tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79546637246196492322024-03-14T07:04:16.604+00:00KM Reading - with a health library slantReflections on KM texts and how they might apply in a UK health context.frickerahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16342877931142658152noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-28982706016554067962009-03-16T09:44:00.003+00:002009-03-16T11:47:56.394+00:00Here comes everybody<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/Sb47dw9VanI/AAAAAAAAAOM/CqlYjqEbt04/s1600-h/shirky+book.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313749992888167026" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/Sb47dw9VanI/AAAAAAAAAOM/CqlYjqEbt04/s200/shirky+book.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Recent reading has included "</span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Here-Comes-Everybody-Happens-Together/dp/0141030623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237201799&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here comes everybody</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">" </span><a href="http://www.herecomeseverybody.org/"><span style="font-family:arial;">by</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><a href="http://www.shirky.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Clay Shirky</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone seeking a thought provoking read on the effect of the web and of social tools more particularly on how we get things done. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There is plenty in there to link to KM. How do we exploit the low transaction cost and barriers to shared working that web tools can offer? In a world of folksonomies and full text searching via google books does our formal cataloguing offer enough added value to justify the costly professional time (at least in a library like mine)? How do we position ourselves in terms of the filtering role?<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I was really interested in some of the theory around communities and how they work as they grow. What sort of semi formal and formal structures might we participate in to ensure both a closer understanding of user needs and a two way flow of information with the widest number of people? </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I recently experimented with inviting reader reviews of items in our collection to appear on our library catalogue but this drew a very limited response. In this instance I think it was a combination of insufficient audience, insufficient incentive to participate and too high a barrier with online submission linked to the item not available. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Shirky identifies three requirements for a successful online collaboration</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Promise - a plausible goal<br />Tool - easy / free / appropriate<br />Bargain - what you expect what they can expect </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'll be bearing these in mind next time I set out to try and generate some participation in my service.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/angusf/"><span style="font-family:arial;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> (depicts </span><a href="http://www.angusf.com/2008/05/11/clay-shirky-here-comes-everybody/"><span style="font-family:arial;">one persons abuse (and enjoyment) of their copy of the book</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">)</span></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-59065077401688211102009-03-10T15:21:00.003+00:002009-03-10T18:15:32.967+00:00Still thinking<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SbaRF5RlY9I/AAAAAAAAAN8/CG3SwnnLQ7s/s1600-h/knowledge.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311592340990026706" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SbaRF5RlY9I/AAAAAAAAAN8/CG3SwnnLQ7s/s200/knowledge.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">I am more than conscious that I have not posted to this blog since I finished reading Learning To Fly. This has not been because I stopped thinking about Knowledge Management! On the contrary I have been involved in many fruitful discussions with colleagues around how it might develop at my Trust.<br /></span><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">I have still been reading - just not in such a structured fashion.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">One book I have been reading is "</span><a href="http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Healthcare_Knowledge_Management/9780387335407"><span style="font-family:arial;">Healthcare Knowledge Management</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">" by Bali and Dwivedi. I have found this a bit of a mixed bag with practical chapters in the minority versus some rather academic discussion. It can also be rather repetitious of the background basis of KM. It does have a couple of helpful chapters about KM in the context of the NHS in England and Scotland. All in all I would say it is a borrower rather than one you would want to add to your library. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span> </div><div align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/knilram/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-25001769305558292572008-12-22T14:05:00.004+00:002008-12-22T15:09:43.989+00:00LtF Chapter 14 - Review of the book<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SU-gst43KUI/AAAAAAAAANU/BVYHGmNuYr8/s1600-h/look+back.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282617578021660994" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 133px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SU-gst43KUI/AAAAAAAAANU/BVYHGmNuYr8/s200/look+back.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">This chapter offers a quick summary of how the book was written and what the authors learned in the process. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Time similarly for a review of this blogging exercise. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Firstly - in purely practical terms - it took a little longer to get through the book than originally planned. Two chapters a week was fine until I had a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_flu"><span style="font-family:arial;">health blip</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and a bit of leave. I found it very hard to regain momentum after this. I think the longer time frame made it harder to "read" the text as a whole and the later chapters were less well considered and connected than the earlier ones. Certainly a quick look shows I had less to say as the exercise went on.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I found the process of writing the entries not too onerous and helpful in terms of ordering my thoughts. I plan to go back and consider if any of the ideas I came up with at the time merit further investigation.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Overall the book was very helpful. I have often found KM too nebulous a concept or one that seemed rather faddish in use. The examples in the text and in particular the tools and techniques presented make this an altogether more concrete under taking. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I had some very interesting discussions with colleagues inspired by things I had read - all be it that these rarely happened on the blog. Perhaps the commenting facilities in blogger are too clumsy? I also had the pleasure of being contacted by both the authors and various members of the community of interest around the book. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I also identified a whole stack of other things I might like to read (though this is nothing new).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am not sure if this is a method I will reuse often but I can definitely see me doing it again on occasion. I plan to continue to use this blog for KM related thinking. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wtlphotos/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-37405414767992378062008-12-16T17:48:00.004+00:002008-12-16T18:13:23.962+00:00LtF Chapter 13 - Embedding it in the organization - preparing to let go<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SUfr4S518sI/AAAAAAAAANM/Hq2M7BhlHsk/s1600-h/let+go.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280448440494846658" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 133px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SUfr4S518sI/AAAAAAAAANM/Hq2M7BhlHsk/s200/let+go.