Knowledge Management

Social Media, a Knowledge Management Tool

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I was reading an article on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network on Social Media versus Knowledge Management. Written by Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald of Gartner, I was interested because I’ve discussed the topic of Social Media and Knowledge Management a few times in the past and I was pleased that the topic was still getting attention.

Then I read it.

To be fair, it started badly and got better. Here are their two “definitions”.

“Knowledge management” is what company management tells me I need to know, based on what they think is important.

“Social media” is how my peers show me what they think is important, based on their experience and in a way that I can judge for myself.

The basic precept presented in the article was that Knowledge Management is about collecting, classifying, and distributing knowledge while Social Media is chaotic and a source of concern for organizations afraid of losing that control.

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Enterprise 2.0 Conf: Can Enterprise 2.0 Break the Knowledge Management Cultural Barrier

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Going to try posting notes for some sessions at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference herein Boston. Obviously if I get too distracted and participate heavily, this may be a short-lived experiment.  Up first is Carl Frappaolo of Information Architected, Inc. Been looking forward meeting him in person for a while.

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A Visionary Enterprise 2.0 Framework

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When visiting a local company last month, I was given a glimpse of their requirements for their new Knowledge Services Framework vision and requirements.  It was inspiring and incredible.  They had mapped all the functions that they perform, identified existing systems that matched, and then had measured each of them to the following vision.

Here is their requirements as presented.  The highlights are theirs.

leverage consumer applications proven to augment existing work processes (parity plus)

specifically targeted to business requirements and opportunities

access with only a browser and an internet connection

no reliance on proprietary systems or technology

development based on open industry standards

built upon a semantic web framework

embraces and enables BYOC model

no operating system dependency

provides web service capabilities

tuned options for mobile devices

no browser dependency

no net cost increase

no desktop footprint

100% cloud ready

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The Evolving Enterprise 2.0 Revolution

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I’ve been observing and getting into a lot of discussions recently regarding Enterprise 2.0. This is probably because I was following the Twitter feed for the Enterprise 2.0 Conference last week. I have always liked the concept, 2.0 moniker aside, because I have always viewed it as the next step to realizing the goals in Knowledge Management.

One of the discussions is whether Enterprise 2.0 is evolutionary or revolutionary.  The simplest answer is yes. How others answer this question is most likely directly related to their belief in the importance of the technology in the equation of building Enterprise 2.0 success.

The Evolving Technology…

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Where Do You Store the Content Metadata?

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Recently, Sumanth Molakala sent me a comment regarding the best place to store metadata.

Here is the relevant portion of his comment:

…one of the key items I am trying to address in it is managing meta-data. I am sure you are aware of the two schools of thought – One – save content in content server and meta-data outside of the content server in a “custom” meta-data repository (assuming that the world doesn’t revolve around Documentum). Two – the traditional approach to save content and meta-data in the content server…

My quick answer…It depends! Before you shoot me, read on…

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Knowledge Management is Marching Along

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For anyone that ever thought that Knowledge Management is dead, go forth into the blogsphere and watch it emerge anew. Like a Phoenix, it is rising from the ashes and beginning debates over again. It is nice to go back in time at reflect at how things were. It is even nicer to see the concepts that I’ve always thought important being revived as KM again.

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Enterprise 2.0, What, Why, and Knowledge Management

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So Billy and I started to discuss his article published by AIIM last month. Before that got very far, it got sidetracked by a new blog launch. Luckily for me, Bex finally jumped in to fill the conversational void. He threw out a definition and then started talking about what Enterprise 2.0 isn’t. I don’t fault him for that as I doubt that I could do better on the topic. I do believe that I can contribute though, so here it goes…

Everyone get out your bingo cards, its going to be a wild ride.

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Enterprise 2.0 Versus Reality

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I was reading a post from James on implementing some Social Networking tools within a large Enterprise, Even more untold perspectives on social networking within large enterprises. It was an interesting post as it reflected, from a different angle, an issue that I have had to deal with recently.

My basic challenge is simple. A company decided that they needed to consolidate their knowledge (their word) and implement ways to both expand and re-purpose their information. I’m thinking Enterprise 2.0=Knowledge Management. I’m thinking cool new technologies. I’m getting all excited.

Then during a requirements session I hear, What is a Wiki?

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Social Media and Knowledge Management

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Run for the hills! I just dragged the on again, off again, term of the year, Knowledge Management (KM). For those of you newer to the space, KM has made an appearance every few years and then been torn apart by end-users as the latest KM solution failed to live-up to its promise.

Well, KM is back, but under a disguise. Enterprise 2.0, using the Social Media on Web 2.0 in the business world, enables Knowledge Management. When I took my adventure through Chuck’s Journey, it was like a light bulb clicking on in my head. All of this Social Media tech solves some of the key issues that have plagued KM systems.

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Conversational Collaboration at EMC

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Thought I would let me next post on security in ECM percolate for another day and share something that Jed found. He found a second blog by Chuck Hollis chronicling EMC’s adoption of Social Media as an Enterprise 2.0 effort. The blog started in August, so I started reading there as Jed recommended. I’m going to chronicle my adventure through his blog.

These are posts that I found particularly insightful or useful. If you don’t have time to read the whole sequence, you can jump around.

  • Why Me?: Chuck starts with a simple introduction to himself, explaining why he is leading the initiative and his initial strategy in getting started. My favorite line is, I had to informally recruit (hijack!) a few people who were as passionate on this topic as I was becoming, especially during the formative stages. Having recently started leading a few initiatives in my own company, I like the accurate portrayal. The key is to recruit those that will contribute, but may have been hesitant to volunteer due to various reasons. I’m trying to make sure that they get credit and rewarded for that work so they are still willing in the future.

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