership, published December 12, 2002

2002-12-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

Article : Multimedia Interaction for Learning and Knowing : By Sara Albolino and Maurizio Mesenzani - "a critical presentation of the work done by the authors during the past years in two European Projects in the knowledge management area: Klee&Co (Knowledge and Learning Environments for European & Creative Organisations, co-funded under the European Commission's ESPRIT Program) and MILK (Multimedia Interaction for Learning and Knowing, co-funded under the European Commission's IST Program) … Both projects focus on the dynamic vision of knowledge management as a way to enact communities and to enable innovation and new ideas generation … Technical and organisational sides of knowledge management are considered. The result of the design effort is the 'view with context': a visualisation feature based on keywords and automatic text processing, permitting users to see objects inside their context"
* Downloadable as a 5-page, 221 KB PDF
* Go to Multimedia Interaction for Learning and Knowing, posted on the Knowledge Board

2002-12-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Awards : The 2003 Editors' Choice Awards : "Our annual list of 60 strategic IT solution providers leading the transformation of business organizations into intelligent enterprises … Strategic IT is not passive IT: The objectives are no less than to transform how an organization makes decisions, invents and communicates business objectives, and continuously improves business performance. Strategic IT must wake up sleeping data giants; it must compel order among complex business processes; and it must brighten the organization's vision as it searches for opportunity. Only an intelligent enterprise can make this happen … Welcome to the fifth annual Intelligent Enterprise editors' selection of IT solution providers doing the most to enable the intelligent enterprise. Repairing to secret chambers, Intelligent Enterprise's editors dug deep into a year's worth of coverage, reviews, research, and dialog with the Intelligent Enterprise community. The selection process was tough — tougher than ever, given the turmoil in the IT industry and the economy. We made lists and made them again. The result was 60 companies — a mere five dozen. We present them in two articles:
- The Dozen: The 12 most influential companies enabling the intelligent enterprise, distilled and extracted after great deliberation from our list of 60
- Companies to Watch: Four lists highlighting 12 leading companies in each, divided into Intelligence, Integration, Infrastructure, and Collaborative Commerce — what we see as the four vital pillars critical to an intelligent enterprise … A tough economy demands that businesses do more with less. That takes intelligence — and it takes IT solution providers that can step up their technology to meet the requirements. Change creates opportunity, which IT must help their organizations seize."
* Go to The 2003 Editors' Choice Awards, published in the January 2003 edition of Intelligent Enterprise Magazine

2002-12-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

Conversations (Free, On-line, Upcoming) : Chautauqua : "Group Jazz invites you to join us for three upcoming Chautauqua conversations. Each one will open on the 15th and run to the end of the month:
- December 2002: Join Jody Lentz from LEGO Serious Play to find out how to put imagination to work
- January 2003: Howard Rheingold discusses his new book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution
- February 2003: Jeremy Lurey and a few special guests dig into their book Rewiring Organizations for the Networked Economy"
* Register at Chautauqua
[NOTE: “At the turn of the century, there were more than 10,000 Chautauqua venues in small towns and rural areas across the United States. People gathered to enjoy the famous authors of the day, the best musical ensembles, and art exhibits usually available only in major cities. After a stimulating presentation, participants wandered back to their porches and living rooms to discuss, debate, and reflect on what they had experienced together. The Chautauqua movement was all about learning in community … Today, there are only a handful of Chautauqua sites left to provide this unique opportunity to share a rich menu of cultural and educational activities We can never replace the pleasure of sitting together on the grass and talking long into a summer night. But we can make a time and place for learning in community - even in lives lived on Internet time … In The Virtual Chautauqua we're bringing some of the best of this learning tradition online.”]

2002-12-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

Article : How to Build a Critical Mass of Support to Accelerate Your Change : "Support from stakeholders is essential to the success of every change effort. Building the necessary support is often one of the most difficult challenges change leaders face. One key strategy that works effectively – and even increases the speed of change – is consciously creating a critical mass of support for the change among key people who can influence others into tangible positive action. In this article, we will first define critical mass, and then outline how to develop a critical mass strategy."
* Go to How to Build a Critical Mass of Support to Accelerate Your Change, published in the December 2002 edition of Results from Change

2002-12-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

Article : Next Generation Knowledge Management - The Complexity of Humans : By Peter Andrews; Published November 18, 2002 - "There is an emphasis on tools and rules for Knowledge Management (KM) that is out of step with human modes of capturing, sharing, processing and deciding on information. The approach used by the Cynefin Centre recognizes the roles of intuition and culture and uses human-centered methods to support reflection on the situation at hand and to take advantage of human capabilities for pattern recognition and finding other points of view."
* Downloadable as a 6-page, 142 KB PDF
* Go to Next Generation Knowledge Management, published by IBM Global Consulting
* You may also be interested in:
- Challenges in Managing Organizational Knowledge, by Michael Fontaine and Eric Lesser; published December 2002 (7-page, 115 KB PDF)

2002-12-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Book : Retreats That Work - Designing and Conducting Effective Offsites for Groups and Organizations : By Sheila Campbell and Merianne Liteman; Published October 2002 - "a practical, easy-to-use guide, full of step-by-step instructions for leading a wide variety of tested exercises. You'll learn how to design and facilitate retreats that will keep participants energized and on-task. Campbell and Liteman know what can go wrong at a retreat and what to do about it. They know how to turn difficult situations around and how to deal effectively with conflict, difficult participants, and resistance to change."
* Read and excerpt at Wiley Publishers
* Go to this book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indigo

2002-12-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Presentation : e-Business Direction in Intellectual Property Administration : Delivered by Ian Heath (IP Australia) on December 4, 2002
* On-line slideshow (18 slides)
* Sample slide content – “e-Business (end-to-end integrated service provision) is part of e-government – ‘joined up government’ is a defining characteristic of e-government environment”
* Go to e-Business Direction in Intellectual Property Administration

2002-12-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

Speech : Beyond the Dot Com Bubble - Supporting Global E-Commerce and Sharing the Promise of Technology : Remarks by Chris Israel, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, United States Department of Commerce; Delivered November 21, 2002 - "Discussing e-commerce had to be much easier two or three years ago. At the height of the dot com bubble, a lot of people (many of them living in my country) thought they had the answers to how business would operate and where the promise of e-commerce would take us all. The stories of the collapse of the dot com bubble have become legendary and the facts are significant - in the U.S. alone we've lost 500,000 jobs and $2 trillion in market value in the telecommunications and technology sectors … We've endured some pain, but we've learned some valuable lessons and when we look at the world around us it is irrefutably changed. The U.S. consulting firm EDS conducted some research earlier this year and found that most businesses treat e-business as a fundamental, long term, strategic business direction, rather than a tactical, short-term reaction to changing client demands. I completely agree with this observation. I would suspect it that it is an opinion shared by nearly everyone in this room. Most all of us are probably carrying cell phones, we communicate and do business around the world using email, we want desperately for our children to reap the benefits of technology and our governments are using technology to promote better services for our people and stronger democracies … From where we stand today, I believe that four major things are true of the marketplace that all companies now compete in - it is more efficient, more productive, more competitive and more integrated. Technology is the key driver for all of these factors … This afternoon I'd share my views on how: technology and e-commerce fuel these dynamics and provide the tools for countries to participate fully in the modern marketplace; governments can create a policy environment for growth based upon technology and e-commerce, and; technology can make our future brighter as we pursue the freedom and prosperity that President Toledo and President Bush discussed earlier this year … I'd like to conclude by offering three principles to guide our efforts going forward … First, we must not forget that technology is the key to future prosperity. It has the power to improve our lives and make the world a safer, more abundant, and more equitable place. Yet many will fear technology and the change it brings, while others may try to harness its power for evil. As leaders in government and industry, we must work to promote greater public understanding of, appreciation for, and widespread access to technology. We need to help our citizens understand this change and educate them to take advantage of it, relying on sound science and rational analysis to use technology to advance the human condition … Second, it is clear that while governments have an important role to play in setting the proper business climate to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, private sector leadership is critical to solving the toughest challenges raised by technology convergence. Politics do not improve technology development, deployment or usage - never have, never will. Technology success in the 21st century will depend on two factors more than any others - ability to globalize and speed. I'd suggest that private sector entities react faster than governments; markets do a better job of selecting winners and losers than do regulators; and the private sector has proven a greater ability to adapt to globalism's new realities … Last, the Internet has reaffirmed the power of Metcalf's law. This principle states that the value of a network increases exponentially as more people connect - going from 10 to 100 users increases the value of a network by more than a factor of 10. As we look to solve the technology policy challenges before us, we must join together as collaborators to make this incredible networked, digital world more valuable for everyone. We will all be better off - as businesses, as nations and as citizens of the world - when 5 billion people are online, instead of the 500 million who have logged on so far."
* Go to Beyond the Dot Com Bubble
* You may also be interested in this speech:
- Technology-led Economic Development in the Post-Bubble, Post-9/11, Post-Enron America; Remarks by Bruce P. Mehlman, Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, United States Department of Commerce (November 15, 2002)