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This chapter deals with how KM practices and processes can be established and become the culture. It revolves around an example of this in action.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Five stages of are suggested:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Awareness : Start : Consolidate : Embed : Support</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">These can be related to other models around change management.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A useful point is how the various KM initiatives underway in this area do not use the term KM. This is in line with discussions in the KM community of practice on NHS <a href="http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/">CfH</a> <a href="http://www.espace.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/">ESpace</a>. KM surely has to be within the strategy and business planning of others not a discrete entity in itself.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">An example is worked through around Operations and exploiting the common factors in diverse business groups. It refers back to various tools like the <a href="http://kmreading.blogspot.com/2008/10/ltf-chapter-6-connecting-sharers-with.html">river diagram</a> and learning gap analysis that this enables. 25 areas of common practice were identified. A useful tip was around using a requirement to both offer and request help (3 of each in the example) as a way of breaking down peoples reluctance to ask for assistance. A form of peer pressure is applied through this encouraging sharing.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The chapter closes with a reflection point - where are the knowledge gaps for your organization. I think that is something I need to think about offline!</span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shenghunglin/">C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-83239514855721504202008-11-25T18:38:00.003+00:002008-12-09T18:33:52.474+00:00LtF Chapter 12 - Leveraging what we know<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SSxHe651UHI/AAAAAAAAAMk/UAZk91KNqU4/s1600-h/web.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272667860277481586" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 133px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SSxHe651UHI/AAAAAAAAAMk/UAZk91KNqU4/s200/web.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Generously Blogger has attributed the last post to the day I wrote the first line of it. My apologies for the long break in the scheduled posts. This post will now appear late also to add to the confusion. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This longer chapter looks at how we can capture knowledge. More specifically it considers the benefit of distilling experience into Knowledge Assets. This reflects the fact that often the same thing will happen in many places so a core message can be defined.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A good area for a Knowledge Asset for most NHS organisations (and their librarians) at present would be around bid processes. While bids are always important the current organisational environment makes successful bidding key. The potential is there to share learning across the organisation around this topic.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><div align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffsmallwood/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-77118526145728975042008-11-20T14:50:00.005+00:002008-11-25T18:38:32.876+00:00Learning to Fly Chapter 11 - Networking and communities of practice<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SSxDyZ7U4lI/AAAAAAAAAMc/VRiAzWaSRPU/s1600-h/pint.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272663796976247378" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SSxDyZ7U4lI/AAAAAAAAAMc/VRiAzWaSRPU/s200/pint.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Back to the book after some much needed recovery time.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The chapter considers how people network and the establishment of communities of practice. I like the definition of different types of communities:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;">C of Interest - linked through hobbies, sports etc</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">C of Practice - working together around an area of knowledge and competence (enabling)</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">C of Commitment - networks accountable for acheiving a clear goal (delivering)</span></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;">The importance of the coordinator role is interesting when again we consider the proposed </span><a href="http://www.library.nhs.uk/aboutnlh/review"><span style="font-family:arial;">Team Knowledge Officer</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> role for NHS organisations. Might these people be the ones charged with coordinatoring CoP/C?</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The importance of face to face meeting very much chimes with my experience. You just need to meet people from time to time.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I have been involved a few times of late with attempts to create </span><a href="http://lispublichealth.pbwiki.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">documents collectively</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Thus far my conclusion is that (at least in my networks) people are not comfortable with Wikis - people will read but very few will edit. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Generally I think the chapter has some good tips on working in networks and in particular how to keep these running.</span><br /><div align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zach_manchester/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-42656552040735206872008-11-12T08:50:00.003+00:002008-11-12T11:03:33.087+00:00Failing to Post - Chapter 1<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SRq2oKyS8II/AAAAAAAAAMU/Lcub9SD6IKw/s1600-h/nose.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267723515369549954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 189px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SRq2oKyS8II/AAAAAAAAAMU/Lcub9SD6IKw/s200/nose.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Apologies for my failure to post this week. I have been severely afflicted by the <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dre1.htm">dreaded lurgy</a>. I honestly cannot imagine I am going to feel up to completing my LtF posting for a few days. Normal service will hopefully be resumed in the middle of next week.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiva/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-24289297830270869722008-11-04T18:19:00.004+00:002008-11-04T18:53:51.926+00:00LtF Chapter 10 - Finding the right people<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SRCUAjQQrUI/AAAAAAAAAME/SkKcmrYvo7g/s1600-h/yellow+pages.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264870701580463426" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SRCUAjQQrUI/AAAAAAAAAME/SkKcmrYvo7g/s200/yellow+pages.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A chapter describing the benefits of having a corporate yellow pages. There is some sound advice about how to encourage participation (include the personal, build organically through champions etc) and some nice examples of how these have been used. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I find it hard to get excited about this. I think this is in great part due to seeing the technical issues that would be involved and the degree of challenge of getting people on board. I would want something that built onto a system that had to exist anyway - the email directory for example. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think for a lot of areas the people they really need to know are their direct teams and they will know them through constant contact. I am not sure that within the organisation there is the degree of changing project work where people would not know each other. This would obviously be different for specific parts of the NHS.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The </span><a href="http://www.espace.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/"><span style="font-family:arial;">NHS Health Informatics Espace</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> might support some of this functionality for health informatics staff but it feels clunky. You can search peoples profiles but have to click into each one to see any detail for example. Equally there are barriers to participation - despite being registered I cannot access one of the areas listed in the top navigation of the site (Sharing Experiences) - not very conducive to sharing!