actKM meeting 1 July 2008, Facilitating Knowledge Management Buy-in from Senior Executives
Facilitating Knowledge Management Buy-in from Senior Executives through
Challenge Sessions - a Construction industry case-study
Dr Michael Nelson is a Canberra based management consultant working for ThirdHorizon Consulting. He has been helping clients improve knowledge and document management over 10 years, throughout Australia, Asia, and EMIEA.
Last year he developed a knowledge management strategy and blueprint for a large Middle Eastern construction company based in Athens, Greece. The company had experienced dramatic growth doubling in size in just 18 months resulting in staff numbers of 120,000 by 2007. Previously effective informal knowledge sharing networks had become fragmented, and the company had decided to evaluate whether formally investing in improved knowledge sharing would be beneficial. As part of the initial business case for KM a 'Challenge Session' was developed to determine and improve the level of KM buy-in by senior executives. The session used a combination of KM maturity model benchmarking, evidence based as-is analysis, best-practice case-studies, and discussions aimed at achieving consensus to build a core team of senior level advocates. Michael will discuss the Challenge Session,and talk about the case-study in general.
Date 1 July 2008
Place: National Library of Australia Conference Room
Time: 5.30-7.30pm
Please note this is a rescheduling of the April actKM meeting
Conference 2008 - Call for Submissions
The ActKM 08 Organising Committee is pleased to provide the opportunity for interested parties to submit proposals for actKM 08.
actKM 08 will be held on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th of October 2008 at University House, Australian National University (ANU) Canberra, Australia. The theme for actKM 08 is ‘Managing Knowledge for Competitive Advantage’ and actKM 08 is being designed to address the crucial issue of how we realise value from knowledge management activities.
actKM 08 will again be highly participative and interactive.
We are seeking submissions with a preference for interactive/experiential activities that engage conference participants in a learning or competitive environment to foster understanding and facilitate an effective knowledge transfer. Submissions are requested by 9 June 2008.
One complementarity pass to the conference will be provided for each presentation.
Continue reading "Conference 2008 - Call for Submissions" »
actKM World Cafe 6 May 2008
Topic: How can KM practices can contribute to volunteer/community organistions
Nerida Hart and Mark Schenk will lead an actKM workshop using World Cafe Techniques, a conversational knowledge management technique to rapidly generate and share knowledge on a topic.
This activity is the actKM contribution to Information Awareness Month, May 2008
A number of representatives from volunteer/community organistions have been invited along for this event and we hope to have a interactive workshop on exploring possible KM techniques that could be used by these type of organizations.
For more information on World Cafe watch this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fSnbzUcQ44
Place: CSIRO Discovery Centre, Black Mountain Laboratories, Clunies Ross Street, ACTON
Date: 6 May 2008
Time: 9:30 am - 12.00 noon
Morning tea provided
Price: gold coin donation on entry
RSVP to karna.o'dea@abs.gov.au
Inquiries to: David Williams, david.williams@deewr.gov.au
Ph: 02 6121 3714 or 0412 237 695
actKM monthly Forum on 11th of March
Narrative and social computing
Speaker: Dave Snowden
We live in a world where everything is fragmented. Blogs represent fragmented conversations and comments that link and connect in unpredictable and unstructured ways. When we ask people for advice we don't receive fully constructed stories, instead we get fragments or anecdotes that we can blend and connect with out own experience.
In these worlds no one asks "How can we create a knowledge sharing culture", knowledge sharing comes naturally. One reason is that the nature of narrative and many aspects of social computing reflect the way our brains have evolved to handle knowledge and collaboration - fragmented, messy and unstructured in many ways the antithesis of much of the focus of knowledge management over the last decade and more.
This presentation will look at how social computing and narrative can be used to re-energise knowledge management programmes and provide radical reduction in costs while increasing effectiveness. It will look at some of the pragmatic issues of using tools such as wikis and suggest ways in which organisations can use the power of the blogosphere within a structured environment without destroying its vitality.