2002-12-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

Advice : How To Succeed in 2003 : "What do you do when you come to a fork in the road? Simple: You ask for directions. And you try to ask someone who not only has been down that way before but has succeeded beyond all expectation. That, in a nutshell, is the philosophy that suffuses this guide. Looking ahead to another year in which little in business is likely to come easy, we sought out a wide range of proven leaders and asked them each a practical question about success. For some, like Michael Dell, the key is to keep doing what you have always done better than anyone; for others, like GM's Rick Wagoner, the secret is to have the guts to change. Whichever applies to you, you'll find plenty of guidance here -- and rest assured, it comes from people who've lived it themselves …
- Thrive in a Sick Economy: Michael Dell, Dell Computer
- Build Buzz: Tina Brown, Celebrity magazine editor
- Create a Real-Time Company: Rick Wagoner, General Motors
- Order Great Wine: Jean Luc Le Du, Daniel Restaurant
- Pack Up and Move: Phil Condit, Boeing
- Bet on the Next Big Thing: Janet Effland, Apax Partners
- Lead Your Employees Through Hell and Back: Anne Mulcahy, Xerox
- Shake Up a Calcified Industry: David Neeleman, JetBlue
- Survive the Unthinkable: Glen Salow, American Express
- Start Over: Kathy Ireland, Kathy Ireland Worldwide
- Stand Up to Microsoft: Michael Robertson, Lindows
- Do Time: David Novak, white-collar crime consultant
- Invent Amazing Things: Dean Kamen, DEKA Research
- Build a Better Website: Jeremy Anwyl, Edmunds.com
- Keep Cool in a Crisis: Lt. Shane Osborn, U.S. Navy
- Cook for the Boss: Emeril Lagasse, TV chef
- Make Your Employees Love to Work for You: Jim Goodnight, SAS
- Keep the Customer Happy: Helen Greiner, iRobot
- Stage a Monster Hit: Margo Lion, Hairspray producer
- See the Future: Bill Joy, Sun Microsystems"
* Go to How To Succeed in 2003, Published in the December 2002 edition of Business 2.0

2002-12-09T19:25:00.000-08:00

Conference Papers : ATEM/AAPPA Conference 2002 : Held September 29 to October 2, 2002 (Brisbane) - "The theme of the conference is e = mc3 (Excellence = Managing Colleagues, Customers and Core Values) … The information age has had the effect of placing much more power in the hands and minds of the client whether they are internal or external clients and whether they pay for a service or not. The client is much more informed and will no longer accept something as a given … With this comes the need to manage the needs, wants and expectations of the full range of our clients whether they are internal or external, fee-paying or fee-for-service, or are the consumers of ‘free goods and services’ … Some of the sub-themes that will be pursued include: Rebalancing institutional values; Can activity-based costing be used as a means of moderating new demands?; Is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applicable in a university environment?; Improving productivity by enhancing facilities; Is a laissez-faire market approach the best option for the future of education in Australasia?"
* Streams include: Quality, Customer Service, Core Values and Managing Colleagues
* Abstracts are readable on-line
* In some cases, full papers are downloadable (in Word format)
* Go to ATEM/AAPPA Conference 2002

2002-12-09T19:23:00.001-08:00

Meeting Report : Knowledge Angels at KM Europe 2002 : Held November 14, 2002 - "There is an initiative underway to set up a Network of Excellence (NoE) within the Commissions 6th Framework Programme. Objective is to develop and integrate scientific and technological excellence in research and technology development (RTD) areas, which are considered to be key priorities on the European business agenda for the knowledge based economy. The aim of the meeting at KM Europe was to discuss content and structure of the network."
* Read the notes on-line
* Several PowerPoint presentations are downloadable
* Go to Knowledge Angels at KM Europe 2002, posted December 9, 2002 on the Knowledge Board

2002-12-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

Working Paper : The Digitization of Word-of-Mouth - Promise and Challenges of Online Reputation Mechanisms : By Chrysanthos (Chris) Dellarocas; Current draft dated October 1, 2002 - "Recent advances in information technology are causing us to rethink many institutions that shape relationships in our everyday life. One important area where information technology can have a profound impact are the institutions that promote trust and cooperation among economic agents. The emergence of online communities has enabled the creation of low cost reputation networks of global reach … Online reputation mechanisms have emerged as a viable alternative to the more established institutions for building trust (such as formal contracts) in electronic environments where such contractual guarantees cannot be efficiently enforced. On eBay, for instance, an online feedback mechanism that encourages buyers and sellers to rate one another seems to have succeeded in encouraging cooperative behavior in an otherwise very risky trading environment … The potential applications of online reputation mechanisms go beyond the relatively narrow domain of trust building in electronic marketplaces. The appeal of reputation mechanisms is that, when they work, they facilitate cooperation without the need for costly enforcement institutions. They have, therefore, the potential of providing more economically efficient outcomes in a wide range of moral hazard settings where societies currently rely on the threat of litigation in order to induce cooperation … The rising importance of online reputation systems not only invites, but also necessitates rigorous research on their functioning and consequences. How do such mechanisms affect the behavior of participants in the communities where they are introduced? Do they induce socially beneficial outcomes? To what extent can their operators and participants manipulate them? How can communities protect themselves from such potential abuse? What mechanism designs work best in what settings? Under what circumstances can these mechanisms become viable substitutes (or complements) of more established institutions, such as contracts, legal guarantees and professional reviews? This is just a small subset of questions that motivate my work in this area."
* Downloadable from the Selected Publications section (38-page, 1.4 MB PDF)
* Go to The Digitization of Word-of-Mouth
* Source: Originally encountered in the webcommunities mail list

2002-12-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

Article : Building Business Value Through “Communities of Practice” :
By Jenny Ambrozek and Lynne Bundesen Ambrozek - "When your day starts with checking office e-mail and logging on to your company intranet, you join other employees in business and government worldwide in collaborating to move their enterprises forward … Collaboration, however, means more than just e-mail in some organizations, where the term 'communities of practice' is being used to describe determined efforts to bring people together. William Bennett, of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, views a community of practice as a 'self-organizing group of people with expertise, experience, and interest in a particular practice area who share valuable insights about the practice area. In essence, it is an informal learning vehicle.’ … Examples of these communities of practice include:
- Ericsson Canada pooling the talent of geographically dispersed employees by using a Web system to ask and get answers. Anders Hemre, the chief knowledge officer, is charged with improving the flow of internal information. He is experimenting with six communities of practice—four in face-to-face meetings and two online.
- Schlumberger oilfield services engineers reaching out for answers by using their ‘InTouch’ system to quickly resolve field problems. Peter Day, InTouch program manager, credits the program with ‘$200 million in cost savings and revenue in 2001, along with a 95 percent reduction in the time required to solve difficult operational problems and a 75 percent decrease in the time necessary to update engineering modifications.’
- Xerox giving 25,000 field-service engineers access to a knowledge-sharing system that contributes savings of nearly 10 percent on parts and labor, translating into $15 to $20 million per year. Dan Holtshouse, director of knowledge initiatives, talks about ‘the 50,000 solution tips that have been entered into the knowledge base, all on a purely voluntary basis, in exchange for contributors' being recognized. What we have learned is the importance of creating a work environment with a culture and incentives that are conducive to sharing, and to support that environment with improved work processes and strong technology.’"
* Go to Building Business Value Through “Communities of Practice”, published in the December 2002 edition of Workforce

2002-12-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

Conference Paper : Epistemological Foundations for CSCL - A Comparison of Three Models of Innovative Knowledge Communities : By Sami Paavola, Lasse Lipponen and Kai Hakkarainen - "CSCL is based on the idea that computer applications can scaffold and implement advanced socio-cognitive processes for knowledge sharing and knowledge building. But do we really understand these processes that are supposed to be implemented? This paper will focus on the 'epistemological infrastructure' of CSCL. We will analyze three models of innovative knowledge communities in order to better understand basic epistemological processes of knowledge advancement: i.e., Nonaka and Takeuchi's model of knowledge-creating organization, Yrjö Engeström's expansive learning model, and Carl Bereiter's theory of knowledge building. It is argued that these models provide a way of overcoming the dichotomy of the acquisition and participation metaphors of learning by providing a third metaphor of learning as a process of knowledge creation. In order to facilitate educational change through CSCL also certain kind of larger social infrastructure is needed that supports these epistemological processes. [In: Proceedings of the Computer-supported Collaborative Learning 2002 Conference]"
* Go to Epistemological Foundations for CSCL, published by the Centre for Research on Networked Learning and Knowledge Building

