ICTlogy

Nice post at elearnspace.

It deals with the differences but close relationship of e-Learning and Knowledge Management:

“elearning is delayed (but tested), organized knowledge”
“KM is chaotic, current (but structurally weak) knowledge”
“KM should feed into elearning (in order for the content of the “course” to remain fresh and to tap learners into a sustained knowledge environment after the course is done). Elearning should feed into the KM environment and provide easy mechanisms for organizing information”

It’s worth the reading :)

Simple but nice article at TechSoup about Open Source Content Management Systems.

Quote:

“In this article we’ll focus on how Open Source and CMS combine in powerful solutions for Web site creation and maintenance. We’ll also take a closer at a small and simple CMS called Pagetool that was designed with nonprofits in mind.”

Via Column Two

Five ways to identify intranet usability issues, article by Donna Maurer, points five checkpoints you should follow to (a) design your intranet (b) maintain it ( c) improve it.

• Stakeholder interviews
• Walking through scenarios
• Review existing data
• Usability evaluation
• Expert review

In few words:

• see what the user needs (not what he will need)
• see what the user does (and why her or she does it that way)
• fix your errors

Even in less words: your intranet problems are not user incompetence by yours

Nothing new under the sun, but I guess it’s a good reflection :)

I guess I should visit my Blogroll saved items more often – plenty unread stuff there!

(via Knowledge Jolt With Jack)

Lee Lefeever writes about Email Lists vs. Message Boards.

In my opinion, the middle ground lays on an intranet where e-mail and message boards are just a part of a whole thing where everything is embedded in a coherent virtual community system.

I think that having a “place” is quite a must if there’s even a slight commitment with knowledge management and/or some kind of filing effort with all the information running through the community.

Some intranets allow the user be notified of new posts and even let the user customize some views so he can see all board updates at a glance when entering the intranet (and before reaching his mail inbox).

All in all, the matter surely is having your communication/community applications in a suite the same way you like to have your office applications (word processor, spreadsheet, etc. at MS Office) or your web design applications (code editor, photo editor, etc. at Macromedia Dreamweaver+Fireworks) or, even better, as just one application.

I’ll surely write some more posts about this article: Connecting Learning Objects with RSS, Trackback and Weblogs. So far only a few reflexions.

First. About RSS and me

This has been a good start for me going into RSS stuff. A couple of weeks ago I wondered about having my own blog. Today I’m not (of course) an expert but think I’ve learnt a whole world unknown to me about real knowledge management in the most informal – but practical – way.

Second. About RSS and content management

I do have to explore all the implications of using RSS at the content management and the cooperation for development levels. Alan, Brian and D’Arcy‘s approach is easy to be reconsidered in a much wider scope.

Though it is said that the Internet eases information sharing, since now, you had to gather a bunch of links so all the content in the web seemed to be a continuum. Indeed, copy-pasting is yet a far to be abandoned technique to feed one’s site. This was information sharing (I won’t talk about real examples of information sharing… and selling).

RSS makes me think of the end of (simply) linking and the definitive end of copy-pasting. And the so awaited collusion of information (and knowledge) into a whole.

Third. RSS and development

Knowledge management is one of these words you happen to hear or read all of the time. Thus, let’s talk about it here: what about knowledge management here and development?

If free software gains from always adding up “content” (code, features, etc.) to the existing one, I guess that real syndication would make this real for web content. The core thing is really adding up content by syndication. The article’s example is quite simple but last slides show the door you should knock at to enter a new way of sharing knowledge: no more retyping, no more linking, no more crossnavigating. The navigator does not more travels to content but content to navigator… at his or her own request. And this is GREAT.

And this is the reason e-learning is not self-teaching: e-learner is active but it’s e-teacher’s commitment to ease his path to knowledge. In this framework I do believe RSS improves the e-learning system.

Hey, but wasn’t I talking about development? I am! Back to the free software example: I think that XML and RSS allow or empower the four kinds of free knowledge:

Fourth. The four kinds of free knowledge

Let me adapt the GNU project definition of the four kinds of freedom of free software:

• The freedom to use the knowledge, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the knowledge applies, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source information is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute knowledge so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the knowledge, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source information is a precondition for this.

And man, this is cooperation and this is development. Comments against will be grateful welcome ;)

Swear I’ll rethink about it…

I’ll surely be publishing about some of the very interesting links in the presentation.

BTW, the presentation is sooo well done… :O :)