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Knowledge-Letter
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Gurteen Knowledge-Letter: Issue 50 - 2nd August 2004 |
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The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a monthly newsletter that is distributed to members of the Gurteen Knowledge Community. You may receive the Knowledge Letter by joining the community. Membership is totally free. You may read back-copies here. **** The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter (Issue 50, 2 August 2004) **** Two years ago when I started my knowledge-log, weblogs were still in their infancy but they have come along way since then and are entering mainstream corporate life more and more by the day. Even if you have no desire to blog there is one weblog related tool that I feel is essential you take the time to learn about and that is the "newsreader", "RSS aggregator" or "RSS reader" - it goes under many names. Essentially such tools allow you to subscribe to so called "RSS feeds", "newsfeeds" or "webfeeds" and create your own personalized news page tailored to your unique interests from tens of millions of live internet content feeds, including articles, blogs, images and audio. I have written an item on one such newsreader - Bloglines - in this month's issue. Go take a look and if you don't already have a newreader sign up :-) You will be hearing a lot more from me on RSS feeds especially as I am developing several for my website - just a few small bugs to sort out and they will be there. For a great tutorial on RSS and newsreaders see: What are webfeeds and why should you care? http://blog.contentious.com/archives/000038.html *************************** CONTENTS *************************** 1 - Rewards for Knowledge Sharing? 2 - Bloglines 3 - Skype - Internet Telephony 4 - Social Networking Conference 5 - Open-Source Everywhere 6 - The Support Economy 7 - Email in the Workplace Survey Report 8 - Beyond wheelchair access 9 - KM Australia 10 - Google Alerts 11 - Gurteen Knowledge-Calendar 12 - What's New? **************** REWARDS FOR KNOWLEDGE SHARING? **************** A few months back I was chairing a Unicom conference on Communities of Practice where Janina Kugel of Siemens Information and Communication Networks (ICN) in Germany talked about her experience in rewarding knowledge sharing. I was impressed with her story and asked her if she would write about it for this newsletter. This resulted in a article by Janina and Cornelia Schostek. The article although short is too long to include here and so you will find it on my website. Abstract: In late 2000, the crisis in the telecommunications market affected most of the telecommunication companies and led to high cost pressure. Most of the business activities were effected, including Knowledge Management. One of the activities where Siemens ICN had to change was its monetary incentive system for sharing knowledge within the company. ICN changed the existing system into a (cheaper) reward system where excellent users received an expert or master status. However, these non-monetary rewards did not have the desired impact on knowledge sharing. Thus, monetary incentives seem to have an immediate effect on motivation, but to support knowledge sharing in the long run, non-monetary incentives should be chosen. http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/rewards-k-sharing *************************** BLOGLINES *************************** In the last year or so weblogs and in particular RSS have come a long long way. What has particularly transformed my working day is an RSS newsreader called Bloglines. With Bloglines I have so far subscribed to over 30 webfeeds and weblogs that Bloglines monitors and informs me with a 'beep' when any of them are updated. I have Bloglines open most of the day so I can switch to it to read the updated feeds when I feel like a short break. It is simple and elegant. I can now easily keep up with the many subjects and weblogs of interest to me. It only a matter of time before newsreaders are a standard tool on everyone's PC. The fastest and easiest way to get started is to sign-up to Bloglines. It is free and is browser based so you do not need to download anything to your PC. I suggest you sign up and initially subscribe to two or three feeds - there are thousands to chose from. Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com/ When you have figured it all out - you may like to subscribe to my weblog or my 'quote of the day'. I have given the URLs of the feeds below but note you copy and paste them into Bloglines when you subscribe> If you click them then depending on your browser you will see nothing or their content in XML which isn't particularly readable unless you are a geek! Gurteen Knowledge Log http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/gurteen-klog.xml Gurteen Knowledge Quote of the Day http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/quote-01.xml Also try Dilbert - this feed gives you a new cartoon each day http://dwlt.net/tapestry/dilbert.rdf More on RSS: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00197b62/ ****************** SKYPE - INTERNET TELEPHONY ****************** Have you discovered Skype (rhymes with "hype"), yet? Skype, provides a way to make high-quality phone calls over the internet for free. I downloaded it some months ago and was amazed just how simple it was to use and the exceptional sound quality. The software for Skype is free, and has been downloaded about 10 million times in the last year. It was invented by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis who were also the inventors of Kazaa - the music file-sharing software. For geeks: Skype is a peer-to-peer (P2P) telephony network using VoIP (voice over IP) technology. http://www.skype.com http://feed.proteinos.com/001932.html ***************** SOCIAL NETWORKING CONFERENCE ***************** Bookings for my conference and workshop coming up in September on Social Networks have started well. Verna Allee is the keynote at the conference and will be running the workshop the second day. I'd