2002-12-08T16:27:00.001-08:00

Papers : The Future of Work : "As part of its dissemination activities, the ESRC's Future of Work Programme has produced a series of seminars and publications on four issues at the centre of current public policy debate - Worklife Balance, Organisational Change and Performance, The Future of Employee Relations and Diversity in Britain's Labour Markets. At each seminar an invited audience of senior practitioners, academics and policy makers, were challenged to think about key policy issues arising from the research, and how these would influence their own organisations."
* The five papers, written by Robert Taylor, are:
- The Future of Employee Relations
- The Future of 'Work-Life Balance
- Britain's World of Work - Myths and Realities
- Diversity in Britain's Labour Market
- Managing Workplace Change
* Go to these Papers, published by The Future of Work programme

2002-12-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

Report : Email at Work : Published December 8, 2002 - "Few feel overwhelmed and most are pleased with the way email helps them do their jobs … Email is an integral part of American workers’ lives. About 62% of all employed Americans have Internet access and virtually all of those (98%) use email on the job. That translates into more than 57 million American adults whom we will call ‘work emailers’ throughout this report. Most of them use email daily for work tasks. But contrary to the perception that wired American workers are buried in email, the large majority of those who use email at work say their experience with email is manageable. They say they spend a modest amount of their typical workday reading and writing email. A portion of those emails probably replace telephone calls or faxes or traditional mail. For about half of American workers, email volume has grown in the last year; for the other half, it has remained the same."
* Read on-line or download (26-page, 158 KB PDF)
* Go to Email at Work, published by the Pew Internet & American Life project

2002-12-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

Working Paper : Knowledge Management in the Global Food System - Network Embeddedness and Social Capital : By Thomas L. Sporleder and LeeAnn E. Moss; Published August 2002 - "Because knowledge is becoming recognized as a strategic asset of a firm, knowledge and the management of it is emerging as a potential source of competitive advantage. This analysis focuses on the relationships among social capital and both structural and relational embeddedness. Firm strategy may involve exploitation and exploration. Significant brand equity may change the fundamental characteristics of the food supply chain to strong ties and close networks. Some specific characteristics would be relatively high embeddedness, high social capital, more easily exchanged tacit Knowledge, and higher levels of trust. The food supply chain can be analyzed using the conceptual foundations of knowledge management to enrich our understanding of the food system and how it operates."
* Downloadable as a 23-page, 293 KB PDF
* Go to Knowledge Management in the Global Food System

2002-12-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

Article : Building Horizontal Companies - The Job KM has Come to Finish :
"… ‘Knowledge management’ may sound like a nebulous term, but it really refers to an attempt to make sense of a new order of business in which information needs to be organised, stored and transmitted in the right way to the right people, at the right time … What has KM really achieved through all the hype and expense? Have we really learnt how to 'manage knowledge'? Is there really anything new in all the KM literature? My view is that it’s not really important to know; rather to listen to KM’s true message of change. KM is actually just the culmination of a few important trends, a first clumsy attempt to make sense of a new order of business"
* Downloadable as a 4-page, 87 KB PDF
* Go to Building Horizontal Companies - The Job KM has Come to Finish, listed in the December 2002 News section of Sveiby Knowledge Management

2002-12-07T17:25:00.000-08:00

Article : Co-operative Inquiry - Reflections on Practice : By Briony J Oates - "This paper discusses and reflects upon CI as a research methodology. An overview of CI is given, including its emphasis on both political and epistemic participation, its four-stage, iterative research process and its extended epistemology which recognises four types of knowledge. A description is given of the use of CI in a particular research study, whose research objective was to explore the extent to which conventionally-educated information systems developers could adopt a richer model of organisations by using metaphors (derived in the main from Morgan, 1986; 1993) as cognitive structuring devices. The study involved collaboration with student researchers, and the use of CI helped to mitigate the problems of power and democracy inherent in such a supervisor-student context. This account of CI-in-use can be taken as an exemplar for others to emulate, adapting it as necessary to suit their particular situation. Arising from this experience of using CI, some critical reflections are given, including the challenges the use of CI as a research methodology poses for both individual researchers and the wider academic community."
* Read it on-line or download it (11-page, 75 KB PDF)
* Go to Co-operative Inquiry - Reflections on Practice, published in the inaugural issue (November 2002) of Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods
* Source: Originally encountered in the December 2002 edition of the Internet Resource Newsletter

2002-12-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

Article : How to Make a CoP Fly :
By Diane Le Moult; Published December 6, 2002 - "I'd like to share with you some ideas we have developed within Siemens in order to ‘make a CoP [Community of Practice] fly’ … First, we have identified 10 actions items to create a successful Community of Practice. There are 10 fundamental questions you need to ask before starting a CoP:
1- Which Output do you want to achieve?
2- Why do you want to start a community?
3- Is there already a community that deals with your topic?
4- Are you willing to invest time and money?
5- What is your topic and your scope?
6- Do you know enough potential members?
7- Are you able to provide ‘magnet content’?
8- What are the benefits for the members?
9- How are you going to manage your community?
10- Can you secure management support?
…Then, we formulated 10 tricks to help managing successfully a CoP:
1- Actively generate content
2- Don´t be too strict in judging
3- Create Executive awareness
4- Use your own personal network
5- Support the snowball principle
6- Provoke voluntaries
7- Keep it simple
8- Keep it fresh (first in community)
9- Let it grow before structuring
10- Rely on the fun factor
… Finally, we identified 10 classic pitfalls you have to be aware of:
1-Ignore moods and demands of members
2- Not enough content
3- Too strict or too loose
4- No scope
5- No aims
6- Only technical platform
7- No Admin response
8- No support (help and training)
9- Only extrinsic motivation
10- Bad moderation"
* Go to How to Make a CoP Fly, posted on the Knowledge Board

2002-12-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

Article : Innovation, Human Capital, and Creativity : By Sam Youl Lee, Richard Florida and Gary J. Gates; Published September 2002 - "Innovation has long been understood as a fundamental factor in economic growth. Economists, geographers, and other social scientists have examined the effects of innovation on economic growth, the factors associated with the production of innovations, and the geographic distribution of innovations. Jane Jacobs notes that the capacity to innovate is a product of a local environment or milieu that attracts talented people and is open and creative. Following Jacobs, this paper argues that innovation is a joint product of human capital and creativity. The capacity to innovate is seen to be a function of a region’s ability to attract human capital and to provide low barriers to entry for talented and creative people of all backgrounds. Multivariate models are used to test the joint effects of research and development expenditure, human capital, creativity/diversity, and industry mix on regional innovation. New measures of creativity (the bohemian index) and diversity (the gay index) are introduced. The findings suggest that innovation at the regional level is positively and significantly associated with both human capital and creativity."
* Here’s a direct link to the 26-page, 270 KB PDF version of Innovation, Human Capital, and Creativity

2002-12-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

Book : Distributed Work : Edited by Pamela Hinds and Sara Kiesler; Published May 2002 - "Technological advances and changes in the global economy are increasing the geographic distribution of work in industries as diverse as banking, wine production, and clothing design. Many workers communicate regularly with distant coworkers; some monitor and manipulate tools and objects at a distance. Work teams are spread across different cities or countries. Joint ventures and multiorganizational projects entail work in many locations. Two famous examples--the Hudson Bay Company's seventeenth-century fur trading empire and the electronic community that created the original Linux computer operating system--suggest that distributed work arrangements can be flexible, innovative, and highly successful. At the same time, distributed work complicates workers' professional and personal lives. Distributed work alters how people communicate and how they organize themselves and their work, and it changes the nature of employee-employer relationships … This book takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of distributed work groups and organizations, the challenges inherent in distributed work, and ways to make distributed work more effective. Specific topics include division of labor, incentives, managing group members, facilitating interaction among distant workers, and monitoring performance. The final chapters focus on distributed work in one domain, collaborative scientific research. The contributors include psychologists, cognitive scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, economists, and computer scientists."
* The Table of Contents and Chapter Summaries are available at Multiple Collaboration
* Go to this book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indigo

2002-12-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

e-Journal (Inaugural Issue, January-March 2003) : Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO) :
"An official publication of the Information Resources Management Association … designed to provide comprehensive coverage and understanding of the social, cultural, organizational, and cognitive impacts of e-commerce technologies and advances on organizations around the world. These impacts can be viewed from the impacts of electronic commerce on consumer behavior, as well as the impact of e-commerce on organizational behavior, development, and management in organizations. The secondary objective of this publication is to expand the overall body of knowledge regarding the human aspects of electronic commerce technologies and utilization in modern organizations, assisting researchers and practitioners to devise more effective systems for managing the human side of e-commerce"
* Here’s a direct link to JECO Issue 1 Volume 1 (93-pages, 7.7 MB PDF)
* Go to the Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations

