Cert III in RK - Info Mgt, Chapter 4

Hi team,

Hope that everyone has had a good week.  On the recent edition of Four Corners (ABC), they were discussing the sharing, and selling, of consumer metadata based upon the electronic data that an individual creates.  Very interesting subject and if you have a spare 40 minutes I would encourage you to watch "In Google We Trust" (Reporter Geoff Thompson).  Metadata is everwhere and it can be seen as a commodity!

To follow on from last week's multi tasking activity & discussion, here is an article that I would like to share with you.

Overview of Chapter 4

As we can see from our learning so far, many KMS originated in the late 1990’s. Since then with the advent of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies we have seen that the ways in which the world shares information has changed significantly.

It is important to remember that KM, as with RM, is always changing & evolving. We need to ensure that whatever system we have in place, whether it be for RM, KM or IM (information management), that we review the system in order to make further improvements.

So how do we improve our KMS?

To improve our KMS we need to involve others. Isn't that the whole point, generating new ideas & thoughts & then collating that information? By involving others in the process for continuous improvement we can make educated decisions on how well we are doing things. Involving others means that we seek feedback from others. This means that we can undertake the following;

Gap Analysis - To identify the gaps in the system you need to ask a number of open questions to extract answers from the users. Some questions that you could consider might include

• How is the information currently shared?
• How is the information documented in the KMS?
• How & who is accessing the KMS and how often?

It is always best to ask a variety of open, closed, reflective and probing questions. Refer to page 66 - 67 in your handbook for more info on the groups of questions that you can ask.  Can you add any more questions to the list?

Fig 1 - Courtesy of "eisenbergalex" (Flickr)

Brainstorming - this technique is used to encourage a spontaneous flow of ideas. This type of method is best usually done with smaller groups of up to 12 people. Larger groups of people may need to be broken down into smaller groups as it is easier to manage. Remember you want to encourage people to speak out and offer solutions to your questions. No ideas should be discounted & if time permits you could explore all of these solutions further.

Learning from experience

So you have decided to undertake a review of your KMS. Ideally you would have decided on the process you are going to use to gather user feedback.  We also need to document the lessons learned during the implementation & administration of our KMS.  This enables us to evolve our policy and practices to enhance successful strategies or to avoid re-making mistakes from the past.  Recording this process, both as a record in the conventional sense and as part of the KMS to improve work practices. Bearing that in mind, the KMS must be “captured” as a record for historical, administrative and legal reasons.

Continuous improvement of our systems is a vital first step to ensuring their longevity, relevance and usefulness.  Taking the time out to offer and receive feedback and to learn from our experiences has become a particularly strong feature of knowledge management.  This is likely to do with the very human approach to reflection, and the emphasis on people and communities being the major players, and not the technologies, in knowledge management.

Next week - Chapter 5

Can you believe that next week will be our final week for this subject & for Certificate III?  Wow where did the year go?  I commend you all on your efforts demonstrated throughout the year.  You have all worked so hard in developing your skills in RM.  This is evident in your submissions, countless emails I have received from you & the conversations that we have shared.  I encourage you guys to keep your networks going, even when you complete this course.  You play a vital part in how government operates, by ensuring that the records, information and knowledge is captured, maintained and readily accessible.  Be sure to share your enthusiasm with others!  Show your colleagues how important RM, IM & KM is within the workplace and continue to be the best role model within your agency.

Share the knowledge,
Melisa