encourage you to take a look - should be two great days :=) Exploiting Social Networking in Organizations Conference http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0007f9f6/ Value Network Strategies for Competitive Advantage with Verna Allee http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0008bcea/ Verna Allee http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0020f076/ ******************** OPEN-SOURCE EVERYWHERE ******************** I would like to thank Laurent Kretzschmar of Accenture for pointing out this fascinating article and paper to me on "open-source". This article looks at an idea on how to leverage software open source development practices to develop drugs in a different way - in particular drugs for 'developing countries' with low ROI that traditional patent-driven pharmaceutical research may not undertake. Economist article http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2724420 The paper http://salilab.org/pdf/136_MaurerBIOESSAYS2004.pdf Also take a look at this article in Wired Magazine: "Software is just the beginning ... open source is doing for mass innovation what the assembly line did for mass production. Get ready for the era when collaboration replaces the corporation." Open Source Everywhere article http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/opensource.html Its also worth noting that Dave Snowden's Cynefin Center is planning to develop the idea of open-source consulting! Its early days yet but I think open-source-everywhere will be huge! ********************** THE SUPPORT ECONOMY ********************** A few weeks ago John Maloney e-mailed me a weblog entry of Bill Ives on the book The Support Economy by Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin. I loved the opening premise: "The Support Economy starts with a compelling premise: People have changed more than the corporations upon which their well-being depends. In the chasm that now separates the new individuals from the old organizations is the opportunity to forge a capitalism suited to our times and so unleash a vast new potential for wealth creation." The book is not light reading and I have only got through the first 80 pages or so but the concepts are awesome. Here is another quote: "The last fifty years have seen the rise of a new society of individuals, but corporations continue to operate according to the logic of managerial capitalism, invented a century ago for different people, different markets, and different needs. Today's individuals seek psychological self-determination. They are the origins of their own meanings, not a passive mass audience." I like that phrase "psychological self-determination". To me its another way of saying that people are becoming more responsible for their own lives and learning to be themselves. Bill Ives also comments "Its position that people today are looking for opportunities for a personal voice and a chance to make a difference supplies one explanation for part of the strong interest in blogs." The Support Economy: http://www.thesupporteconomy.com/ Bill Ives on the Support Economy http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/08/support_economy Weblog Entry:The Support Economy http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00090546/ ************* EMAIL IN THE WORKPLACE SURVEY REPORT ************* Over 400 of you, in over 37 countries, finally completed the e-mail survey designed by Edward Truch of Knowledge Partners - the results of which were presented at the Henley Knowledge Management Forum Annual Conference in June. This was just a fantastic response and a big thanks from me and Edward to all of you who completed the survey. The report is in the form of a Powerpoint presentation that you can download: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/downloads The study will also form part of the ongoing research at Henley into improving ways of working in all types of organization. ******************* BEYOND WHEELCHAIR ACCESS ******************* By Sheila Moorcroft, Business Futures The disability discrimination Act applies to more companies and sectors in the UK from the end of this year but the disabled access symbol of a person in a wheel chair is both a blessing and a curse. Only about 5% of the 11 million or so people in the UK who have a disability are wheel chair users, but concerns about access tend to focus on steps, ramps and lifts. Access is about far more; and if, as the old adage goes, information is power, then inaccessible information is disempowerment - on a personal, market and opportunity level. To get an idea of what the problems of accessible information mean to people think about the following for a moment. How frustrated do you get when: + You cannot read a fuzzy, over small map that someone has sent you for getting somewhere? + You want some basic information from a website like the company address and you have to wait while lots of graphics download and take time ... and then you still cannot find the address? + The instructions for assembling your new piece of equipment are so complicated and unclear that you feel like giving up? + You feel ‘invisible’ at the bar when the bartender serves lots of other people who arrived later, but are somehow more visible/ important than you? + You are abroad and painstakingly ask the way somewhere but cannot comprehend the answer that rushes back at you? I could go on, but hopefully you get the point: none of us likes being ignored or ‘disabled’ by inaccessible information! Accessible information and services have a long way to go: a survey earlier this year by AbilityNet, a UK charity on computing and disability, chastised most of the leading UK banks for the level of inaccessibility of their websites - only one bank had a website that met their basic level of acceptable standards: most were well below par. Accessible information means accessible services, means benefits to all including the bottom line. 11 million people is a nice market to have: as populations age so the level of disability grows: that means a growing market too. They are also more vociferous and likely to pursue their