Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about how to describe my “profession.” I usually describe myself as someone who “helps people collaborate more effectively.” People usually either give me blank stare in response, or, they jump to a wrong conclusion. (The most common is that I sell some sort of software.) This hasn’t simply been a branding exercise. It’s been about looking systemically at what we need to do to improve how we collaborate, understanding what people in my “field” […]
knowledge management
Why Knowledge Management Is a Red Herring
My friend, SJ Klein, recently wrote a provocative essay where he made the case for knowledge as a social infrastructure rather than a commodity. He starts by noting: For ages, learning was assumed to be social, interactive, oral. Written knowledge, where available and somewhat portable, was a specialized complement that few scholars, recordkeepers, explorers and other specialists used or needed. He goes on to explain that while the cost of creating texts dropped, knowledge about the world remained scarce. As a […]