Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2000 10:40:54 -0800 | 04 00067 61 00120201 |
unrev-II@egroups.com
km-news@kmci.org
Mr. Andrius Kulikauskas, Ph.D.
Editor
ms@ms.lt
KMCI News
Knowledge Management Consortium, International
312 Fairgrove Terrace, Suite 200
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
..
Subject: | Theory of Knowledge |
Inaugural Issue of km-News |
Hi Team,
Below, is an offer for the DKR team
to join discussions
sponsored by the Knowledge Management Consortium International (KMCI),
which might lead to a coherent theory of knowledge that supports an OHS and DKR
capability sought by Doug Engelbart with SRI's participation.
Work developing and using SDS, since about 1985, led to POIMS, the
New World Order, and other publications for
Communication Metrics,
which explain an
architecture of human thought.
Over the past year the team
has not had enough time to take up these ideas, cited on January 20, 2000,
as a
predicate to project objectives
for developing an OHS/DKR capability.
..
On March 24, 2000,
SRI reported research showing that
every KM project has failed.
More recently,
on November 30, Paul Fernhout submitted an
article to the DKR team reporting that IBM's project
to develop KM by expanding Lotus Notes, in a program called
Raven, is having difficulties due to
lack of a coherent theory of knowledge.
..
This experience indicates that a theory of knowledge is needed to move forward.
On March 27, 2000
Doug Engelbart
cited his 1972 paper that explains the goal to improve
handling of daily working information. Doug's
paper supports the theory of knowledge set out in
POIMS.
..
On April 26, 2000 Doug recommended that the team formulate and
adopt a
Guide to Running
NICs. This effort
would provide experience implementing ideas in Doug's
1972 paper, and, thereby,
lead to a coherent theory of knowledge for creating an OHS/DKR, under
Einstein's
view that "knowledge" is closely related to experience,
which reflects work by Charles Peirce, who formulated an architecture of
human thought grounded in human experience, and was published under the
heading of
Semiotics
during a period that overlapped Einstein's career, as
reported on May 15, 2000.
..
Professor Mary Keeler explained Peirce's ideas on Semiotics during a
presentation at SRI on May 15, 2000.
The record of that meeting sets out
key factors of
knowledge.
None-the-less, on June 15, 2000
the DKR team reported that there is
not enough
knowledge
to create tools for an OHS/DKR that accomplishes Knowledge
Management (KM).
..
On July 13, 2000
Cliff Joslyn,
who heads up the KM effort at the Los Alamos National
Lab (LANL), advised that their group supports Peirce's ideas on Semiotics,
which lead to a practical theory of knowledge.
Cliff was therefore invited to speak at SRI on progress at LANL to develop KM.
On July 27, 2000
Cliff presented a mathematical model showing how
SDS accomplishes KM. No other systems, nor tools, were presented as
capable of supporting KM, consistent with SRI's research, and the recent
report on IBM's difficulties releasing Raven, per above.
..
During this period, the team did not have time to formulate and implement the
Guide to Running NICs, which Doug requested on April 27, 2000 so that
the team could learn KM through the experience of doing KM on a daily basis.
None-the-less, an
experiential record,
within the meaning of a Guide to Running NICs, was maintained in SDS
(see meeting at SRI on October 17).
Additionally, a
doc log was maintained
showing correspondence and references provided
by contributors to the DKR team over the past year. Project documents
are organized and integrated into the context of project objectives, as
contemplated by the Guide to Running NICs. SDS was used to add links and
anchors to each document in order to facilitate collaboration, which
Doug requested
in his OHS/DKR Launch Plan submitted on October 25, 2000.
..
Additionally,
action items
to expedite team progress were submitted, as
shown in the record on September 22, 2000, which demonstrates the close
correlation between action and information that leads to a practical theory of
knowledge, necessary to create useful KM tools.
..
Despite these resources and support, there has not been enough time for
the DKR team to develop a theory of knowledge, called out initially on January
20, 2000, and again by Doug Engelbart on March 7, and again on April 7, and
regularly thereafter over the past year. Limited time is often characterized
as
limited bandwidth;
however, the latter concept is closer to limited span of
attention, rather than reflecting an actual deficit of time. Failure to allocate
time due to limited span of attention goes directly to a theory of knowledge,
based on integrating time and information, set out in POIMS. SDS solves this
by making it easier to apply good "knowledge"
work practices consistently, as
reported by
Dick Karpinski
on February 27, by
Cliff Joslyn
on September 7, and
more recently by
Henry van Eykan
on November 26.
SDS supports repetition of KM tasks day-to-day
that discloses understanding. Without the opportunity to gain
experience from consistent
repetition of basic tasks, no learning can occur due to distractions of daily
life. Without a direct anchor to sound management
practices, the general desire
for KM, devolves into a search for technology that
makes bad management successful, rather than to make good management easier.
It is another of many dilemmas that make KM a secret, as evidenced by the
record cited above.
..
A letter to Henry van Eykan on November 9, 2000 noted this dilemma, and
proposed
education and
experience as the critical factors in building a
culture of knowledge for KM to take root.
..
On November 17, 2000
a notice was received that KMCI is offering a
course of study on a theory of knowledge.
..
Research over the next week or so, led to the conclusion that
KMCI's theory is incomplete; however,
KMCI may have expertise to help the DKR team work on this task,
particularly since KMCI leadership has a strong
interest in solving
world problems,
which, also, motivates
DKR contributors,
shown by the record on November 23, 2000, and
earlier
on January 20, 2000.
