Info360, AIIM Conference, Washington D.C.

Mark Nolan

March, 22 2011

Liberating Social Networking Tools for Knowledge Management

Agenda

• Why KM?• What do we mean by “Tools”• Why Social?• Anecdotes and Ideas• The Design Challenge• Developing a Plan

2

Why KM?

KM GoalsEmpower employees to leverage the implicit information of the enterprise for competitive advantage

Right information at the right timeAligned with business objectivesProvide a readiness capability

Maintain provenance and discoverability of information.

Easy access and contribution to a domainWidespread recognition of leadership, value of contributions to the enterprise

What do we mean by Social Networking Tools?

…and how are they relevant to Knowledge Management?

Do we mean…

Web 2.0, 3.0 tools• Blogs?• Wikis?• Widgets?• Online communities?• Mobile apps?• Cloud services?

What about…???

• Email?• Discussion Boards?

• Lists?

• Search?

How do we choose the tools we need?

Why Social?

Understanding what constituents are gathering…and how they organize it…

Interpretation

Why Social?

Useful uses of tools

Connecting the dotsCommunicationCreating the Record

Anecdotes and Ideas

Anecdotes

1. Example: Richard R. Schrock, Nobel Lecture December 8, 2005

Anecdotes

3. Communities of Interest, Events,

Anecdotes

2. Example: Major Manufacturer’s Knowledge Councils

Ideas

How do we leverage social networking tools?

IdeasTool’s Application• Manager’s tool – Micro blogging• Product Research tool – Blogs• Knowledge bases -- Discussion boards, Wikies• Program assessments, lessons learned --Team

blogs, workspaces

Contribution and productivity Access through Email Access through Mobile devices Search citations and references

…and don’t forget Search

Network through ResultsSocial Networking based on relevancy of

results Colleague targeting via

search

Just in time searching

Usage Profiling

Assessment

Why do they matter?

Content Requirements 2002

“Chunked” Content

Chunked Content

20

Content is being “chunked” on a nominal basis

Project or Product

Wiki, Lists,

Discussion Boards

Blog, Reports

Content is being “tagged” on a nominal basis

System Tags

Social Tags

Taxonomy

Thesaurus

SystemProduction of Content

But browsers are becoming predictive…

History of use

Identify conceptual values

Targeted respons

e

Day to Day Activities are …

Provide sources, results based on behavior

Populate variables based information

consumption habits

What’s Changing?

Emerging Trends

Semantic-ally rich

text

Browser activity

User Intent

LeadershipIT SupportAwareness

Developing the Plan

Framing the Design Challenge

Expertise & SME

Identification

Contribution &

Sharing (Tagging)

Access & Availability

Relevant &

Useful

Discovery

Contextual Meaning

Provenance &

Authority

Build Relationships and Network

Observe and Identify Trends Among GroupsWhere is the disequilibrium in information exchange?

Explore ContextDevelop Insights Into a the target community’s needs, information consumption habits, use and reuse of information?

Define:• Goals/Tasks• Work environment• Motivation, selection process• Context of use – how they are going to use the information they find, i.e., plan a research project, write a strategic assessment

AUDIENCEMESSAGE

Management Advantage

People Processes Partnership Services Strategy

How it fulfills the overarching corporate strategy

Tech Leaders Efficiency Effectiveness Communicate

mission, priorities, accomplishments

IT STARTS WITH QUESTIONS…

6 Essential Questions

• What are you trying to manage?

Creating Common Vision

• Who are you creating it for?

Know Thy Customer

• How will you organize your work?

Define Scope

• What process will discipline your effort?

Disciplined Methodology

• What factors are critical for success?

Establish Common Language

• What assets are required to support your success factors?

Remember… Less is More

PlanDetermine information priority for access to information; what knowledge are employees seeking?Cluster information domain according to use not departmentIdentify the disequilibrium in knowledge; what is the information exchange? E.g. “Newbie needs help…”Determine enterprise hubs: What system is best suited as a destination point? How easily can it be shared?

HR, R&D, Centers of Excellence, Product Mgmt.How to motivate, incentivized employee ownership, contribution, recognitionDetermine your options to start by what will have the highest impact on the quality of the systemWhat matrices are will determine success?

Plan

What are the key gaps your organization faces in leveraging collaboration tools?Do you know the organization's functional information access requirements by priority?How relevant are the current information systems to employees? Are there traditional gaps these new capabilities can address? e.g. participation, acknowledgement, Are there gaps in the KM that these new tools won’t solve? e.g. adoption, useIs there a common understanding of the value or Wiki, Blogs, Tweets in your organization?Is there an established etiquette? Is it recognized and used?

Plan

Rank: Prioritization of informationChunk: Limited text entrySmart Folders: System taggingBrowser activity: Use values

Determine relevancy of enterprise systems to employeesTest: Use for new initiativesRecap of successful initiatives

Socialize application of tool

Show & Tell (milk and cookies 3:00 pm)

Choose your language wisely; don’t use social networking if it is not an acceptable practice at workProject potential use of networking toolFocus on one tool and do not use the term social networking if it carries some stigmaIllustrate use if you cannot program an exampleCommunicate value (WIIFMe)Offer a definition, purpose for the toolIf certain tools are taboo, change the name, but offer an explanation for how the tool is differentSolicit participants to set up a pilot

RecommendationsResearch what works; pilot a use cases to determine a design fit for purpose between two organizations

Align the pilot with a business initiative; top down directiveSelect the development of a new initiative, the target purpose of KM in the organizationDetermine interdependencies among two business groupsIdentify a scope that can be executed and analyzed in 1 quarter (less than three months)

Be prepared to provide IT with a design, the rationale, and a plan

Nominally, an out of the box configuration will not give you the solution you needBe prepared to explain why and what your priorities are

References

End

References

Information Design work 2000 to 2010“Watercooler: Exploring an Organizatoin Through Enterpirse Social Media, Michael J. Brzozowski, HP Labs, Palo Alto, CA

Photos & Images

Information Design work 2000 to 2010“Watercooler: Exploring an Organizatoin Through Enterpirse Social Media, Michael J. Brzozowski, HP Labs, Palo Alto, CAImages, Michael Mahoney, Senior User Experience Architect, MicroLink LLC