<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Quote for the day (found through unrelated reading) </span><a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett"><span style="font-family:arial;">"Try again. Fail again. Fail better."</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> Samuel Beckett. </span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/padday/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-62193272351193812592008-11-03T15:19:00.004+00:002008-11-03T15:57:43.006+00:00LtF Chapter 9 - Learning after doing<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264454388939118914" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SQ8ZX9z2WUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/xTNdc9Cgy08/s200/uea.jpg" border="0" />A weekend at <a href="http://www.uea.ac.uk/">UEA</a> for the annual <a href="http://www.ueapirates.com/">Pirates</a> versus Old Boys knowledge sharing exercise (ahem). Once again the current students learnt a great deal about how to play American Football through the invaluable method of actually having a go. Best of luck to the Pirates for the <a href="http://www.buafl.net/teampage.asp?teamid=40">season ahead</a>.<br /><br /><br />Not much to say about this chapter. It is a fairly detailed framework for a larger end of project learning event described as a "retrospect". The key thing I would pull out of it is the importance of linking it in so the information gathered is available to future projects. One place I could see this usefully applied would be in work around <a href="http://www.mapofmedicine.com/">Map of Medicine</a>. As pathways are refined and localised there is the potential for speeding up the process by capturing learning after each one is completed.<br /><br /><div align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/quicklikeamule/"><span style="font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-15994154591268306082008-10-28T17:24:00.006+00:002008-10-28T18:17:23.482+00:00LtF Chapter 8 - Learning Whilst Doing<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SQdNzBeWQ8I/AAAAAAAAAL0/a9g-Vi-EMzA/s1600-h/aar.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262260228570104770" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 132px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SQdNzBeWQ8I/AAAAAAAAAL0/a9g-Vi-EMzA/s200/aar.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Half term week makes for rapid and quiet bus rides - ideal for zipping through this brief chapter detailing the use of After Action Reviews.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">These were developed by the US army during the war in Vietnam as a rapid means to learn in the field. (The image on this page is from the </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/"><span style="font-family:arial;">US Military</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Flickr</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> account and is of an AAR taking place in Iraq). The full details of how these are operated in the army are published online </span><a href="http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/tc_25-20/tc25-20.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial;">"A Leader's Guide to After Action Reviews"</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It boils down to four questions:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;">What was supposed to happen?</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">What actually happened?</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">Why were there differences?</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">What can we learn from that?</span></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;">It is a quick process - around twenty minutes and to be carried out in the immediate aftermath of whatever you are examining. Most of the documenting is of the actions.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I like these a lot and I am certainly going to try and make use of them within my working life. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I wonder to what extent this sort of practice is formalised in processes around care? It should be happening around adverse incidents and near misses but what about in the everyday? Organisationally we are working on the </span><a href="http://www.institute.nhs.uk/quality_and_value/productivity_series/productive_ward.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Productive Ward</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> model. Having a quick scan of the documents there are loops for learning but I wonder if it might benefit from the rapid feedback that an AAR would bring?</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><p align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-59471608923974111572008-10-27T16:07:00.003+00:002008-10-27T16:58:00.244+00:00LtF Chapter 7 - Learning from your peers<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SQXo4RUYybI/AAAAAAAAALs/mAlFlmQOrTg/s1600-h/gong.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261867793071524274" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SQXo4RUYybI/AAAAAAAAALs/mAlFlmQOrTg/s200/gong.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Half distance in the book and another chapter of practical advice around a technique - in this instance "Peer Assists".</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Compared to the benchmarking exercises described in the previous chapter I found this technique harder to grasp. Perhaps because the scale of investment in time and people seems that much greater.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Peer Assist is a means to share experience and knowledge around a topic. It is convened by those undertaking the work and is very much a request for help. It should happen early in a project to allow for maximum gain in terms of applying any lessons learnt. It is suggested that they may well take between one and two days to complete. There is a balancing act in terms of the people in attendance to get diverse enough views that fruitful learning can take place and assumptions be challenged, without things being so diverse that it is hard to know where to start. You also need people at the right level.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">12 steps are laid down for planning a Peer Assist and these are explained in some detail. They seem a reasonable framework. Ideally it is suggested that you attend a Peer Assist as a participant before you organise one. So a case of asking around for someone who has participated or of getting in someone externally to run a trial?</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Rolling peer assists are described as a means of dealing with larger groups or shorter time frames. Here people rotate in small groups with sharing of background / the issue repeated for each group. I was actually involved in something like this as part of the evidence gathering </span><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/0828C064-042E-4222-B8A1-421DAB0722B5/0/public_health_policy.ppt"><span style="font-family:arial;">work</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> for the </span><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/"><span style="font-family:arial;">CILIP</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/policyadvocacy/publichealth"><span style="font-family:arial;">Public Health Policy</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> Statement. We used a rotation around four boards to gather views around a number of questions related to how librarians and libraries can / could contribute to Public Health. A scribe in each corner noted peoples comments providing something for people to build on. Unfortunately this was on a very short time frame as we were in a fringe meeting slot at </span><a href="http://www.umbrella2007.org.uk/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Umbrella</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> so the groups rotated roughly every ten minutes (indicated by me shouting "Bong" at the top of my lungs hence the image on this post!). From experience I can definitely say that a more structured version of this with a little more time available could be excellent.