2002-12-06T18:15:00.000-08:00

e-Journal (Special Edition) : Training Journal – Special Team Issue (December 2002) :
* Team-related articles include:
- Teams in the 21st century: how do we define their role?, by Meredith Belbin
- Beyond team building: a sustainable outcome, by Deni Lyall
- Teamworking: looking at teams and how they operate in the workplace, by Steve Shellabear
* Abstracts are viewable on-line; full text is available in the print edition
* Go to Training Journal – Special Team Issue

2002-12-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

Forecast : Battelle's Technology Forecasts : "What advances in technology will you see in the next ten years? Perhaps you will carry your personal computer in your jacket pocket, diabetics will receive insulin, as needed, from an imbedded sensor-delivery system, and store shelves may stock anti-aging creams that actually work. These are just a few of the possibilities that were compiled by researchers at Battelle, producing lists of top strategic technologies … Selection for the top ten lists, were compiled by a diverse panel of Battelle's finest minds, and based on three criteria. Each selection must: Provide benefits to the end user; Enjoy a protected and sustainable competitive advantage in such areas as quality, uniqueness, or price; Support business goals"
* Forecasts include:
- Top Ten Technologies by 2005
- Top Ten Most Innovative Products by 2006
- Top Ten Breakthroughs for Household Products by 2007
- Top Ten Challenges and Opportunities by 2008
- Top Ten Healthy Home Trends by 2010
- Top Ten Drivers of Consumer Value by 2010
- Top Ten Energy Innovations by 2010
- High Tech Haven: Forecast Predicts the Top Ten Innovations in Home Comfort and Convenience in 2012
- Strategic Technologies by 2020
* Go to Battelle's Technology Forecasts
* Source: Originally encountered in the Scout Report newsletter

2002-12-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

Government : OCG Collaborative Opportunities (UK) : Released December 5, 2002 - "The purpose of this site is to provide a central source for collaborative activity across government … For Customers of this site this means providing access to a wide range of collaborative activity across Central Civil Government and the Wider Public Sector … Details on research activities, projects in progress and contracts awarded can be found by clicking on the PROJECTS button … Internal Customers - For both Central Civil Government and the Wider Public Sector, password-protected access is available to a free comprehensive market intelligent database about collaborative activity. This includes access to a directory of collaborative projects and contracts, a library of best practice and discussion fora on collaborative issues. To register as a member please click on the link on the top right of this page … External Customers - If you are a supplier, registration is not required. Access to a level of collaborative information can be gained as a non-member. This includes current areas of research, procurements in progress and contracts that have been awarded."
* Go to OCG Collaborative Opportunities

2002-12-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

Article : Intellectual Property - Partnering for Profit : By Jeffrey J. Elton, Baiju R. Shah and John N. Voyzey - "Patents and proprietary processes represent an untapped source of revenue for many companies. McKinsey research shows that in lots of cases, companies could earn 5 to 10 percent of their operating income from the sale or licensing of intellectual property, yet most earn less than one-tenth that. Too often, they don't know what they have, what it is worth, or what other industries could do with it. The solution is to build a network of outside specialists who can identify the best market for each asset and use their industry contacts and experience to negotiate a sale. The authors describe the five kinds of specialists needed, their likely terms of engagement, and the keys to managing the network … The take-away: Most companies' attempts to make money out of their intellectual property suffer from the mistaken belief that it is an easy source of revenue. But capturing the full value of these assets requires systematic effort, a well-managed network of outside partners, and active senior-management support."
* Go to Intellectual Property - Partnering for Profit, published in the 2002 Number 4 edition of The McKinsey Quarterly

2002-12-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Article : Understanding Information Laws - A Sociological Approach :
By John Cahir; Published December 6, 2002 - "The popular view that information is of great importance in modern societies is in large part due to the development of distinctive conceptual frameworks for analysing information in a wide range of academic disciplines. Surprisingly there have been few attempts in legal scholarship to either map the laws that impact on information or to analyse them from any particular standpoint. This article argues that information is essentially a social phenomenon and that law, as a regulator of social relations, directly affects the production, content and communication of information. A holistic understanding of 'information laws' is therefore a useful aid for considering the composition of so-called information societies. Drawing from communication studies the article presents a broad conception of the meaning of information and provides a cross-section of 'information laws'. It argues that a scientific approach to the meaning of information is helpful for both identifying legal measures that effect information and for revealing how they impact on the communication of information. Finally the article argues that a sociological analysis of information laws is desirable and proposes a framework for carrying out such an analysis under the headings -polity, economy and culture."
* Read the article on-line or download (31-page, 401 KB RTF)
* Go to Understanding Information Laws - A Sociological Approach, published in the 2002 (3) edition of JILT (Journal of Information, Law and Technology)

2002-12-05T19:25:00.000-08:00

Essays : inno’v@-tion2 : "Brimming with intelligence and insight, inno’v@-tion2 is a collection of personal stories from eight of Canada’s best researchers—working in the fields of physics, laser technology, virtual learning, molecular evolution, project management, communications and interactive media, and the visual arts. Together they provide vivid proof that Canada’s research community is in touch with the vital issues of our time, and probing the deeper meaning of ‘innovation’ … Discover how innovation powers our lives and helps us understand our universe"
* Essays include:
- From E-Mail to Virtual Reality: The Role of Technology in Supporting Learning, by Tom Calvert
- Managing Change by Changing Managing, by Francis Hartman
- Shaping a Visual Language for our Times, by Sean Caulfield
- Reconstructing/Deconstructing the Tree of Life, by W. Ford Doolittle
- From Femtoseconds to Attoseconds, by Paul Corkum
- Synchrotron Radiation: The Most Versatile Spectroscopic Source, by G. Michael Bancroft
* Available in English and French
* Downloadable in PDF format
* Go to inno’v@-tion2, published by the Canada Foundation for Innovation

2002-12-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

Research Report : New Foundations for Growth - The U.S. Innovation System Today and Tomorrow : By Steven W. Popper and Caroline S. Wagner; Published January 2002 - "To understand the importance of innovation in science and technology to the public welfare and the role of government as a participant and a provider of support the National Science and Technology Council convened a series of discussions with participants from every part of the innovation system--business, industry groups, labor, federal and state government, and universities. This document summarizes the major themes that emerged from these."
* Downloadable as a 97-page, 378 KB PDF file
* Go to New Foundations for Growth

2002-12-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

Tool : How to Determine the Value of a Project : By Christopher Gardner and Ray Trotta; Published November 21, 2002 - "Given the very uncertain state of the economy and the spending constraints under which every corporation is operating, CIOs are looking for new ways to defend their IT projects … But deciding which projects to shelve and which to move ahead on is tough. In the past, such calls were highly subjective: There was little hard data to show how a project would affect the bottom line. Senior management might demand an analysis of return on investment, but even that is frequently a best-guess estimate, based as much on promises from vendors as on objectively derived numbers. The result: More large-scale initiatives keep coming in over budget, past deadline and without adding any clear and measurable value to the company … But what if CIOs thought more like investment managers, who spend every day of their working lives using quantitative analysis to manage the value of potential investments? This whiteboard presents a way to determine the value of an IT investment to a company's bottom line in terms of its likely addition to the company's share price. It is based on the concept of discounted cash flow-the present value of the money the new system will bring in over the course of its life. The authors, Christopher Gardner, formerly head of PricewaterhouseCoopers' IT strategy group, and Ray Trotta, a former financial services consultant at KPMG-and now cofounders of iValue-developed this methodology as part of an overall effort to construct an objective basis for making IT investment decisions, selecting the most valuable investments and managing projects … The whiteboard comprises four PDF pages that can be printed out on standard 8.5" X 11" paper. Download now. After printing the pages, arrange the segments to fashion the whiteboard. You can also download a single-page whiteboard, suitable for screen viewing, or printing on poster board."
* Go to How to Determine the Value of a Project, published in the November 2002 edition of CIO Insight

2002-12-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

Article : Clothes Make the Network :
By Howard Rheingold; Published December 4, 2002 - "Whenever Kortuem sits down with another participant in his ongoing experiments at the University of Oregon's Wearable Computing Lab, his iPAQ establishes a Wi-Fi link with his colleague's device. It checks the user's identity, and if the person is someone whose taste Kortuem has noted as trustworthy, it downloads an MP3 playlist ranked according to frequency of plays … The iPAQ doesn't quite qualify as a wearable but it's a step toward Kortuem's vision. Wireless wearables, he says, can link like-minded strangers in a new kind of social organization he calls an ‘ad hoc community’ … As he sees it, the crowds who surround us every day constitute a huge waste of social capital. If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell, or consider you as dating material. Dynamic networking makes it possible to tap those resources through a momentary alliance among transient interest groups, ‘like people working in a given neighborhood, staying overnight in a certain district, or taking the 10:15 flight to Chicago,’ Kortuem explains … In a world of wireless wearables, computers embedded in clothing could form networks on the fly, prompting software agents to carry out mutually beneficial transactions. A group waiting to buy movie tickets might use an ad hoc network to auction off favorable places in line. Thousands of people in Times Square could pool computing power and sell it by the teraflop-second to nearby office buildings."
* Go to Clothes Make the Network, in Technology Review

