Knowledge does its work best when it's flowing.

I would like to share some thoughts on 'knowledge' with you.

Knowledge can't be treated as an object, but should be treated as a form of energy. This is exactly the reason why rigid KM systems often fail. Most of the effort in these systems is put in constructing the correct metadata, finding the right categorisation and training people the hard discipline to actually do what is necessary. 'Fluidity' of the information and the way people behave naturally is highly undervalued.

Wikipedia says: "Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning. The term knowledge is also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose if appropriate".

Although the 'human-machine interaction' is getting smarter every day, the human-human interaction is still the most effective way to exchange or create knowledge. Human-to-human however, doesn't necessarily equal face-to-face. Social software tools like twitter and yammer are very capable in supporting human-to-human conversations with face-to-face quality. I think this is exactly the reason why these social tools are succesful.

When information is valued or rated by actual people, the acceptance and the level trust is much higher than when a marketing department creates a glossy PDF. Knowledge does its work best when it's flowing. The flowing ignites inspiration. Then leads to action.

I think the new KM systems are the weblogs of people, the wikis of groups and the conversationmechanisms like twitter and yammer. These systems are made by real people, in their time and grow out of interests and passion. Their linking, rating and retweeting causes the collaborative intelligence to excel.

And, if carefully understood by the companies people work for, the companies' goals are integrated and served as well.

Twitter fountain

This widget shows my actual twitterstream.

Building my (digital) reputation

Working on my 'visibility' and 'reputation' both inside and outside the company used to be one of the hardest things to do. "You are only as good as your last presentation", so I was told. 

Up until recent it meant that I had to fight, beg or be smarter than somebody else for a presentation timeslot at management meetings. If I was lucky I was able to present my thoughts once every two or three months. At the same time I had to be very careful not to 'just' give away my creativity to another person who had the opportunity to create more or longer timeslots. 

Also trying to 'please' our journalists 'gods' to write down or at least quote some of the ideas that I thought were useful to publish, was a hell of a job. Either they undervalued it or, more hurtful, they just didn't understand. And what quality of published material do we get when these things get paid a lot of money for?

I realised that building a reputation had more to do with pleasing, begging and paying than with being original and creative.  I'm pleased to say that this painful experience is over. Not only for me, but for everybody who wants to speak up. For everybody who wants to say some-thing. For everybody who wants to be heard.

Yes, I'm still ''only as good as my last presentation", that hasn't changed a bit, but at least I don't have to beg, pay or waste a lot of energy on irrelevant intermediaries. I can write what I want, when I want ... and because I want. Building my digital reputation is something I am responsible for. And what a fine responsibility is that!