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I wonder if these quick hit type peer assists might be more manageable as a starter within our library networks. The peers could be from outside our network area but it might well be interesting to bring in those from other sectors (public libraries etc) or indeed people from outside the profession. Locally I suspect that the service redesign team will already have skills in these techniques (all be it perhaps under another name).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"></span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/locket479/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-19528365966570105632008-10-22T20:14:00.004+01:002008-10-22T23:26:09.194+01:00LtF Chapter 6 - Connecting sharers with learners<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SP974s2jjlI/AAAAAAAAALk/w2MyRSEq7qc/s1600-h/river.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SP974s2jjlI/AAAAAAAAALk/w2MyRSEq7qc/s200/river.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260059103834902098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: arial;">First of the tools chapters - the focus is on the use of self assessment as a means to identify potential knowledge sharing opportunities.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">It is suggested that a common language be established through benchmarking. The NHS is full of acronyms, NHS speak and the professional jargons of all the groups that work within it. A way to break through this sounds good. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">As mentioned in my last post I spent the afternoon today at an event to launch a </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.londonlinks.ac.uk/resources/alignment-toolkit">toolkit</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> designed to share examples of where NHS Knowledge & Library Services are contributing to NHS goals and objectives. This is very much about making our case in a language that is clearer to other NHS staff. There were some great examples of how getting the right information can </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.londonlinks.ac.uk/resources/files/alignment-tool/18Health_info4_disadvantaged_grps.pdf">change lives</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> and </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.londonlinks.ac.uk/resources/files/alignment-tool/7_compression_stockings.pdf">save money</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. I am not sure if the case studies include any of benchmarking but this might well be an area worth investigation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In terms of developing a self assessment framework one option would be a stripped out version of the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.library.nhs.uk/aboutnlh/review">National Service Framework</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> . I suspect we could probably thrash out a smaller subset of things we felt really matter. Based on this framework we would then have a chance to do a lot of the kind of work then described in this chapter. The techniques and methods of illustration are practical. The river diagram is particularly appealing. It is similar to the kind of diagrams generated by the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.libqual.org/">LIBQUAL+</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> process which uses a circular variant to illustrate the gap between user ratings of a service and the service level they desire.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Trying this all out on health library services would be a great way to learn more about how the process works in practice. This could then be applied elsewhere in the organisation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The chapter concludes with various examples of the process in action. All in all a very positive read with clear applications.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:78%;" ></span><div style="text-align: right;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:78%;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chadh-flickr/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span><br /></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-61090168726730777122008-10-21T17:26:00.004+01:002008-10-21T18:16:30.661+01:00LtF Chapter 5 - Getting started - just do it!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SP4FFK1iC2I/AAAAAAAAALc/Xli6q-o5ZKU/s1600-h/diving+in.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259647001181686626" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SP4FFK1iC2I/AAAAAAAAALc/Xli6q-o5ZKU/s200/diving+in.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:arial;">Back from leave and taking the plunge straight into Chapter 5 which looks nice and short.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">First suggestion - start where the business is. I have this very much in mind as I am speaking at the launch of the </span><a href="http://www.londonlinks.ac.uk/resources/alignment-toolkit"><span style="font-family:arial;">Alignment Toolkit</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> tomorrow afternoon. This is an initiative aimed at demonstrating how knowledge services align with, and <strong>impact</strong> <strong>on</strong>, NHS priorities. I am looking forward to hearing about examples of being 'where the business is' and am sure there will be some great ideas to follow up.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">First reflection point - What do you need to learn? I am struggling to know where to start with this. I can think of many things I could do with learning. Off the top of my head - why do some people use our services a lot and others in similar roles not at all? I have to run a workshop for my Directorate on organisational learning early next year and this would certainly make a good question for debate.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Slightly frustrating to find the book again looking ahead a few chapters discussing a tool we are yet to learn much about (After Action Reviews).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Next reflection point - what is the best environment in your organisation for Knowledge Sharing? I am fairly sure that technology is not going to be the solution on this one. We have a number of technological means of knowledge sharing already in place and these definitely don't reach all parts. The idea of a physical, visual presence is appealing. It would definitely have to be addressed through teams. A case by case approach would be required. The book suggests Knowledge Managers need to be communicators and I would heartily agree with that.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This ends the first section of the book and we move into tools and techniques with Chapter 6. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><div align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/haniamir/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-13249094791049547022008-10-14T17:37:00.003+01:002008-10-14T18:43:54.360+01:00LtF Chapter 4 Getting the environment right<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SPTM9SoyxLI/AAAAAAAAALU/Vo6JYFzzYDI/s1600-h/cob.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257052018395235506" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SPTM9SoyxLI/AAAAAAAAALU/Vo6JYFzzYDI/s200/cob.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Last chapter for this week and we move on to managing the environment in which KM will take place.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">First on the list is tackling barriers to sharing. One of these that will immediately ring bells for health folk is that of technology. This is a barrier to a variable extent in the NHS. My organisation has a good <br />setup technology wise in terms of the base position though our knowledge sharing tools could do with some work (more on this later). However, in common with most workplaces, there is some work still to do on equipping everyone with the skills to make the most of this. Things definitely get more difficult technically speaking when we move to collaboration with colleagues in other organisations in our patch. Another barrier identified in the text is that of a culture of not asking for help - not sure how much this applies in health. Certainly health librarians have a culture of seeking help from peers.