..
Earlier, on November 21, 2000
a proposal was submitted to
help the team gain
experience with KM by using SDS
to accomplish Doug's ideas for a Guide to
Running NICs.
Eugene Kim
pointed out on November 26, 2000 that the team can get this done
without SDS by using existing tools. He laid out a comprehensive 6-point
program for taking action.
..
Grant Bowman
cautioned that existing tools make it hard to accomplish
KM.
..
The foregoing record suggests that it is difficult to gain experience doing KM
without SDS, and that to create better tools requires this experience in order
to formulate a theory of knowledge that supports a coherent architecture. This
is an innovation loop, which can only be overcome by fostering a
culture of knowledge
that gives people faith to invest intellectual capital in order to
grow useful knowledge.
..
We know how to do KM, but getting people to actually do KM requires
courage to step over the Rubicon, i.e., a huge emotional divide, between
rewards from "information" that are recognized immediately by biological senses
(e.g., seeing, speaking and hearing), and bigger, but deferred, rewards of
"knowledge" that are devoid of the emotional charge derived from information.
The dilemma arises from the fact that our most cherished asset,
common sense
(see NWO), prevents people from investing time to do KM long enough to
discover that
KM saves time and money,
for the reasons set out in the letter to the
team on September 20, 2000.
..
How does common sense encourage using information technology, and prevent using
KM?
When we get an email, the emotional urge is to immediately send "information"
telling others what we "know," rather than put that letter in the record, and
add subjects and links,
for organization, and alignment for accuracy and context, which lead to
discovering what we know,
and then figure out how to respond, see POIMS.
..
Eugene and
Grant
point out that doing KM without using SDS requires a lot of
diligence, which isn't fun, even if it does yield better results.
..
Looking at the big picture shows that civilization has flourished by creating a
culture of farming, of finance, and a culture of education, which all entail
front-end investment of time and expense, similar to the current
proposal for adopting Knowledge Management, explained in the letter
to the team on November 2, 2000.
..
Therefore, we have to build a culture of knowledge in order to take the
next step in the march of civilization, which requires engaging people in
performing KM. Just as we have constituted folks to do farming, finance and
education, we need folks to do KM, if we are going to move forward. The letter
on October 4, 2000 explained that creating
intelligence
using SDS to do
KM is
fun and effective.
..
This provides a path for accomplishing project objectives and having fun,
rather than worrying about diligence. Since talking about problems and
opportunities can eventually lead to taking action, joining the KMCI news
letter may provide another vehicle for creating a theory of knowledge that will
support development of OHS and DKR.
Sincerely,
THE WELCH COMPANY
Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
..
Copy to:
..
December 2, 2000
DKR Project
unrev-II@egroups.com
..
..
We welcome your KM ideas!
Change starts with a minority.
Unified Knowledge Language
Test Bed for KM
In this inaugural issue, I invite you to join our
discussion group, kmci@egroups.com Future issues will
include reports on the kmci Institute, offering briefings,
workshops, and in 2001, KM certification programs. Visit
the Institute at
..
Do the words Knowledge Management give you ideas? Do you
need a forum to share and pursue them? You are always
welcome at kmci@egroups.com, a gateway for grass roots
activity within and around kmci. Join by sending a blank
message to kmci-subscribe@egroups.com
..
In January 1999, at the kmci conference, I was struck by
how kmci draws together independent thinkers. We came
with ideas that we had worked on for many years, and now we
saw our opportunity to implement them.
Knowledge management (KM) brings together new and old
insights from many disciplines. The words "knowledge
management" imply that "knowledge is an asset, and must be
managed." Our corporate world now acknowledges and even
champions the value of these many KM insights.
..
However, we face a major obstacle: Knowledge has no value
outside of context. Our relationships, inside and outside
of our company, are what give knowledge value. We need to
build these relationships!
kmci@egroups.com is a gateway to help us find others with
similar ideas, so that we might develop and implement them.
..
All are welcome to join. We especially encourage kmci
members, because the goal of kmci@egroups.com is to
multiply our opportunities for leadership and initiative,
so that our ideas can build momentum.
kmci@egroups.com is moderated by the Mincius Sodas laboratory, ms@ms.lt, devoted to caring about thinking. As moderator, I especially wish to nurture points of view that have not yet been accepted by the majority, whether inside or outside the KM community. Change starts with a minority.
UNIFIED KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGE INNOVATOR: David DoddsHow many of us would agree with David Dodds, drdodds42@h...? He believes that computers should become participants in KM practices. He loves the idea of a Unified Knowledge Language (UKL) which would simplify exchange between rules-based systems. Steve Raiff, raiff@b..., came up with simple applications: email templates by which we clarify our expectations for our readers. Dan Jones, djones@m..., confirmed the need for email tagging. Ann Lynn, Ann.Lynn@M..., shared ideas on what portion of knowledge is worth capturing or saving. If David Dodds builds enough critical mass, then he can start an independent working group, which at some point the kmci may officially sanction.
TEST BED FOR KM INNOVATOR: Douglas Weidner
Douglas Weidner, kmci Membership Chair,
Weidner_Douglas@prc.com, wants to structure kmci as a test
bed for the best KM practices. This can happen if we offer
you, our KM leaders, your favorite ways of participating.
What are they? Please, let us know by completing our
survey at:
..
Sincerely,
Andrius Kulikauskas
Editor, km-News
editor.km-news@kmci.org
Knowledge Management Consortium International
http://www.kmci.org
..
Post Script