Where: National Library of Australia Theatrette
When: 5.30 for 6 pm on 11th March 2008
Cost: $5 donation for drinks and nibbles
Hope to see you all then
Nerida
March actKM Forum
We are pleased to announce our guest speaker for the 11th of March actKM Forum will be Dave Snowden. Topic will be announced soon.
Venue will be the National Library of Australia Theatrette
Time 5.30 to 7 pm.
We will be going out to dinner afterwards for anyone who would like to join us.
Nerida Hart
Deputy Convenor
actKM
actKM meeting, 5th February 2008, 5.30pm-to finish
Liz Bennett will talk about The ATO Model Office - a knowledge-sharing initiative to improve change
outcomes
The ATO Model Office uses a range of innovative techniques to visualise
and communicate with stakeholders about the impacts of change
initiatives. These techniques have been used to improve decision-making,
ensure integration across the enterprise, expose key design issues,
facilitate issues management, achieve buy-in, and assist deployment
teams. Liz Bennett is the Manager of the Model Office and will talk
about the work of the team and the techniques they use and provide
examples of products they have developed to improve change outcomes.
Date: 5 February 2008
Time: 5.30pm to finish
Where:
Land and Water Australia Board Room, Level 2, Phoenix Apartments, 86 Northbourne Avenue Braddon
Contact Melanie Randall, melanie.randall@lwa.gov.au if you wish to come
Canberra actKm meeting 11 December 2007
Don Bartley of the ABS will speak about the ABS Communities of Interest in
the Technical Services Division at the actKM meeting at ABS House, Wickens
Conference Room at 5.30pm on 11 December
$4.00 for refreshments would be appreciated
if you wish to come please RSVP karna O'Dea
jkodea@netspeed.com.au
Conference Presentations Now Available
The presentations from this year's conference have now been loaded to the site, and are available at:
http://www.actkm.org/presentations.php
Thank you to all the presenters.
actKM conference program
The new conference program is now up for your information. Take a look - there is still time to register this weekend!
actKM August 14th Monthly Meeting
"The Seven Deadly Sins of KM" or "Why It's Hard to Be Virtuous in KM"
with Patrick Lambe
Date: 14th August 2007
Time: 5.30 to 7 pm
Venue: National Library of Australia 4th floor conference room
For more information on Patrick's presentation on the 7 deadly sins of KM see his blog at www.greenchameleon.com
Patrick will have limited copies of his book “Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness” (Chandos: 2007) available for sale at the discounted price of AUD$68 see http://www.organisingknowledge.com/ for detailed information on Patrick's book.
Wine, tea and coffee and nibbles will be provided before, during and after Patrick's talk to enable you to network with your KM colleagues.
If you would like to come please RSVP Nerida Hart for numbers at neridahart@optusnet.com.au
actKM Monthly Meeting 3 July 2007
JULY actKM Meeting
Paul Oglethorpe (Australian Parliament KM Manager) will present on:
Perspectives and developments within KM at Parliament House
Date: 3 July 2007
Time: 5.30pm
Venue: Menzies Room, National Archives of Australia
Wine, tea and coffee and nibbles will be provided after Paul's talk to enable you to network with your KM colleagues.
If you would like to come please RSVP Karna O'Dea for numbers at jkodea@netspeed.com.au.
actKM presents KM101
actKM is proud to present KM101 for Information Awareness Month.
This is a half day workshop from 9.00am-12.30pm on Friday 25th May 2007.
For full details please click on the KM101 link on the right.
The presentations for KM101 are now available in the actKM Knowledgebase. Click here to access them.
actKM2007 Conference
The second call for papers has now closed.
Stay tuned for further announcements.
actKM 2007 Conference
The dates for the conference have now been set as 23-24 October 2007.
The second call for papers is open and closes on 4th May.