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The discussion in the book of systems for sharing at <a href="http://www.bp.com/">BP</a> sounds like a major set up. However most of use operate in a Microsoft world due to the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/uk/nhs/pages/nhs_licensing.aspx">national agreement</a>. In terms of the Reflection Point the big problem I see in my organisation is the profusion of places that people can share information. By my count we have no less than three organisation wide points where people can share documents. There will then be a multitude of other departmental and team based systems. Resolving these into an effective system with good information retrieval will take some doing but would undoubtedly address issues around information sharing.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The book then turns to processes and specifically working with peers - either to peer review, peer assist or in sharing groups. Some of these remain to be defined. Within the reflection point an example I can think of is work in my organisation to training a group of people to act as catalysts for service efficiency improvement. This is can be a case of fresh eyes / perspectives and sharing knowledge which fits with these ideas.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Considering behaviours we need to think about how people can be encouraged both to seek and offer help. This is something I plan to take up within my directorate structure as there are a number of functions involved in the kinds of roles where we will be more effective if people ask for our assistance. An example of a positive feedback for those seeking help would be to ensure that the quality of evidence in support of a clinical policy was noted when it was submitted for approval. Other behaviours discussed are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening">active listening</a> (helpful) and challenging assumptions (harder).</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Leadership is another part of the environment for consideration. The questions set by the <a href="http://www.centrica.co.uk/">Centrica</a> directors are good ones. I would be happy to see these in action consistently. Supporting new starters in the organisation with more than just corporate induction seems like another excellent idea. This could be applied within health library networks (perhaps growing from the <a href="http://www.londonlinks.nhs.uk/staff_development/files/event-calendar-items/Programme_150908.doc/view">London Health Libraries induction</a>) and might be a means to address some of the knowledge gaps created by staff turnover.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A number of examples are then discussed: a <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.noumea-p.schools.nsw.edu.au">school</a>, change at <a href="http://www.bnfl.com/">BNFL</a> and the <a href="http://www.unaids.org/">UN AIDS</a> programme. I found the school example the most powerful in terms of the examples cited and the impact that sprang from them. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The chapter closes with a recap of the main seven threads to consider when preparing an environment for knowledge sharing / management. I find it interesting that in contrast to the chapter that treats technology first this is relegated to the final point on the list.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am out of the office for a couple of days either side of the weekend so expect a later posting date for next weeks two chapters.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/macieklew/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-10345258122173296082008-10-13T09:58:00.003+01:002008-10-13T10:58:56.895+01:00LtF Chapter 3: The holistic model<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SPMQSx9KS-I/AAAAAAAAALM/Nbrwi6w9wes/s1600-h/incinerate.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256563104905055202" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SPMQSx9KS-I/AAAAAAAAALM/Nbrwi6w9wes/s200/incinerate.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Freakishly quiet on the bus this morning. This was a good thing as the glorious weekend weather saw me do none of the reading I needed to for today. I did get to try out my new </span><a href="http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9218301&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB&fh_search=incinerator&fh_eds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1223889366118&isSearch=true"><span style="font-family:arial;">garden waste incinerator</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> which I can heartily recommend. Moving swiftly on to the text...<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The chapter looks to build a model that can then be modified to fit other situations. The model described is focused on learning throughout the progression from business objectives to results. Previously captured Knowledge is applied during the doing phase and renewed through and after it.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">This seems fairly self evident to me but encouraging people to think in this way would be constructive. Research before actually launching into something is easily missed. Lessons learnt afterwards are far from regularly captured and shared. The how will be interesting. Perhaps a format for structured reflection that is then searchable and shared? I agree that success stories can lead to a positive cycle of sharing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I think the key would be how you sustain these behaviours. I can see lots of opportunity for good intentions and interesting projects that then falter in the face of other pressures. Staff turnover would also be an issue leaving behind orphaned "knowledge assets" and an induction burden.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">A closing quote "When we define where we want to be, all our actions turn out to be congruent with that place" reminds me of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irrationality-Stuart-Sutherland/dp/1905177070/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223891268&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:arial;">Irrationality</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> by Stuart Sutherland. Well worth a read (if rather repetitious) Sutherland would rephrase this as "When we define where we want to be, we tend to ignore the evidence that does not fit with our view".</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">This chapter still often points ahead rather than including much detail. At least the points to skip ahead to are clear but I am left wanting more.</span></p><p align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/floongle/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-57278481472540430672008-10-07T14:39:00.005+01:002008-10-07T18:43:55.007+01:00LtF Chapter 2: What is Knowledge Management?<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SOufGwVD7vI/AAAAAAAAALE/8cKzx1AfFuY/s1600-h/flat+out.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254468328659087090" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SOufGwVD7vI/AAAAAAAAALE/8cKzx1AfFuY/s200/flat+out.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">A chapter with a big agenda.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The authors emphasise the cultural aspects of knowledge sharing and present a continuum (devised by </span><a href="http://www.laurenceprusak.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Larry Prusak</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">) ranging from Capture (codification of knowledge - documenting) throught to Connectivity (softer cultural and collaboration aspects). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>1st Reflection point</strong> - where is the largest prize for my organization and where should we invest our effort? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think it may be that the big reward will come from improving the connectivity type aspects. An enormous amount of capture and documentation is generated both within my organization and in the wider NHS / research settings. Often people do not know where to start with all this, how to cope with the flows of information or locate things they are dimly aware of. I definitely think there would be a benefit to the organisation of my team working to map and make more visible a lot of this stuff. Part of this would have to be about developing peoples skills in coping with information flows.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A definition of tacit versus explicit knowledge follows. Placed in the context of the </span><a href="http://kmreading.blogspot.com/2008/09/nonsense-of-km-thoughts-and-jottings.