2002-12-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

Article : How Mentoring Helps Overcome A Managerial Drought :
"In the fervent hunt for talented managerial staff, more corporations are turning to in-house mentoring programs to facilitate the development of key staff members. According to a survey released in September by the Conference Board, the sampled corporate executives describe leadership development, including mentoring efforts, as a major priority for their companies. These findings hold true even in spite of the current economic slowdown, the volatile stock market, and subsequent cost-cutting measures in place by many firms … With today’s leading companies emphasizing the importance of human capital, the push for mentoring becomes easy to understand. Dennis Redding, executive director of the Goizueta Institute for Corporate Learning, notes that mentoring efforts are critical to bringing fresh talent into the ranks of management. ‘There has been a shortage of general and top level managers in many organizations,’ he says. ‘That’s one of the reasons why mentoring has become such a powerful tool for companies.’"
* Go to How Mentoring Helps Overcome A Managerial Drought, published in the December 2002 edition of Knowledge@Emory

2002-12-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

Article : The Utility of Humility :
By Edward Prewitt - "Think you know what leadership is? Management guru Jim Collins might beg to differ … In conducting research for Good to Great, which profiles the differences between merely good companies and a handful of great ones, Collins found that some CEOs excel in setting priorities but are modest about the part they play in achieving those goals. He terms them Level 5 leaders—the highest rung in his hierarchy (see ‘Which Level Are You On?’ left) … ‘The way they talked, it was as if they had just been sitting there while all of this amazing stuff happened around them. They never said things like, 'I did this' or 'This was my strategy.' They pointed back at all of these other people.’ …His paragons are CEOs such as Ken Iverson (formerly of Nucor), Colman Mockler (formerly of Gillette) and Darwin Smith (formerly of Kimberly-Clark). All led their employees to enormous success, yet they weren't driven to become household names—which is partly why, in Collins's view, they were successful … Collins see no reason why CIOs couldn't become Level 5 leaders … What Level 5 leaders do have in common is a set of character traits that Collins says is predictive of success: Humility, Aligned values, Results and Enduring excellence … Another researcher, Harvard Business School assistant professor Rakesh Khurana, has sounded a similarly cautionary note on the dangers of charismatic leaders … Not all management gurus are ready to give up on the great-man type of leader. Michael Maccoby, a psychotherapist and author on leadership, characterizes humble-but-excellent Level 5 leaders as suited only for staid companies"
* Go to The Utility of Humility, published in the December 1, 2002 edition of CIO.com

2002-12-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

Project : Amsterdam RealTime :
"Every inhabitant of Amsterdam has an invisible map of the city in his head. The way he moves about the city and the choices made in this process are determined by this mental map. Amsterdam RealTime attampts to visualize these mental maps through examining the mobile behaviour of the city's users … During two months (3 Oct to 1 Dec 2002) all of Amsterdam's residents are invited to be equipped with a tracer-unit. This is a portable device developed by Waag Society which is equipped with GPS: Global Positioning System. Using satellite data the tracer calculates its geographical position. Therse tracers' data are sent in realtime to a central point. By visualizing this data against a black background traces, lines, appear. From these lines a (partial) map of Amsterdam constructs itself. This map does not register streets or blocks of houses, but consists of the sheer movements of real pepole … When the different types of users draw their lines, it becomes clear to the viewer just how individual the map of amsterdam can be. A cyclist will produce completley different favourite routes than someone driving a car. The means of transport, the location of home, work or other activities together with the mental map of the particular person determine the traces he leaves. This way an everchanging, very recent, and very subjective map of Amsterdam will come about."
* Go to Amsterdam RealTime
* Source: Originally encountered on the Mapping Cyberspace mail list

2002-12-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

Articles (Short) : Pattern Discussions :
* A group of papers, including:
- Pattern Introduction: Uncovering and Understanding Our Common Language, by Doug Schuler
- Pattern Discussion: Collaborative Design of Community Information Systems, by James P. Zappen et al.
- Pattern Discussion: Mutual-Help Medical Web Sites, by Patricia Radin
- Pattern Discussion: Information Ecology, by Richard Lowenberg
- Pattern Discussion: Mobile ICT Laboratories for Disadvantaged Communities, by Grant Hearn
- Pattern Discussion: Conversational Support Across Boundaries, by John C. Thomas, et al
* Published in the Winter 2002-2003 edition of Community Technology Review
* Other articles of interest include:
- The Rise of the Knowledge Democracy, by Andrew Michael Cohill
- The Corporation and the Digital Divide, by Peter Miller
* While you are there, checkout the Resources section

2002-12-03T19:19:00.000-08:00

Article : Theater Tools for Team Building : By William P. Ferris - "A small software company has remarkable success repairing its dysfunctional organizational dynamics through a form of improvisational theater. The key is an exercise in which actions truly speak louder than words."
* Available to subscribers or by pay-per-view
* Go to Theater Tools for Team Building, published in the December 2002 edition of the Harvard Business Review

2002-12-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

Book : Understanding the Psychology of Internet Behaviour - Virtual Worlds, Real Lives : By Adam Joinson; Published November 2002 - "The Internet is transforming business, education, and maybe even ourselves. In this timely and unique text, Adam Joinson provides a clear, engaging and lively summary of the psychology of the Internet, while at the same time drawing lessons from previous technologies as diverse as the early telephone, telegraph and even radio hams. Mixing anecdote with findings from psychological studies, this book provides a clear, compelling and insightful vision of the psychology of the Internet, and the implications for the design of future technologies. It is an invaluable resource for anyone studying Internet behaviour or interested in their own or others' online behaviour"
* Table of Contents: Putting Psychology and the Internet in Context / From Tools to Behaviour / Negative Aspects of Intra and Interpersonal Internet Behaviour / Depression, Deception and Pornography: The Dark Side of Life Online / Positive Intra and Interpersonal Aspects of Internet Behaviour / Sharing and Surfing: The Benefits of Online Communities and Web Browsing / A Framework for Understanding Internet Behaviour / Looking to the Future, Learning from the Past
* Go to Understanding the Psychology of Internet Behaviour - Virtual Worlds, Real Lives
* Source: Originally encountered in the dynnet newsletter

2002-12-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

Community : LearningTimes : "a free, open, professional development community for education-minded people … [Registered] Members have free access to a wide range of opportunities to interact with peers from across the globe -- live online, asynchronously and face-to-face … Member Activities, Event and Services: Live, interactive interviews with education thought leaders; Live webcasts from conferences, colloquia & special events; Online conferences and panel discussions; Member-directed surveys, polls, and referenda; Best practice case studies; Emergent knowledge sharing; Online voice-based discussions & live debates; International working groups, team activities, & member think tanks; Showcase projects and paper presentations; Education news, research & peer reviews; Education market & trends analysis; International coverage; Research results dissemination; Networked communities of practice"
* Go to LearningTimes

2002-12-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

Roundtable (Report & Materials) : Fourteenth Knowledge Management Roundtable : Held October 15, 2002 - "The main speaker for session was Brook Manville, Chief Knowledge Officer and Customer Evangelist for Saba Software. Manville spoke on ‘Next Generation E-Learning: Successes, Pitfalls, and Lessons Learned From the Brief History of - A New Way of Working' … Held in conjunction with the School of Public Policy's International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology (ICASIT) and Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), the KM RT seeks to broaden the application and advance the effectiveness of KM practice in organizations in the region. CIT seeks to increase the Commonwealth's economic competitiveness and quality of life by advancing the development of Virginia as a technology state and by creating and retaining technology-based jobs and businesses."
* Read the meeting summary and download Manville’s presentation (1.9 MB PowerPoint file)
* Go to the Fourteenth Knowledge Management Roundtable (KM RT)
* Access materials from previous Roundtables

2002-12-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

Article : Creating an Information-Sharing Culture : By Stephen M. Dent - "We've been hearing a lot in the news lately about the need for our government's intelligence agencies to share information. A recent congressional report cited the lack of information-sharing as a major factor behind the failure of U.S. intelligence agencies to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 … To prevent future terrorist attacks, federal, state, and local law-enforcement agencies are forming historic collaborations. At the core of these new partnerships is a free exchange of knowledge and ideas about suspected terrorist activities. Many of these agencies will be talking with each other for the first time. Previously, such sharing wasn't part of their organizations' culture … To be successful, businesses, too, must create a culture within their organization that promotes the exchange of knowledge and ideas among individuals and departments. Achieving that free flow of information requires letting go of the 19th-century industrial business model (where wealth is built on tangible commodities) and embracing the new 21st-century information-age model (where wealth is built on gathering information about new ways of satisfying customer needs)."
* Go to Creating an Information-Sharing Culture, published in the December edition of The CEO Refresher
* Stephen M. Dent is the founding partner of the consulting firm Partnership Continuum, Inc. (which offers the Six Partnering Attributes™) and the author of Partnering Intelligence and The Partnering Intelligence Fieldbook (which was posted on SynapShots on August 15, 2002)