case. ************************* KM AUSTRALIA ************************* KM Australia in Sydney is coming up at the end of the month on 23 to 25 August and is being billed as the largest event in Australian Knowledge Management history with keynote speakers Leif Edvinsson, Maris O'Rourke, Dr Hideo Yamazaki and Bob Buckman. Bit too far for me to go but maybe next year :-) http://www.kmaustralia.com Arkgroup http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00007f4a/ ************************* GOOGLE ALERTS ************************* I have yet to try out this new Google feature (it is in beta) but it looks useful. Google Web Alerts are sent by email when there is new information on the web matching the search you specify. Some handy uses of Google Web Alerts include: + keeping current on a competitor or industry + monitoring references to your name or company + finding out when people link to your site + discovering new websites on a certain topic http://www.google.com/webalerts ****************** GURTEEN KNOWLEDGE-CALENDAR ****************** My website contains such a comprehensive listing of knowledge related events that it is no longer possible to display aqll of them in this knowledge-letter. The list below only shows major events or ones of special interest that will be held in the next 3 months. You can see the complete list on my website by following the Gurteen-Knowledge Calendar link below. Gurteen-Knowledge Calendar: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x000033ae/ KM Australia 2004 23 - 24 Aug 2004, Sydney, Australia http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00089daa/ Going Virtual - The Future of Work 25 - 27 Aug 2004, Brisbane, Australia http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00090fbe/ Postgraduate Diploma in Know-How Management 01 Sep 2004, Nottingham, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0008f89a/ International Intellectual Capital Congress 02 - 03 Sep 2004, Helsinki, Finland http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0008a7c2/ Tools and Concepts for Managing Organisations in the Knowledge Economy 08 Sep 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0009107e/ Knowledge Management for the Public Sector 21 - 24 Sep 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0008ac8e/ Taking the e out of e-learning 21 Sep 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x000911fa/ 4th Annual Knowledge Management for the Public Sector 22 - 24 Sep 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00085822/ Communities of Practice Master Class 23 Sep 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00091fc2/ Innovation Convergence 2004 26 - 29 Sep 2004, Minneapolis MN, United States http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x005b63ee/ Competia International Symposium 2004 28 Sep - 01 Oct 2004, Toronto, Canada http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00070a76/ The 5th European Conference on Knowledge Management (ECKM 2004) 30 Sep - 01 Oct 2004, Paris, France http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0007299a/ Knowledge Management Masterclass 14 Oct 2004, Birmingham, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0008e55e/ Anthony Robbins London 15 - 18 Oct 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0008e56e/ Integrating Knowledge in the Life Science Product Life Cycle 18 - 29 Oct 2004, Switzerland http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0008cb56/ Doing More For Less: Accelerating Knowledge Flows Through A Complex Organisation 18 Oct 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0009109e/ Knowledge Sharing, Creativity and Innovation 21 - 22 Oct 2004, London, United Kingdom http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00091082/ KMWorld & Intranets 2004 26 - 28 Oct 2004, Santa Clara CA, United States http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x000d887a/ ************************** WHAT'S NEW? ************************** The following pages have been added to my website within the last month. It does not include all of them as the list is typically quite long. You can follow the What's New link below to my website for the full list. What's New: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00030de6/ Book: Squirrel Inc by Steve Denning http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x000920aa/ Book: The Support Economy by Shoshana Zuboff, James Maxmin http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0009036e/ Person: Lee Bryant http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00090516/ Quotation: On the defintion of love by M. Scott Peck http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00090436/ Weblog Entry: Meetups http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x0009054a/ Weblog Entry: Unlocking Human Potential Through Social Networking http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/x00090512/ ******* S U B S C R I B I N G & U N S U B S C R I B I N G ******* You may s u b s c r i b e to this newsletter, via the following link: http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/(Views)/WebNewsList?open or you can e-mail your request to s u b s c r i b e or u n s u b s c r i b e to mailto:knowledge-letter@gurteen.com ***************** THE GURTEEN KNOWLEDGE-LETTER ***************** The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter is a free monthly e-mail based knowledge management newsletter for Knowledge Workers. Its purpose is to help you better manage your knowledge and to stimulate thought and interest in such subjects as Knowledge Management, Learning, Creativity and the effective use of Internet technology. It is produced in association with the Knowledge Management Forum of Henley Management College, Oxfordshire, England (http://www.henleymc.ac.uk/kmforum) You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to friends, colleagues or customers, so long as any use is not for resale or profit and the following copyright notice is included intact: "Copyright 2004, David Gurteen, All rights reserved." David Gurteen Gurteen Knowledge Fleet, United Kingdom
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