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Wilson</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> article (I think I may refer to this regularly) this seems broadly OK. Explicit Knowledge can be written down (Information). Tacit cannot - it is what we have in our heads. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The importance of maintaining up to date information through the application and testing of knowledge is held up and that a network is a good way to do this (possibly a facilitated one). This is interesting as it points to a potential role for us - for example we can help seed a review of a local policy by supplying relevant new evidence to the relevant person. It might also tie into how we might use the </span><a href="http://www.library.nhs.uk/nlhdocs/2008_05_01__role_of_team__knowledge_officer.pdf"><span style="font-family:arial;">Team Knowledge Officers</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> proposed by the </span><a href="http://www.library.nhs.uk/aboutnlh/review"><span style="font-family:arial;">Hill Review</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think we could safely put librarianship in the People AND Process AND Technology diagram but then you could put most modern work in that overlap. I am not sure how multimedia and videoconferencing would make tacit knowledge more widely available however since the whole problem is that this cannot be readily expressed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The next section touches on the variety of KM 'solutions' on the market place. A holistic view is suggested with what looks like the </span><a href="http://www2.glos.ac.uk/gdn/gibbs/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Learning by Doing</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> cycle I spend my life handing to student nurses (5 minutes later someone asks for that very book - spooky). The suggestion is that any documentation of this learning should be very brief - sounds reasonable. The learning also needs to be easy to reapply if it is to be used.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">More discussion around defining knowledge which perhaps falls foul of Wilson - the example uses some information from frequent flyers - it is hardly knowledge. A barrage of definitions follows Know-how, Know-why, Know-what, Know-who, Know-where and Know when. I am not entirely sure about what to make of this - I guess it provides a set of categories to work with.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Four conditions are suggested as being required to create an environment where KM can flourish (given that the authors acknowledge Knowledge cannot be Managed!). They seem like quite a big agenda from where I am sitting.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The final major chunk relates to how we move from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence. This is quite a widely circulated model and is suggested as a means to embed KM. Later in the book we should meet some tools to help with this.</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">That will do for today - maybe some fresh thoughts tomorrow. Comments welcome.</span></p><p align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimoconnell/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-54439214039054004542008-10-07T13:19:00.003+01:002008-10-07T14:15:36.597+01:00LtF - Chapter 1 Setting the context<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SOtg0dApPfI/AAAAAAAAAK8/8uDrggh3EUE/s1600-h/book.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254399844514610674" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SOtg0dApPfI/AAAAAAAAAK8/8uDrggh3EUE/s200/book.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">A nice short and summary packed chapter to kick off. </span><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">The chapter opens by discussing how we go about building knowledge in everyday life and highlights starting with simple questions. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">The first exercise is to consider the process around your last car purchase. Hard for me to comment as I have never bought one - I know not a whole lot about them and care little. But the answer to the underlying question - how much effort do you put into getting a big purchase right versus making a decision at work - is more straightforward. I tend to put quiet a lot of effort into researching my options before making decisions. I suspect this is a fairly common trait amongst librarians - we like to look around an issue before taking the plunge.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">The rest of the chapter is a summary of what lies ahead. I am not going to rehash it here!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">The chapter closes with another exercise - three questions that occur to me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">1. How are they going to define knowledge?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">2. How many of the practical ideas are going to be heavily IT based?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">3. Why can't school children just sit quietly on the bus?</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">I suspect that only one of these will be answered in the next chapter...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bright/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-12118421822755686622008-10-06T15:43:00.004+01:002008-10-06T15:58:19.603+01:00Learning to Fly - getting started<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SOonQYoqF9I/AAAAAAAAAKs/9xf6jSmCUE8/s1600-h/condor.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5254055077725476818" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SOonQYoqF9I/AAAAAAAAAKs/9xf6jSmCUE8/s200/condor.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Back from leave and ready to start reading </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Fly-Practical-Management-Organizations/dp/1841125091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222334150&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:arial;">Learning to Fly</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. I got back lateish yesterday and therefore only managed a quick spin through the first chapter on the bus this morning. Rather than wade straight in I plan to run my eye over it (and chapter 2) again on the way home tonight / on the bus tomorrow morning). </span><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">I will probably post my reflections on the exercises denoted by a bird along with other commentary.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Final thought for today - I suspect from the introductory sections that the definition of Knowledge is going to be a bit vulnerable to the criticisms discussed </span><a href="http://kmreading.blogspot.com/2008/09/nonsense-of-km-thoughts-and-jottings.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">previously</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Happy reading...</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pablocaceres/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-57718281254976471082008-09-25T10:14:00.003+01:002008-09-25T10:30:30.290+01:00On your marks?<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SNtaArJB9sI/AAAAAAAAAHc/m6PYGCp4mXk/s1600-h/qmark.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249888758257546946" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SNtaArJB9sI/AAAAAAAAAHc/m6PYGCp4mXk/s200/qmark.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">My next post to this blog will be about the first couple of chapters of </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Fly-Practical-Management-Organizations/dp/1841125091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222334150&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:arial;">Learning to Fly</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> (the opus by Mrs Beckham of the same name still available for 1p from Amazon I note).<br /></span><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">If anyone has decided to join in then you will be very welcome to comment on the post. I have made this as easy as possible so you do not need to register, use your own name (thinks - I can have a debate on my own if needs be) and I have left moderation off so there will be no delay between you typing your nugget of insight and it appearing for all.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;">Questioning attitudes are very welcome!