my views on KM reality on the ground

Hi, my name is Peter J. Bury, I work at IRC on Resource Centre
Development for better access to information and knowledge management.

I have not been able to participate as fully in this e-conference as
wanted: a shortage in time, other resources and priority setting?

The above question highlights in my opinion the main dilemma people
have, when willing to share their information and knowledge. I think
that most of us make a constant, even if at times unconscious, cost -
benefit analysis of the investment required to offer and to find
information and knowledge. So we stumble on and participate in ad-hoc
events - like meetings, Yahoo!Groups, workshops, phone-calls, email
correspondence and other ways - to play our part.

In these increasingly digital times - allowing increasingly to find and
share information and knowledge all over the world - many KM experts
claim that tools like Google, e-conferences, electronic Communities of
Practise, contribute to increased sharing of information and knowledge.
And this is probably true, except for those who are (still?) left out?

I'm writing this, on my way to South Africa, where I participate in the
next steps of making the Water Information Network (WIN-SA
www.win-sa.org.za ) a success: a number of
physical meetings and workshops that may lead to increasingly digital
sharing of information and knowledge. I read thru all the contributions
and would like to add to the above thoughts the following bullet-point
statements:

- Experience at IRC: it costs time to avoid that our filing
system on our servers become a huge jungle; it costs time to package and
update information on our intranet, portal and extranets; it costs a lot
of effort to encourage people to attend communication and other exchange
meetings (disregarding for a moment the fact that many of us constantly
travel, and that it is costly to ensure all are in the office at the
same time at least twice a year). Nevertheless I do agree with Dick that
a lot of good efforts do take place (e.g. travel free weeks in IRC,
lunch presentations, etc.), however here information and knowledge is
offered at preset times (see below for more on this);

- I fully agree with Renuka, that a key issue regarding making
own information and knowledge available, is priority setting and finding
the necessary time and other resources;

- Most people make a fairly rational - even if largely
unconscious - cost-benefit analysis of the value to invest in
documenting and making available one's own information and knowledge and
searching for that of others. It is often not very easy to document and
make available one's own information and knowledge;

- I wonder if increasingly user-friendly and time-efficient
(digital) methods and tools will help us to share more and in a more
effective way (see also my next points on the right
information/knowledge at the right time: demand driven);

- Many managers (also in IRC) still hesitate to prioritize and
give time to (individual's) information and knowledge documentation and
making available (this costs time and requires skills!);

- Sub-ordinate staff hesitates to allocate sufficient time and
resources out of their own initiative, as they are not assessed on such
activities (I have evidence about this in various electronic platforms I
manage and participate in);

- A challenge for promoters of information / knowledge sharing
remains to provide evidence that investment in such activities is
worthwhile, overall, for the sender and for the receiver(s) at
individual and organizational levels;

- Distinguishing personal, organizational and network levels
can be useful to find practical approaches, but the basic dilemma's
remain the same;

- I fully agree with Renuka, that we should aim at making
information and knowledge available (or searchable) when a user needs
it, and not limit ourselves at offering at present times or events
(workshops, training, e-conferences, etc.). So, yes, we need
discernment, but for this we need user-friendly, efficient and effective
methods and tools (e.g. Google Desktop Search and similar);

- To Sascha I would like to say: it is not the supplier who
decides, but it is the user. But this user needs to be able to find
required information and knowledge easily and quickly at the right time.
Let the user decide what (s)he needs and let the user tell the supplier
which information and knowledge is useful (Why not follow Amazon's and
ZDNet's example and let customers do the quality assessment thru scores
and sharing experience in use? Why not follow Google's example, who for
each new product they launch, set up a discussion group, who's members
review and suggest improvements?);

- To Jabu: yes let's continue with 'Imbizo's', it is important
that people meet physically, but it is not enough. Imbizo's do not cater
for 'what is needed at the right time';

- Also the examples Jan-Teun mentions are exclusively ad hoc
exchange and only accessible to people that happen to be in touch with
the owner of information and knowledge at the very moment (s)he offers
it;

- Zuberi, I fully agree with the need of university realm to
stay in interactive touch with practitioners, but again: time,
resources, tools, instruments are constraints;

A main challenge I see (and which I believe is increasingly addressed in
the world) is to offer information and knowledge producers and users the
user friendly methods and tools to make information and knowledge
available and retrievable. This assumes the holders of information and
knowledge are willing to share and willing and able to allocate time to
document!

Peter

Peter J. Bury

Resource Centre Development

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre

Delft, The Netherlands

Personal contact details

Piazzale Susa 7

I-20133 Milano

phone/fax +39 02 76110745

mobile +39 334 3296201

Skype ID ircpjb

bury@irc.nl

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