2002-12-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

Article : KM Configurations in SME's :
By Mariano Corso, Antonella Martini, Emilio Paolucci and Luisa Pellegrini - "The paper discusses how Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) use new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and integrate them with organisational tools to support Knowledge Management (KM). Emerging approaches are classified and related to company and industry characteristics and their impact on performance is discussed. Evidence is based on a two years field research combining comparative case studies and survey methodology on a casual sample of 127 SMEs … Implications of this study are intended for both researcher and practitioner. From the theoretical point of view, the paper aims at contributing to the development of a contingent theory on KM in SMEs. From the practical point of view, SME managers will derive suggestions concerning the choice of Knowledge Management actions that better suit each specific context. ICT developers and vendors can also benefit from the results deriving implications on how to suit their offer to SMEs needs."
* Downloadable as a 24-page, 289 KB PDF file
* Go to KM Configurations in SME's, posted on the Knowledge Board

2002-12-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

Interview : The Cosmology of Knowledge Workers : By Eric Schoeniger with Jay W. Lorsch - "Professional service firms -- management consultants, investment banks, IT consultants -- have always relied on star talent to succeed. But increasingly, to remain competitive, organizations in every industry must attract and retain knowledge workers -- those professionals who are critical to the success of the firm. In their recent book, ‘Aligning the Stars: How to Succeed When Professionals Drive Results’ (Harvard Business School Press, April 2002), Jay W. Lorsch and Thomas J. Tierney examine 18 best-in-class companies to chart the difference between stellar and star-crossed. Exec spoke with Lorsch, the Louis Kirstein Professor of Human Relations at Harvard Business School, about how to manage talent for success"
* Go to The Cosmology of Knowledge Workers, published in the December edition of Exec
* Go to 'Aligning the Stars' at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indigo

2002-12-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

Networking Session (Notes, Presentations & Comments) : WS Report from eBeW 2002 - How Can Europe Lead the Way in KM? : "The European Commission hosted a Networking Session at the eBeW 2002 Conference in Prague at the 17th of October 2002, 17:30 –19:30. The session was chaired by Agnes Bradier from the IST's KM team. The aim of the session was to share understanding about critical aspects of KM in order to find out 'how Europe can lead the way in KM'. The audience of researchers and experts from industry was asked to point out the trends and results from their experience. The initial input for stimulating the session was given by three short presentations with different perspectives."
* Available presentations include:
- Linking KM and Learning (742 KB PowerPoint)
- Problems of KM from a Technology Perspective (66 KB PowerPoint)
- KM Research in Europe (948 KB PowerPoint)
* Go to the WS Report from eBeW 2002, posted on the Knowledge Board

2002-12-02T17:42:00.000-08:00

Transcript : What's Creativity and Who's Creative? : Participants included: Stephen J. Cannell, Dr. Mihaly (Mike) Csikszentmihalyi, Dr. Robert Freeman, Dr. John Kao and Ray Kurzweil - "Are you creative? Would you like to be? Why? Don't creative people just get into trouble? Creativity is the expression of originality--it's exciting but also demanding, consuming, frustrating, and addictive; it's inspiring but also fickle, erratic, tricky, and risky. Creativity can be found anywhere, at home or work as easily as in art or science. It can erupt suddenly or emerge slowly. Creativity means being both different and better. Being different without being better is often pointless or just odd; being better without being different is just evolution, not revolution. For an act to be deemed creative, there must be an accepted style or method against which it can be judged original. The accepted style or method is the benchmark, and creativity often begins by rejecting or at least questioning it. An activity may seem creative up front, according to intent, but not creative in hindsight, according to results. The burden of proof is with the creators to demonstrate that their innovation is an improvement over what's gone before. Creativity comes in many flavors, and it is well represented in the diverse group we gathered. Three of our guests have run large, creative organizations; two are foremost teachers of creativity. All are personally creative. No two are alike in what they do; all are remarkably alike in how they think about what they do."
* Go to What's Creativity and Who's Creative?, Show 103, which is also viewable with RealPlayer, from Closer to Truth
* Source: Originally encountered on the IdeaFlow – Creativity & Innovation Weblog

2002-12-01T19:30:00.001-08:00

Conference Papers : Putting Knowledge to Work : Held June 9-13, 2002
(Los Angeles)
* A sampling of presentations includes:
- Compromises along the Way: Balancing Speed to Market with Sustainability while Delivering Knowledge Management Services, by Martha K Heyman
- Keeping Knowledge Management Alive, by Beth C. Perell and William M. Mercer
- Putting Knowledge to Work Effectively: Assessing Information Needs through Focus Groups, by Valerie E. Perry
- Leveraging Knowledge: Impact on Low Cost Planetary Mission Design, by Jennifer Momjian
* Papers are downloadable in Word format
* Go to Putting Knowledge to Work

2002-12-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

Workshop Presentations : Roadmap to Communicating Knowledge Essential for the Industrial Environment : The First Rocket Workshop, held October 21-22, 2002 (Florence)
* A sampling of presentations includes:
- Knowledge Management: state-of-the-art through the optic of ROCKET
- Knowledge Management & e-Learning - from a Vendor’s Point of View
- Sharing Knowledge and People
- Research Challenges and Approaches in Knowledge Management
- Technologies for Knowledge Management
* Presentations are available in different formats (PDF, HTML, PowerPoint)
* Go to Roadmap to Communicating Knowledge Essential for the Industrial Environment

2002-11-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

Community : Transknowformance -
The Art and Practice of Knowledge Management : "promote[s] and encourage[s] the practice of Knowledge Management as a new business management paradigm. Our aspiration is to make this the authoritative KM portal to allow our Malaysian KM practitioners and managers to learn more about the art and practice of KM. It is hoped that this site will be used by KM practitioners who are keen in sharing knowledge to enhance the discipline of KM … We also invite you, as part of this KM community of practitioners, to continue to add value to this new management paradigm and discipline in business management. All KM practitioners are welcomed to contribute and participate in site postings."
* General access content includes: KM in the News, Knowledge (Knowledge Hierarchy, Knowledge Map, Knowledge Ware, What is Knowledge?), Knowledge Management (Benefits of KM, Challenges in Applying KM, How to Function in the K-economy, KM Systems, Learning Organization, What is KM?, Why Do You Need KM), Poll of the Week, Today’s Features, Transknowformance (Transknowformance Methodology, Transknowformance Model, Transknowformance Solutions, What is Transknowformance?)
* Member-only access content includes: 12 Steps to Knowledge Strategy, Assessing You Organization’s KM Competency, Case Reviews, Forum, KM Links, KM White Paper
* NOTE: Membership is free
* Go to Transknowformance

2002-11-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

Keynote Presentations : KM Europe 2002 : Held November 13-15, 2002
* Presentations include:
- Overcome the Challenges of Globalisation with New Generation Knowledge Management, Karl Wiig (819 KB PowerPoint, 145 KB Word)
- The Wealth of Knowledge: Reaping Real Profits from Intangible Assets, by Tom Stewart (20 KB Word)
- Complex Knowledge, by Dave Snowden (281 KB)
- Using Knowledge to Raise the Value of Work, by Dan Holtshouse (4.9 MB PowerPoint)
- Strategy in the Knowledge Economy, by Karl-Erik Sveiby (618 KB PDF)
- Baking Knowledge Into Knowledge Work, by Tom Davenport (1.1 MB PowerPoint)
* Go to KM Europe 2002

2002-11-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

Network : London Knowledge Management Network : "In London and its surrounding a number of people research in the area of Knowledge Management including but not limited to information retrieval, multimedia databases and search engines, knowledge modelling, dissemination of electronic information, business ontologies, XML etc. The London Knowledge Management Network aims to connect researchers, to discuss the current state of the art, to share resources and best practice, to initiate joint proposals, to organise specific events and so on."
* Go to the London Knowledge Management Network

2002-11-30T16:45:00.000-08:00

Organization : Centre for Knowledge Management : "Vision - To be recognised as the leading force in the delivery of innovative solutions, training and teaching in the field of knowledge management … Mission - To enable organisations to build sustainable competitive advantage through management of knowledge … The centre was set up essentially to offer 3 main services to the local business community: Research, Consultancy, Teaching & Training … Expertise is drawn from a wide range of experience within learning organisations, and a deep understanding of the way in which information is communicated. We draw too on experience in identifying and measuring competencies and capabilities within organisations, and in offering solutions to more efficient methods of information and knowledge flow."
* Go to the Centre for Knowledge Management

