Monday, March 24, 2008

It has finally arrived - Google Sites

A while back I started a little site on Google Apps (www.auskm.com) combined with a group on Google Groups. This is a private group of people who are involved with the coordination of a variety of groups related to Knowledge Management in Australia.

Whilst having a look at Google Apps today I noticed that they have finally added the long awaited Google Sites functionality. This is based on JotSpot that Google bought over 18 months ago and had since been integrated below the radar.

This probably doesn't mean much to people on the surface but what it means in the market is that Google is now offering a wiki solution. Imagine for a minute what that means?

Thanks

Cory

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Defining KM

Ray Sims has recently done some work on collecting 43 definitions for knowledge management.

This has been a recurring theme on the actKM list that gets debated every now and again.

It is interesting when you plug them all into the Many Eyes toolset from IBM and see what the tag cloud looks like. Also try the two word view.


Thanks

Cory

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Using patterns

I reflect on an enjoyable day where I have been refreshing my knowledge about First Aid.

It has been near on 20 years since I undertook my last First Aid course and I still remember going along with my mother and a number of her work mates to several weeks of night classes at the Emerlad Ambulance Station.

I can say the recall on a few things was there and some were even displayed without concious effort (putting a person into a recovery position).

Only a few things have changed and in a more simplified matter. It was a contrast to have an instructor which took an outcome approach. Where as in the past training had been quite pedantic on how to bandage and where to tie a sling, this approach was more about 'fit for purpose'.

The one thing that did ring with me though was his marking of the end of day quiz. The instructor would have spent no more than half a second in browsing the results of the 10 question multichoice quiz to ascertain a persons score. For those of us who passed (> 8/10) this was supported but for those who did not do so well, they questioned how the instructor was able to arrive at the mark with only a cursory glance.

His response was along the lines of "I have marked thousands of these tests and know the pattern of the answers." He was comparing the pattern of valid answers with what appeared on paper as opposed to item by item comparison and validation.

I found this quite refreshing and look forward to the second and final day of my First Aid refresher.

Thanks

Cory