</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/-bast-/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-5701158288785514472008-09-16T16:37:00.007+01:002008-09-25T10:14:19.248+01:00The Nonsense of KM - thoughts and jottings<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SNpaJrorMAI/AAAAAAAAAHU/GznLAIZMvFk/s1600-h/sense.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249607438032384002" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SNpaJrorMAI/AAAAAAAAAHU/GznLAIZMvFk/s200/sense.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Apologies for the delayed nature of this post. I started it over a week ago and then various things intervened. Onwards...<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When I advertised my plan to read some KM materials (hopefully) in the company of colleagues I received a range of responses. One of these reminded me about my own scepticism regarding the topic. The other pointed me to a paper by </span><a href="http://informationr.net/tdw/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Prof Tom Wilson</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> (2002) </span><a href="http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/%20paper144.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">The nonsense of knowledge management</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> Information Research, 8(1), 2002, paper no. 144.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I had the pleasure of studying at </span><a href="http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/is/prospectivepg/courses/im/index.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">Sheffield</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> where Prof Wilson was for a long time the Head of Department and was pleased to be reminded of a paper of which I had vague recollections.</span><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">The paper takes a number of tacks to dismiss KM. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Firstly it examines questions around definitions - particularly that of knowledge. For Wilson lack of clarity around the definition of 'knowledge' has seen the term used interchangeably adn erroneously in place of 'information'. He also identifies an issue in the explanation by Nonaka (</span><a href="http://kmreading.blogspot.com/2008/09/nonaka-and-takeuchi-urm.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">see posts past</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">) of the concept of Tacit knowledge being potentially capturable and hence made explicit. Tacit knowledge for Wilson is in line with the original definition by Polanyi - something inexpressible and indwelling where by we acheive comprehension. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">He next examines a range of papers found in Web of Science (1981-2002) located by a simple search for "Knowledge Management" in the title. Many of the papers located are clearly identifiable as being related to data or information management and to expert systems. Often the papers were part of theme issues and appeared to have knowledge substituted for information. It would be interesting to see how a similar study would fair with more recent literature? Perhaps there would be fewer papers with KM less in fashion or the papers located would be of a higher quality and not just rehashed papers from other topics. Wilson does identify a weakness in his search in that it only includes established titles - he does how ever examine some of the then more recent KM specific titles. These did not appear to always be of a high standard and it would be good to have a look at these again now to see how many continue to be published and in what form. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">An attempt is then made to examine what the major consulting firms are saying about KM - on the theory that they are likely to be selling this. Wilson concurs with the views presented by some of the independents working in the field including </span><a href="http://www.sveiby.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Sveiby</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> who he quotes as saying "I don't believe knowledge can be managed. KM is a poor term, but we are stuck with it". Moving onto the big corporates he tends to find them either selling IM systems in KM clothing, or not defining terms or moving on to other things.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">Wilson then turns to the syllabi of major business colleges to see how they are approaching the topic. He finds little evidence of anything substantive or distinct from Information Management.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">A discussion follows around the extent to which KM is just "Search and replace" marketing for old IM software. There is also a much clearer explanation than I gave of the tacit knowledge definition question. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">In the concluding discussion Prof Wilson points to an interesting example close to home. "I've been told that the NeLH uses the term 'Knowledge' because in the NHS information=data". I have certainly encountered this issue.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">So what to make of it? Certainly it is a convincing paper. It would be interesting to see how the literature developed over the intervening years and indeed how KM may have developed. Given the issue around 'information' in the NHS we might well make a case for trying to turn the K term to our advantage. If KM is marketing puff then why not make it a useful marketing puff for ourselves? I certainly look forward to going on to read Learning to Fly to see whether there is something more than the nonsense identified by Prof Wilson.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Arial;">PS Interestingly I note that Blogger has kept the date I started the post rather than acknowledging the date I published it - bug or feature? In this case it shows up over a week of delay!</span></p><div align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/beglendc/270582215/sizes/o/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-83660286470881331722008-09-11T11:42:00.005+01:002008-09-16T16:36:54.394+01:00A reading list elsewhere<span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SMj8jzbsxJI/AAAAAAAAAHM/NvbXPbn9pMw/s1600-h/ltr.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244719458104951954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SMj8jzbsxJI/AAAAAAAAAHM/NvbXPbn9pMw/s200/ltr.jpg" border="0" /></a>One of the blogs I read regularly is </span><a href="http://tametheweb.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Tame The Web</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> - a world of enthusiasm and good ideas. The blogger Michael Stephens is a big advocate of all things 2.0. You can borrow a copy of the </span><a href="http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Library Technology Reports</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> issue he wrote </span><a href="http://www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/web-20-and-libraries-best-practices-for-social-software.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">"Web 2.0 & Libraries: Best Practices for Social Software"</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> from WHP (though it is currently being read by one of my team).<br /><br />His </span><a href="http://tametheweb.com/2008/09/10/lis768-reading-list/"><span style="font-family:arial;">latest post</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> is a reading list for </span><a href="http://classes.tametheweb.com/768/"><span style="font-family:arial;">a course</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> he runs in his role as a<br />library school professor.<br /><br /></span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">One of my favorite things to do is read current technology-related or cultural books and apply the concepts to how libraries might adapt or tap into the trends. This semester we’ll try it as a group.</span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Very much chimed with what I hope we can do here. More than a few things on the list I would like to read though only one I have </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Great-Jim-Collins/dp/0712676090/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221130838&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:arial;">"Good to great"</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span><br /><div align="right"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsphotos/">(C) Image creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-18908287099798703552008-09-09T15:49:00.005+01:002008-09-09T16:47:03.495+01:00Nonaka and Takeuchi - urm?