For more information please refer to the conference page using one of the links on this page.
actKM Monthly Meeting 3 April 2007
The next actKM monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 3 April in the Menzies Room of the National Archives of Australia building (East Block), Parkes from 5.30 until 7pm. As with all actKM monthly meetings, attendance is free and open to all comers. A donation of $5 is sought from those wishing to partake of the drinks and nibbles provided.
Due the terrific interest and participation in the 10 best readings on KM, we are inviting everyone to bring along their favourite book on KM and argue why it should be in the top 10. We haven't met for a few months due to competing priorities and it will be great to catch up with those locals who can make it. We will publish the outcomes of the discussion on the list for those unable to get there.
We look forward to welcoming you to this event.
actKM2007 Conference
The actKM 2007 conference will take place in October 2007 and the call for papers has been released.
For more information and a copy of the call for papers refer to the 2007 conference page using the menu on the left of this page.
actKM Monthly Meeting 5 December
actKM will be holding a general discussion on future events and planning for the actKM community and options for next year's actKM conference to be held in October 2007. Come along and have your say.
This will be combined with our Christmas drinks - $5 donation at the door.
actKM Monthly Meeting 3 October
The next actKM monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 3 October in the Menzies Room of the National Archives of Australia building (East Block), Parkes from 5.30 until 7pm. As with all actKM monthly meetings, attendance is free and open to all comers. A donation of $5 is sought from those wishing to partake of the drinks and nibbles provided.
The presentation will be by Mark Schenk and is titled 'Making Meaning in 21st Century Organisations'. The presentation will describe why organisations are seeking to complement their decision making and analytical skills with a range of sense- and meaning-making capabilities. A range of approaches to providing these capabilities will also be described.
We look forward to welcoming you to this event.
actKM Monthly Meeting - A Network Analysis of the actKM Community of Interest
The next actKM monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 5 September in the Menzies Room of the National Archives of Australia building (East Block), Parkes from 5.30 until 7pm. As with all actKM monthly meetings, attendance is free and open to all comers. A donation of $5 is sought from those wishing to partake of the drinks and nibbles provided.
Social Network Analysis and Organisational Network Analysis are techniques that are attracting a lot of interest from knowledge practitioners and managers alike. (A cursory examination of the 2006 postings to the actKM list confirms this assertion). Similarly consultants are jumping onto the bandwagon and touting these techniques in the marketplace. The problem is these techniques if employed without an understanding of the underlying assumptions of network theory, as well as some understanding of the mathematical algorithms behind the software, can produce spurious results.
In this presentation Graham Durant-Law will demonstrate the output of USENET, Net Draw and NetMiner, using the 2006 postings to the atom list as the case study, noting the analysis is a network analysis rather than a social network analysis. The presentation will highlight the need to understand the raw data and be careful in interpreting the results.
Graham is a doctoral candidate at the University of Canberra, and in his day job works on the Australian Defence Force's award winning knowledge management system colloquially known as TARDIS. A detailed biography is available at http://www.durantlaw.info/my_biography.htm . Details on his doctorate can be found at http://www.durantlaw.info/my_phd.htm .
actKM Monthly Meeting 1 August - 'The Value of a Story'
The next actKM monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 1 August in the Menzies Room of the National Archives of Australia building (East Block), Parkes from 5.30 until 7pm.
Our speaker will be Jim Wiblin and the title of the presentation is ‘The Value of a Story’. Jim will describe the innovative use of stories within Centrelink and this will be a topic not to be missed.
As with all actKM monthly meetings, attendance is free and open to all comers. A donation of $5 is sought from those wishing to partake of the drinks and nibbles provided.
actKM monthly meeting 4 July
The next actKM monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 4 July in the Menzies Room of the National Archives of Australia building (East Block), Parkes from 5.30 until 7pm. Colette Raison and Kate Muir will present on the topic of Knowledge Audit, using case study examples from public sector organisations.
