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Social Networks & Knowledge Sharing
In the early days of Knowledge Management, one of the things we liked to talk about was the difference
between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Simply put, that's the stuff that's written down and the stuff that isn't. In the late 90s, you'd be hard pressed to find a KM PowerPoint deck that didn't
have a Tacit vs. Explicit slide in it somewhere. That might have been because it was an easy concept to put across, or because it suggested that we might actually be able to manage knowledge after all.
The first step in managing something is to give it a name, and exploring this fundamental dichotomy seemed a good way to start.
Tacit knowledge is the more interesting of the two, for several
reasons. It's always fresher, since it takes time for something to be formalized to the point where it can be written down. There's always more of it, since as Dave Snowden has observed, we always know more about something than we can put on paper. It's also the hardest to wrangle, since it's amorphous by nature. You can't put it on a shelf and come back later. It's constantly changing, morphing into new forms. But according to David Jacobson of PwC Canada, social networking tools may be one way to get a handle
on it. They're designed to support a kind of virtual conversation, and make it easier for like-minded people to find and interact with each other. Intelligently applied, they can bring tacit knowledge to
the surface.
There are still cultural barriers to overcome, though. Some ice-breaking may be necessary to get a conversation going, and management may hear some things it doesn't like. But if a
company could harness this untapped knowledge base, it would be a worthwhile trade-off.
Starting at Square One
Since we've been engaged in the KM biz for over a dozen years, it's a little surprising to come
across an "Executive Primer" on Knowledge Management. (Amazon is ready to sell you over 5,000 books on the
topic!) But if you're coming late to the party and would like a nice, 2,000-word synopsis, this one's not bad.
It includes a bit of history, and talks about the contextual sifting which can turn
data into information, and information into knowledge. And it offers two bits of very good advice: start small, and don't be distracted by the technology. We know that's good advice because we've been
giving it for years.
However, we would take issue with the idea that KM can only exist at the enterprise level, since its real goal is to unlock pockets of knowledge that are trapped in various
organizational silos. We believe KM can drive value for a single project team, a single facility or a single department. In fact, establishing small, entrepreneurial programs that engage existing
communities is a great way to get started. The necessary trust should already be there, and team-oriented initiatives are less likely to run into political obstacles. That gives them a real advantage.
Enterprise level KM is more likely to succeed if it’s seeded at the grass roots.
What’s Up with Facebook?
Facebook is the acknowledged leader in social networking, but it seems to be moving in a strange
direction. Although founded with a strong commitment to privacy (not even open to the general public), it has slowly but surely taken down those privacy protections in favor of sharing more and more of
its users' personal information. It seems like an odd public relations move. If you do a Google News search on "Facebook privacy," it will pull in almost 3,000 articles just from the last month. And this is not good press, with titles like "The Facebook Privacy War," "Privacy Bait and Switch" and "Facebook Users Risk Blackmail." For visual thinkers, the Huffington Post has a nice infographic comparing Facebook's default privacy settings from 2005 with those of today.
The odd thing is that Facebook itself seems unconcerned by the criticism. It intends to become the primary destination for online identity management and community building. The company's executives
are defending its actions by saying that notions of privacy are changing. Their take is that Facebook users are fine with being more open, and it's only the media that's fretting about the changes. There's a kind of hubris, there. Is Facebook aiming to be the next Google, by rewiring the Web along social networking lines? Or will it be the next AOL, as frustrated users pull the plugs on their profile pages. Stay tuned...
Customization for the Masses
This is one to file under "If That Don't Beat All." It's not a new idea or
necessarily all that surprising, but it's a trend we think is pretty cool, particularly as it breaks into new territories. It's been said that the Web is all about personalization, in that companies like
Amazon and Netflix are trying to deliver the kind of experience you might have in a local book store or video rental shop. They're trying to learn about YOU, as a person. To figure out what you like, and
don't like, so they can make intelligent recommendations.
But this article at mashable.com reports that a number of companies are going beyond the idea of making recommendations, and letting you essentially build your own products. This isn't about mixing and matching color options on a new Toyota. This is real customization. At the website of the German Chocolate maker chocri you can design your own chocolate bar, specifying chocolate type, richness, fruits, nuts and spices. At [Me]andGoji, you can blend your own artisanal cereal, choosing from over 60 all-natural ingredients. But it's not just food, and it's not just for
people. At Red Moon, you can design customized pet food, based on ingredients, pet size, age and energy level. And Nike offers a Web-based shoe design tool with a surprising number of customization options. So many choices, so little time.
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