<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SMaaD7ghB6I/AAAAAAAAAG8/hP97RRLsRXs/s1600-h/breadmaker.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244048208423880610" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SMaaD7ghB6I/AAAAAAAAAG8/hP97RRLsRXs/s200/breadmaker.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I mentioned in </span><a href="http://kmreading.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-is-plan.html"><span style="font-family:arial;">a previous post</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> that I had already read Nonaka and Takeuchi </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/6oqltk"><span style="font-family:arial;">"The knowledge creating company"</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> . In fact I have read it twice. I gave it a go not long after I started in the NHS and I reread it earlier this year. You can access a chunk of it via </span><a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B-qxrPaU1-MC&printsec=toc&dq=nonaka+and+takeuchi+knowledge+creating+company+summary&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0"><span style="font-family:arial;">Google Books</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I would have to say that I am yet to get to grips with it. To give you an idea try this </span><a href="http://xp123.com/xplor/xp0402/index.shtml"><span style="font-family:arial;">summary / review</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> by a software programmer. I am fairly sure I won't come up with a better one. The key is that "Knowledge creation is the process of making tacit knowledge explicit". This book did much to popularise the concepts of tacit and explicit knowledge. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think I get a bit lost in all the theory in the book - garbage can models, sensemaking, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumpeter"><span style="font-family:arial;">Schumpeter</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek"><span style="font-family:arial;">Hayek</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and so on. I tend to follow the arguments at the time I read them and then they drop away from me.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There are some great stories in the book - particularly about generating new ideas. One thing that I liked was the concept of redundancy. The idea is that you have more information than you immediately need - something most librarians are invariably involved in supplying.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"></span><br /><div align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennissylvesterhurd/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">(C) Image creative commons</span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-35485831793667043732008-09-03T12:33:00.005+01:002008-09-03T14:00:12.967+01:00First Set Text - Learning to Fly<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SL6FQ-hohWI/AAAAAAAAAGs/CwQiHIJnrW0/s1600-h/parachute.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241773543014303074" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SL6FQ-hohWI/AAAAAAAAAGs/CwQiHIJnrW0/s200/parachute.jpg" border="0" /></a>The text I want to consider first is the book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Fly-Practical-Management-Organizations/dp/1841125091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220442017&sr=8-1">Learning to Fly: Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations </a>by <a href="http://www.chriscollison.com/">Chris Collison</a> and <a href="http://www.practicalkm.com/">Geoff Parcell</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It has a good reputation, is by a UK author and was recommended by my director. As of this post there are copies held at three other LHL services (NWP, KI and WHP) all be it not all of them being the 2004 revised edition I am using. Using <a href="http://www.londonlibraries.org.uk/will/">"What's in London's Libraries"</a> there are a few copies available for loan via the Public Library route. Failing that it is in print and available from £13.99 new (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/">www.amazon.co.uk</a>) or less for a used copy.<br /><br />There are some 14 chapters and a number of appendices. For the purposes of this exercise it is my intention to read and reflect on a couple of chapters a week. <br /><br />To give anyone who fancies joining in a chance to get hold of a copy / allow me to clear a few things first I plan to start in October (to be more precise week beginning 6th October).<br /><br />Please note if anyone wants to read <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Fly-Victoria-Beckham/dp/0718144910/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220442017&sr=8-2">Learning to Fly </a>by Victoria Beckham instead please feel free to update me with any key conclusions for health librarians.<br /><br /><div align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robnwatkins/"><span style="font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-8057815694112284332008-09-03T10:09:00.004+01:002008-09-03T10:45:53.589+01:00What is the plan?<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SL5Wh-X1EqI/AAAAAAAAAGk/Wu-ucmiTl3E/s1600-h/globe.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241722157984453282" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SL5Wh-X1EqI/AAAAAAAAAGk/Wu-ucmiTl3E/s200/globe.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">I need to get to grips with </span><a href="http://www.library.nhs.uk/KnowledgeManagement/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Knowledge Management</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> (KM).<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">While KM is hardly a new buzz term it seems to be one that is now impacting in the NHS. If nothing else it is cropping up frequently at meetings I attend (not just those populated by librarians). I have the K word in my job title and KM in my job description. I also need to prepare a strategy for my service and feel that KM should potentially be part if not at the heart of it.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I have a basic idea about KM concepts (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacit_knowledge"><span style="font-family:arial;">tacit</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explicit_knowledge"><span style="font-family:arial;">explicit</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> knowledge and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management"><span style="font-family:arial;">so on</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">) and have read a few texts - for example - Nonaka & Takeuchi </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/6oqltk"><span style="font-family:arial;">"The Knowledge Creating Company"</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> (available via </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/kccwhp"><span style="font-family:arial;">WHP</span></a> <span style="font-family:arial;">if you feel like having your mind blown</span><span style="font-family:arial;">). </span><br /><p><span style="font-family:arial;">I plan to use this blog to reflect on my reading (hopefully with colleagues) and see what might be brought into practice.</span></p><p align="right"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/riot/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;">(C) Image Creative Commons</span></a></p>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7954663724619649232.post-34657964833120873122008-09-03T09:53:00.002+01:002008-09-03T10:03:02.007+01:00Hello world!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SL5SbJ7ZcKI/AAAAAAAAAGc/GpcFwe_pu-s/s1600-h/tubes.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241717642780831906" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u9wYCHD6FMQ/SL5SbJ7ZcKI/AAAAAAAAAGc/GpcFwe_pu-s/s200/tubes.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Welcome to an experiment.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="right"> </div><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"></span> </div><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"></span> </div><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"></span> </div><div align="right"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/statusfrustration/">(C) Image Creative Commons</a></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0