As with all actKM monthly meetings, attendance is free and open to all comers. A donation of $5 is sought from those wishing to partake of the drinks and nibbles provided
actKM Monthly Meeting 6 June
'EXCHANGE' BRINGS VEGETATION KNOWLEDGE TO LIFE
The next actKM monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday 6 June in the Menzies Room of the National Archives of Australia building (East Block), Parkes from 5.30 until 7pm. Dave Carr, the Technical Capacity Manager for Greening Australia will talk about 'Exchange - The National Vegetation Knowledge Service'. Vegetation practitioners are now being connected to current research and relevant researchers through this service
Launched by Greening Australia in 2003, this innovative service provides a mechanism for delivering answers to regional vegetation management questions through the exchange and distribution of information between researchers, practitioners, states and regions.
Exchange also conducts an incentive fund for activities and events that promote the transfer of knowledge and information from on-ground projects, as well as incorporating the latest scientific knowledge back into community activities. Already Exchange has supported:
An in the water forum/field day in Tasmania to consider practical aspects of land and water management actions that effect riparian and in-stream characteristics of rivers for a broad audience
A local government forum in Gippsland
A bus tour of the oil mallee industry in WA to allow farmers, mallee growers and members of the Oil Mallee Association to come together to assess the progress of the pilot wood processing facility and discuss with industry and researchers the future and direction of this newly emerging industry
As with all actKM monthly meetings, attendance is free and open to all comers. A donation of $5 is sought from those wishing to partake of the drinks and nibbles provided.
There but for the grace of God...
As part Information Awareness Month, actKM is sponsoring an event on 31 May examining some of the implications of the Palmer, Comrie and NAA Reports for our own organisations. The details are shown below:
Topic: There but for the grace of god ... RM, IM and KM lessons from the Palmer, Comrie and NAA reports
Date: 31 May 2006
Time 2 to 5.30 pm
Place: National Library 4th floor conference room
Afternoon tea sponsored by AGLIN.
RSVP to Mark Schenk actKM Convenor, mark@anecdote.com.au or mobile 0412429 852
Presented as a joint activity - actKM, RMAA, ASA, IIM, ALIA, APSKM, AGLIN
It's not hard to see some (probably many) of the issues covered in the Palmer, Comrie and NAA reports in our own organisations. Anyone who is interested in discussing the implications of these reports and the lessons we can take back to our own organisations is invited to attend this event.
The event will be run using a technique called Open Space Technology. Open Space is widely used where the desired outcomes include not only information transfer, but also building relationships, empowering participants and producing coordinated, documented and action-oriented outcomes. For participants, the only requirements for attending an Open Space event are:
Before the event, think about the issues and/or implications arising from the various reports, and identify issues they are passionate about or concerned with, bring an open mind and be prepared to be surprised and have fun.
actKM Forum 2 May
Eyeing the Knowledge Management Seas: Exploring the Surface and Delving its Depths
Knowledge management is an approach that seeks to explore how the knowledge of organisational members can be improved, shared and exploited. The current sea of knowledge management practices that we observe as we sail across its surface focuses on intellectual pursuits, including organisational learning and intellectual capital. These are of course necessary, but they may also tend to limit the potential of KM. They may also help explain why many KM ventures fail and why KM has trouble gaining the attention of senior executives.
This presentation will explore this hidden assumption that intellectual knowledge is the only lens for creating and sharing knowledge. Other eyes for seeing and sense-making will be canvassed by diving underneath the ebb and flow of the knowledge waves and delving into the depth of the knowledge seas. When we open our eyes underwater, the aim will be to see other KM elements that are invisible to those on the knowledge management surface.
The presentation will also explore how an organisation can change its approach in order to maximise the use of these different forms of non-intellectual knowledge.
Two warnings. This presentation makes heavy use of alliteration and metaphor. Secondly, this presentation may challenge some people's unconscious assumptions about KM.
