1 / 15

Blogs, wikis and podcasts: do they have a role in knowledge management?

Blogs, wikis and podcasts: do they have a role in knowledge management?. Andrew Booth, Reader In Evidence Based Information Practice, ScHARR. Yes, blogs, wikis and podcasts…. May be/are the greatest thing since……. We use them for: E-Learning courses Library News and Services

radley
Download Presentation

Blogs, wikis and podcasts: do they have a role in knowledge management?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Blogs, wikis and podcasts: do they have a role in knowledge management? Andrew Booth, Reader In Evidence Based Information Practice, ScHARR

  2. Yes, blogs, wikis and podcasts…. May be/are the greatest thing since……. • We use them for: • E-Learning courses • Library News and Services • Know-How for Researchers/Research Students But that doesn’t necessarily make them a valuable KM tool

  3. Three major problems: • Blogs, wikis and podcasts are not purpose-designed for knowledge management; • Blogs, wikis and podcasts are not a single technology with a single underpinning rationale; • Blogs, wikis and podcasts have not been sufficiently evaluated

  4. 1. Not purpose-designed • Knowledge management involves: "Systematic approaches to help information and knowledge flow: • to the right people • at the right time • in the right format • at the right cost • so they can act more efficiently and effectively.

  5. 1a. To the right people? • Demographics of Web 2.0 technologies still emerging • Poor match between content producers, users and organisational expertise • Blogs and Wikis don’t thrive in an information starved environment – capture social networks don’t create them! • Qualitative (to the right type of people) and Quantitative (to the right amount of people) [c.p. newsletter] (ref. Bob Newhart sketch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsc2nQ3BCZA )

  6. 1b. At the right time? • Facilitating content production only one aspect of KM • Problems over indexing and retrieval • Survival of the “fleeting-est”? (i.e. no natural selection) • ART (Almost Real Time) not Archive

  7. 1c. In the right format? • Blogs (reverse chronological) and wikis (alphabetical) are not necessarily how we choose to access information • Takes time to organise thematic approaches • Automatically • Manually

  8. 1d. At the right cost? • Technologies are cheap • Memory is cheap • No imperative to filter/discard More efficient and more effective? • Jury is still out!

  9. KM is essentially a top-down approach • Blogs, wikis and podcasts essentially democratising technology • If knowledge cannot be “managed” then democratising technologies may be part of problem NOT solution • Wikis and blogs have part to play in “social capital” phenomenon • Who benefits (directly) from Communities of Practice?

  10. 2. Not a single technology • Each technology has different strengths and uses • “Web 2.0” emphasises similarities when information professionals need to emphasise differences • Blog (electronic diary); Wiki (indexed notebook); Podcast (intellectual karaoke)

  11. 3. Not Sufficiently Evaluated • Early days for Web 2.0 technologies • Pace of Innovation exceeds Pace of Evaluation (“Evaluation Bypass”) • Uncertainty around criteria for evaluation: • Cost Benefit Analysis? • Return On Investment? • Impact Analysis • “First do no harm”

  12. In conclusion • Blogs, wikis and podcasts are a useful tool for improving information (not knowledge) flows • Not the same as knowledge management • Knowledge management requires use of filters and fortifiers • Unclear how blogs, wikis and podcasts meet that need right now

  13. References • Avram G (2006) At the Crossroads of Knowledge Management and Social Software.Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management4 (1): 1-10. http://tlps.pbwiki.com/f/Avram.pdf • Booth A (2007) Blogs, wikis and podcasts: the ‘evaluation bypass’ in action? Health Information and Libraries Journal24 (4): 298–302. • Walker J (2006) Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to the Successful Adoption and Use of Wikis in Collaborative Knowledge Management. University of North Carolina, School of Information and Library Science. http://hdl.handle.net/1901/267 • Feel free to email me on: A.Booth@sheffield.ac.uk

More Related