2002-11-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

Workshop Presentations : INSEAD Knowledge Management Workshop : Held July 26, 2002
* Presentations include:
- Fighting Knowledge Fatigue: The Role of Information Overload and Information Quality in Knowledge Management Initiatives, by Martin Eppler (38 slides, 1.2 MB PDF)
- Using KM to Drive Business - Solutions and Organisation at Siemens AG, by Simone Steinruck (38 slide, 1.9 MB)
- Measuring Intellectual Capital – Latest Thoughts and Trends, by Dina Gray(22 slides, 4.9 MB PowerPoint)
* Go to the INSEAD Knowledge Management Workshop

2002-11-29T17:35:00.000-08:00

Article : Knowledge Across the Globe, Cultural Implications for Sharing Knowledge : By Vanita Datta and Ben Torrey; Published November 29, 2002 - "Much has been written about the cultural implications for knowledge management and knowledge sharing in modern enterprises. It is generally accepted by practitioners that the greatest hurdles to successful knowledge management are not the technical or process issues, but the cultural issues. Problems frequently raised include concerns about knowledge hoarding and creating an environment that encourages open sharing. In this article, Ben Torrey & Vanita Datta extend this question into the realm of the affect of the an organisation's cultural environment from a geographical perspective. In the past, the question of culture and knowledge management has been related almost exclusively to corporate or organisational culture, not what Ben and Vanita refer to as 'social culture.'"
* Go to Knowledge Across the Globe, Cultural Implications for Sharing Knowledge, posted on the Knowledge Board

2002-11-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

Articles (A Series by Monique de Haas) : Cross Media Communication (Interactive Storytelling) : "The essence of cross media communication is to set the user in the middle of the communication process. You entice him or her to come into your story and interact with you (the narrator) or the story itself, as a character (‘avatar’) in the story."
* First Article in the Series:
Cross Media - Just Another Buzzword? (September 2002)
* Second Article in the Series:
Interactive Storytelling Versus Linear Storytelling (October 2002)
* Third Article in the Series:
Rules of Interactive Storytelling in Cross Media Communication (November 2002)

2002-11-29T17:33:00.000-08:00

Book (Forthcoming) : Toxic Emotions at Work - How Compassionate Managers Handle Pain and Conflict : By Peter J. Frost; Available January 2003 - "Regardless of the organization or job level, pain-caused by anything from abusive bosses to budget pressures to unexpected traumas-is an inevitable byproduct of work. When pain is acknowledged and managed, it can be transformed from an emotional obstacle to a constructive force for change. But if it is ignored, pain can poison the workplace, hamper productivity, and threaten the bottom line … In Toxic Emotions at Work, Peter J. Frost argues that managers must work to institutionalize compassion if they want to avoid the debilitating effects of pain on performance. A world run on human capital requires human responses to the often harsh realities of business-and most leaders are shirking this vital responsibility. Consequently, self-appointed pain managers-‘toxin handlers’-are currently shouldering the burden of emotional pain for entire organizations … Based on an in-depth study of this pervasive phenomenon, Frost illustrates how managers can recognize and support toxin handlers-and importantly, what they must learn from these individuals in order to take on the critical role of emotional management themselves. The author also reveals the main sources of organizational toxicity, and outlines ways companies can develop and formalize caring and constructive responses.”
* Go to this book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble

2002-11-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Forum Background Papers : Citizens, Businesses, and Governments - Partnerships for Development and Democracy : The Fourth Global Forum on Reinventing Government - To be held 11-13 December 2002
"Focus - Democracy and partnerships for development in the context of globalization; partnerships between the government and business to promote economic growth; and State, corporate and civil society partnerships for social development."
* Papers are grouped into the following sections:
- Part One - Democracy and Development
- Part Two - Globalization, Role of the State and Public Sector Capacity
- Part Three - Partnerships for Growth and Equity
- Part Four - Capacity Development to Achieve Millennium Summit Goals
* Papers are downloadable in PDF format
* Go to Citizens, Businesses, and Governments

2002-11-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

Articles (A Series by Carter Pate) :
The Phoenix Effect : Based upon the book “The Phoenix Effect: 9 Revitalizing Strategies No Business Can Do Without” by Carter Pate and Harlan Platt (Published February 2002). "The nine strategies also correspond to the chapter titles in their new book:
1. Get to the Point of Pain -- overcome denial and deception and get started.
2. Determine the Scope of your Business -- pick a market you can serve profitably.
3. Orient the Business -- aim your products at the right customers.
4. Manage Scale -- larger size can reduce cost but is no guarantee against failure.
5. Handle Debt -- restructure, renegotiate, and/or merge to enhance value.
6. Get the Most from Assets -- manage working capital to avoid cash crises.
7. Get the Most from Employees -- people not products keep a business going.
8. Getting the Most from Products -- market strategy needs to change with markets.
9. Produce the Product -- consider the options, better, faster, cheaper or outsourcing.
10. Change the Process -- reengineer for better time, cost and quality."
* First Article in the Series:
A New Approach to Corporate Renewal (July 2002)
* Second Article in the Series:
Handling Debt: Finding New Sources of Corporate Wealth (September 2002)
* Third Article in the Series:
Keeping Your Edge—Getting the Most From Employees (November 2002)
* You can also go to this book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indigo

2002-11-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

Article (Short) : Thinking Positive About Risk Management : By Frank P. Saladis - "Most sources of information about Risk Management focus on the need to be proactive instead of reactive. The old saying ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ is right on target when it comes to planning for risk. To put Risk Management in its simplest form it means learning to expect the unexpected. It means that you, the project manager, must start your team thinking about risk situations, prevention ideas and ‘what if’ scenarios at the start of project planning, not when an incident occurs. According to the PMI PMBOK Guide ®, Risk Management includes: Risk Planning, Risk Identification, Qualitative Analysis, Quantitative Analysis, Risk Response, and Monitoring and Control. The process procedures, tools, and techniques provided in the PMBOK ® provide the project manager with the essential framework for a Risk Management Plan and are well worth reading. However, as the project manager, you must take these principles and convert them into understandable and usable tools for your project team members. You have to make sense of the PMBOK for the project team member and non- project manager. Keep in mind that (generally speaking) all project team members want their projects to turn out great. It’s an inherent desire. Emphasize to your team that ‘hoping’ things will work out is not the answer. What the project needs are contingency plans. We need to adapt to various situations quickly and initiate alternatives that have been considered and are ready for implementation."
* Go to Thinking Positive About Risk Management, published in the November 2002 edition of the allPM newsletter

2002-11-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

Book (Companion Web Site) : The Heart of Change - Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations :
By John P. Kotter, Dan S. Cohen; Published August 2002 - "The single most important message in this book is very simple. People change what they do less because we give them analysis that shifts their thinking than because we show them a truth that influences their feelings. This is especially so in large-scale organizational change, where you are dealing with new technologies, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, new strategies, cultural transformation, globalization, and e-business. In an age of turbulence, when you handle this reality well, you win. Handle it poorly, and it can drive you crazy, cost a great deal of money, and cause a lot of pain."
* Content is organized into the following sections: About the Authors, Change Insight Tool, Contact Us, In the News, Links/Further Reading, News and Events, Online Video Preview, Stories from the Book, The 8 Steps, What is the Heart of Change? And What People Are Saying
* Go to The Heart of Change
* This book was originally cited on SynapShots on June 24th

2002-11-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

Workshop Presentations : Shaping Knowledge Behaviours - Rethinking KM : Held November 26, 2002
* Presentations include:
- Improving Knowledge Behaviours: The Role of Organizational Knowledge Supply, by Alan Burton-Jones
- Can We Change the World? A Case Study, by Alan Johnson
- Shaping Knowledge Behaviours, by Harry Scarbrough
* Presentation are downloadable in PDF format
* Go to Shaping Knowledge Behaviours - Rethinking KM, hosted by KIN – The Knowledge & Innovation Network

2002-11-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

Article : It's All in What You Know - Internet Information and Expert Referral Services : By Reva Basch -
"The free flow of information, from those who knew to those who'd asked, was a core operating principle. Informal knowledge bases accreted over time in public FTP sites, gopher servers, and FAQs. Later, as the user-friendly Web came to overlay the native Net interface that only a nerd could love, online access became increasingly democratized and content more commercialized. Gradually, information-sharing became a commodity—not necessarily with an explicit price tag attached—but often used to attract users and keep them coming back to a site … Web-based information exchange comes in many flavors and forms, from the ad hoc, unmediated sharing of expertise in chat rooms, email groups, and online forums to digital library reference services staffed by degreed professionals. In between lie an interesting assortment of so-called ‘expert services’ that feature self-identified (and sometimes credentialed) authorities poised to tackle anything from quick reference questions to complex and specialized consulting assignments in a variety of fields."
* Go to It's All in What You Know - Internet Information and Expert Referral Services, published in the November 2002 edition of EContent
* Source: Originally encountered on linqx, a Weblog on KM & e-Learning

