• Build a system for aggregating informal content. Much easier to find valuable content when it is in one place.
• Provide tools and training so SMEs can create better informal content.
• Provide minimal support. Some folk just need a bit of help capturing or editing the content. But they control the content that is posted. Think of this as “ID lite.”
• Allow a discussion to take place around the informal content. This can be done by linking a discussion forum to the aggregation system mentioned above (see first item in this list). A good comment system can also suffice.
• Allow content to be voted on. This allows the best informal content to be noticed and the worse to be demoted or hidden once thresholds are met.
• To track informal content, I created quizzes that were in the LMS that when passed, recorded the learning event. After all in the spirit of knowledge acquisition, it does not matter if knowledge was gained via formal or informal means.
• Lastly, create a culture of giveback–so that others learn to share as well.

Google Wave is Google’s answer to the question, “If e-Mail was invented today what would it look like?” Wave is an interesting approach and is still under development, so if you want to use Google Wave, remember that there are no guarantees of performance or stability–though it has been working very well so far.

What is Google Wave? The best visual I can think of is this…

Imagine that you begin writing a note to a friend or friends. You open a blank note/document and start to write. When you are done writing, you send it to your friend(s). Meanwhile you decide to go back and edit the note–your friends have already begun to read the note, and they can see in near real-time that you are adding to the note while they are reading it. This is close to a live chat session–but with one major difference. Playback!

Playback allows someone that comes late to the note to rewind note to the very beginning and then play it forward to see what was added when and by whom.

Couple this with the ability to branch a Wave into a new Wave, and the ability to embed rich media directly into the note and you begin to see the power this platform brings.

If you are interested in gaining access to Google Wave, let me know. I only have a few invitations, so please be sincere in your desire to be part of the extended working group.

For those of us who come from a technology background, it is tempting to believe that the purchase of a knowledge management (KM) system will solve the problems our organizations face by capturing the knowledge from our best and brightest employees. After all, if a computer that’s coupled with a database and connected to the Internet cannot capture information, retain it, and enable rapid retrieval, what can? This is the message we hear from the purveyors of KM solutions.

Though selecting the appropriate software is just as important for implementing KM within an organization as it is for any other project, there is far more to a successful KM initiative than what happens within the IT department. Before software selection is even considered, certain areas of the business must be evaluated. The successful execution of a KM initiative requires support from the CEO and the rest of the C-level executives.

If your organization decides to embark upon a KM initiative, there are a few things you need to know so that you are not caught off guard when the project is launched. You need to know what knowledge is, how it is captured, what interferes with the sharing of knowledge, how knowledge is shared, and how it can be maintained…  Read the full article at MC Press Online.

This article was written in 2004 for MC Press for IT Professionals.