November 25, 2002

Knowledge Management

Several weeks ago, I sent out an email to staff at Red River College asking if there was any interest in forming a "grassroots" group to encourage knowledge sharing (knowledge management). I had fairly good response (about 40 instructors responded). Based on this response, we formed a steering committee to create a strategy. Here's what we decided:

  • Give any interested instructor a blog (currently installing Movabletype on IIS 5.0 - causing much grief...but almost there)
  • Get people to use aggregators (like Aggie or Amphetadesk)
  • Create a website with basic content management functions - currently playing with Plone ...looks positive. A colleague, Fred Petrash has been working with SharePoint - also looks very promising.
  • Send out a monthly email to all staff summarizing activities around the college
  • Set up a listserv to allow for questioning/dialoguing (looking at Mojo Mail)
  • Hold monthly face-to-face sessions to facilitate discussion/networking

The goal is to start sharing...and have the results speak for themselves - i.e. rather than selling the concept, promote the value experienced. The first issue is social - not technological - which is why a "storytelling" medium like blogging is the center of the process. A small core of 3 - 4 committed bloggers is all that is needed to start opening doors of conversation.

Posted by gsiemens at November 25, 2002 10:35 PM