So what do you do if you don’t switch on your computer before you enter a big, crowded room, like the one we were in this morning for the opening ceremony of the ShareFair in FAO? Not nice to disturb everybody with the typical start sound of Windows, so I decided to take notes and photos with my mobile.
Social reporting at the ShareFair09
While all the facilitators were conscientiously blogging and twitting on their laptops (and one iPhone), I was furiously typing away on my Nokia taking notes. Which has a good side to it: being fast at typing, usually I capture lots of what is being said. Having to type with two fingers on a small keyboard helped me capture just the gist of the opening speeches.
I was also taking photos with my mobile. Quality is not fantastic, but still good enough to catch the spirit of the moment (all the good ones are included in this post).
When I got back to my computer, I transferred the notes and pictures to via Bluetooth, put together the text and edited it.
And here’s the result.
Enrica highlighted the importance of sharing the results of
CGIAR research in innovative ways.
Enrica on screen
Rodney Cooke, IFAD, underlined that
effectiveness depends on how well they share their knowledge with partners. Anton Mangstl, FAO, talked about the recommendation of the evaluation to break down the walls among the thematic areas of expertise inFAO.
Then Geoff Parcell took the floor for a keynote packed with interesting examples of knowledge sharing both from the private and non-profit sector. He explained how the knowledge management strategy at BP came about and illustrated their KM framework.
BP's knowledge management framework (a slide captured from possibly the only one powerpoint slideshow at the ShareFair)
Some key points from the keynote:
There’s no end to the databases that an organization can produce, the problem is that hardly anybody uses it. So KM cannot be considered a mere information system development initiative. There’s no point in producing more.
Knowledge can’t actually be captured, it’s more meaningful looking at KM over a spectrum between connecting people and collecting information. Conversations can work better than reading a great quantity of books.
There are different types of knowledge and each one of us makes sense of it out of their experience. But experience of the world is different, sense making depends on sharing experience. We’re not neutral in this process. Generalising helps us towards a common way of sensing.
The final messages:
- Let knowledge flow don’t manage it.
- Reflection, advocacy and inquiry.
- Recognise the strengths.
- Recognise external knowledge.
- Connect, collaborate, share.
About the last point: it sounds a lot like the ICT-KM’s tagline “Collaborate, Create, Communicate”.
More picks from the keynote in this post from Nadia and this one from Lucie
January 20, 2009 at 8:58 pm
oh and by the way, this is Antonella, not the ICT-KM program as a whole 😉
January 29, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Looks great, though you got to admit the title is misleading. I was convinced to find a page on how to report WITHOUT any type of computer. To me a cell phone or PDA type of machine is also a computer of sorts.
Don’t you think?
A+ Peter
January 30, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Strictly speaking, yes. Practically speaking, maybe…. the point I wanted to make is that you can do something similar – capturing the moment to share it with other people – using a cell phone. Have you seen the array of laptops in the picture? Definitely more comfortable and real-time… Plus, without a proper keyboard your attention works differently. I hope this got through anyway. Thank you for reading!
February 1, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Do you think that the skills we may have lost is that of paying attention. For notes, pen(cil) and paper worked for centuries, does not need booting, connects easily with the brain, can be transported easily and note-taking with speedwriting or shorthand easily outpaces the fastest typist. Even without these skills it is quick.
As a journalist, I am not against taking notes – i do it almost everywhere I go. However, ‘research shows’ (i.e. I just made up this statistic) that 34% of people taking notes on their computers are in fact checking their e-mails and the rest are instant messenging.
There is a parallel with watching tourists walk around a new city. Some video everything with a heavyweight camera, while others walk about with their mobiles above their heads taking pictures of something they have not seen. A very few are looking at where they are and taking it in. Their memories will probably live on longer than the photos!