2002-11-27T17:54:00.000-08:00

Report : Better Practices for Retaining Organizational Knowledge :
By Dave De Long; Published November 12, 2002 - "describes a set of ‘better practices’ that organizations are using to address the threat of lost knowledge caused by changing workforce demographics. The challenges of knowledge retention now confront many industries faced with an aging work force, faster turnover among mid-career employees and more competitive recruiting. The early results of the initiatives described here provides useful lessons for executives who recognize that knowledge retention and workforce planning are critical for sustaining future organizational performance."
* Downloadable as a 16-page, 1.1 MB PDF file
* Go to Better Practices for Retaining Organizational Knowledge, from Accenture
* You may also be interested in the background research:
- Uncovering the Hidden Costs of 'Lost Knowledge' in Global Chemical Companies
- Chemicals Industry Leaders: Are You Ready for the Workforce of theFuture?
- Confronting Changing Workforce Demographics in the Chemicals Industry: An overview of the Research

2002-11-27T17:51:00.000-08:00

Research Centre : Centre of Community Networking and Information Policy Studies : "Our activity has to do with introducing new technological tools and knowledge into the Russian NGO sector. The first step of this introduction is the implementation of a research program. Main mission of this research agenda is the challenge to make NGOs in NIS become aware of that information once unique to them is now widely available over the Internet and to construct an information network that would act as a professional field of NGOs, federal and municipal bodies and for business mutual interaction. We understand that it is only a tool for their activities and they still have to do their most to achieve their goals but this approach exactly has to do with their being socially active as the ultimate ground for any further development. This program is designated to address sustainability and consistence of changing society in Newly Independent States (NIS) … The program is based on two major premises: firstly - our witnessing technological revolution leading to breakdown of physical barriers of nationwide and worldwide communication and information distribution; and, secondly on the importance of NGO layer (as a civil institute of social inclusion) in bringing a society to a sustainable, democratic values led communities:
A. Research program - Interorganisational Relations in Post Soviet Non-profit Space - time for ICTs … This part of the program allows to define current state of affairs in relations between Russian non-profit sector and achievements in ICTs. Also in this part we are to determine main technical tasks and restrictions we should address to.
B. Assimilation of project thoughts by public organizations throughout the region and all countries (NIS) … Due to unique standing of Russia and NIS countries in modern information and democratic world we will definitely encounter with certain misunderstanding and misfits. This part of the program will address introduction and dissemination of the self-governance and information use and access ideas in the regions.
C. Promotion of innovative interaction between information ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and cross cultural communications in the region. At this stage of the program we will be creating a model of a national network of agencies and programs that offer technology access and education to people and NGOs who might otherwise not enjoy such opportunities in Russia and NIS. This model is to be a ground for factual deploying of such network by linking affiliates electronically and sponsoring national and regional meetings at which affiliate representatives engage with colleagues in-person, by providing resources to its members and partners offering the benefit of national and international partnerships and collaborations, and facilitates sharing of experience and expertise via the network.
D. Rising awareness and civic participation. In this section of the program we will look at a possible and experienced abroad infrastructures, ways and methods of letting NGOs and individuals be able to voice their opinions on a various ranges of social and political issues through Internet and/or locally operating Networks. Also there will be an appropriate function of a Community Network defined - providing local residents and organizations with access to community, municipal and government services and resources.
E. Designation of the project initiatives, executive techniques corresponding to the west cultural forms (planning, budget, human resources, partnership etc.) through mutually operated informational networks … This part's task concerns the NGOs' and individuals' outlook on Learning new forms of organization and resource management, on Improving their technological Literacy, awareness and understanding of basic principles of self-governance by virtue of Community Network's activities"
* Content is organized into the following sections: About CCNS, Board, Staff & Contacts; Global Community Networking Movement; News & Events; Programs & Projects; Publications & Resources; Russian Communities Online; and, Subscribe to RUCO-L
* Go to Centre of Community Networking and Information Policy Studies
* Source: Originally encountered on the Development Gateway

2002-11-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

Seminar Presentations : Seminar 2 -- Strategies for Knowledge Management Using New Technologies - Who is Doing What in the APS [Australian Public Service] : Held August 22, 2002
* Presentations include:
- Managing enterprises using knowledge management
- Getting value from Information and Knowledge - a case study by IP Australia
- Uncovering expertise
- Expert systems in administrative decision making
- The Edge Project: better decision making for family payments
- Supporting legislation using a rule based system
- The evolution of knowledge management in Austrade
* Go to Strategies for Knowledge Management Using New Technologies

2002-11-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

Thought Leaders : Thought Leader Knowledge Network :
"Our comprehensive Trends section records in real-time the popularity and influence of thousands of authors and their writings according to the traffic on this site. We have studied these data over the last few months and on an invitation-only basis we have approached leading experts in academia, consulting, journalism and economics to establish a showcase of their work on ManyWorlds.com. We believe that these leading minds represent the best of business today, and we will continue to modify the listings as the rankings on this site change … At ManyWorlds.com, we make a distinction between popularity and influence. Popularity is determined by what is 'in vogue' so an expert's work may receive a lot of attention in a short time and then diminish. Influence however, is a sustaining characteristic of great work that exerts a lasting effect. We have included thought leaders with both these characteristics … Over the next few months, we will be launching additional capabilities that will allow selected thought leaders to publish exclusive commentaries and opinions on a real-time basis. This will allow them to share their perspectives rapidly with you, our executive audience, as the world of business moves much faster than traditional publishing."
* Go to Thought Leader Knowledge Network, from ManyWorlds

2002-11-26T17:20:00.000-08:00

Answers to Questions
(Offered until December 7th) : Ask the Expert – Knowledge Management : "Udai Shekawat, CEO and co-founder of Seattle-based AskMe, answers your questions about knowledge management."
* Go to Ask the Expert, host by CIO

2002-11-26T17:18:00.001-08:00

Article : It Takes Systems, Not Serendipity - A Blueprint for Building a Disruptive-Innovation Engine :
By Darrell K. Rigby and Alistair Corbett - "Management in established companies may lack the zeal and fervour of their counterparts in start-ups. But by embracing disruptive innovation, managers in incumbents can make even near-behemoths as nimble and fertile as any venture-capital backed start-up."
* Downloadable as a 7-page, 573 KB PDF file
* Go to It Takes Systems, Not Serendipity, published in the November/December edition of the Ivey Business Journal
Other articles of interest include:
- Why innovation happens when happy people fight
- Implementation: There’s more to innovation than great ideas

2002-11-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

Book (Forthcoming) : The Six Dilemmas of Collaboration: Inter-organisational Relationships as Drama : By Jim Bryant; Available February 2003 - "When people care passionately, but their visions differ, then resolving a situation makes exceptional demands. Drama theory, upon which this pioneering guide to collaboration is based, provides a rigorous yet subtle framework for handling conflict and co-operation in any management context … Written by one of the originators of the field, and rooted in experience gained over a decade of application, this guide to managing collaboration will be an essential source for managers, consultants and educators seeking to improve the quality of inter-organisational relationships and the effectiveness of collaborative working."
* Table of Contents: Part I: The Challenge / Together / Responses / Paradoxes / Part II: The Drama Framework / Framing Collaboration / Storyboarding / The Six Dilemmas Part III: Enacting / Synopsis / Director's Toolbox / Designs
* Go to this book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble

2002-11-26T17:17:00.000-08:00

Editorial : New Context for European Innovation : "six years on from the publication of the ‘First Action Plan for Innovation in Europe’, innovation has become a primary focus of the EU’s drive to grow the European economy. The linear model, in which research is followed by the direct transfer of results to industry, is heading for the history books. It is now clearer than ever that what is required is market-oriented, entrepreneurial innovation. Europe requires people with vision to transform ideas scribbled on the backs of beermats into commercially successful products and processes. With the Action Plan’s initiatives having run their course, and in parallel with the launch of the Sixth Research Framework Programme (FP6) (see 'Bringing researchers and industry closer'), the Commission is preparing a new phase in innovation policy. No longer will there be a separate innovation programme. Instead, innovation activities are to be integrated across FP6, further raising the profile of innovation in EU research programmes. New instruments are being introduced to leverage innovation on a scale sufficient to make a real impact on Europe’s economy. Developing innovation policy requires better understanding of economic activity in Europe. The Community Innovation Survey (see 'Taking the pulse of business innovation') is now in its third cycle, collating innovation data from across Europe and giving greater detail than before on innovative activity among companies. But statistics are open to interpretation. As our article on EU productivity growth (see 'Not so bad after all?') shows, data can often be read in several ways. Would a more optimistic view encourage more European entrepreneurs to take up the challenge of innovation?"
* Available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish
* Go to New Context for European Innovation, part of the November 2002 edition of Innovation & Technology Transfer