Luke Naismith is a Corporate Strategy Manager with the Victorian Government's Department of Justice. Previously he had more than 19 years experience in the Australian Public Service in information and knowledge management, information economy public policy and structural convergence issues and a short period of time as Director of Knowledge Futures Consulting. Luke has been a long-standing committee member of the Standards Australian KM Committee and has recently completed his Masters of Science in Strategic Foresight.
Where: National Archives (East Block) from 5.30 to 7 pm
actKM Monthly Meeting - 4 April 2006
The next monthly meeting will be a joint actKM/AGLIN forum to be held on 4 April 2006. The speakers are Nerida Hart and Tracey Bicknell from the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The subject is "Qualitative evaluation of library and information research services using narrative techniques"
Time: 5.30-7.00pm Place: National Archives of Australia (East Block) - Menzies Room
actKM Monthly Meeting - 7 March 2006
The next actKM Forum monthly meeting will be held next Tuesday evening the 7th of March 2006 in the Menzies Room at National Archives of Australia (East Block) from 5.30 to 7 pm. The meeting will be an interactive session reflecting on the recent disappearance of the actKM yahoo group and our transition to a new list platform, and the lessons that we can learn from these events regarding the resilience of virtual communities of practice.
Drinks and nibbles will be available for a donation of $5.
I look forward to seeing you there.
actKM Forum meeting 7 February 2006
The first actKM monthly Forum will be held next Tuesday evening the 7th of February in the Menzies Room at National Archives of Australia (East Block) from 5.30 to 7 pm.
Topic: KM implications of the Palmer and Comrie reports for all organisations.
The discussion will be led by the actKM executive group with a short presentation which is a summary of the findings of Palmer.
We will cover:
What were the main issues?
Do they relate to all organisations?
Were they preventable?
Were cultural issues the main concern?
How would a KM strategy and set of practices work towards prevention of these incidents?
The Palmer and Comrie reports are investigations of incidents in the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and can be found on the Department's web site at www.immi.gov.au
Drinks and nibbles available for a donation of $5.
We look forward to seeing you all there and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Nerida Hart
actKM Discussion List is live
Thanks to the great support from Ron Rogers (WEBY Systems) our website developer, a Disussion List server is now live on the website (see the button on the left of the actKM homepage, third from the top). This permanently replaces our Yahoo! Groups discussion list. The basic functionality is the same. Once subscribed, you can post messages that will be distributed to the email addresses of the list members. You can select whether you receive individual messages or a daily digest.
Today, a list of 1075 email addresses were invited to subscribe to the list. We lost the actKM membership list and associated email addresses (about 1550 of them) when the list disappeared. We have generated our list using an extract from Yahoo we took in early 2005 - so there will be lots of people who don't know about the new group arrangements. Please help to pass the word on to those who were members.
There is also an actKM Forum link on the left of the home page. This is a separate application we can use for specific topics that not everyone wants or needs to particpate in, such as the KM Certification debate last year. The 'Discusssion List' and 'actKM Forum' have separate subscription processes - only because considerable programming and time would be needed to create a single registration and login process for both.
Launching the new actKM website
Welcome to the new and improved actKM website. While the launch is overshadowed a bit by the recent disappearance of the group's Yahoo! discussion list, it is nonetheless a significant step in actKM's development.
As you can see, the website is centred on a blog that we will use for general news and admin stuff. We have a discussion list server that will continue to be the main hub of member activity, and we have a forums area for discussions that are being pursued by a subset of the group, such as the KM certification debate last year.
Welcome, and enjoy!
Disappearing KM Groups
The original act-km group hosted on Yahoo! disappeared without notice or reason on 15 January 2006. With the group went seven years of messages, all our files and the 1500-odd email addresses of the people who formed the basis of the actKM community. We are trying to get some explanations and action from Yahoo! but no success so far. Other KM groups including KM Malaysia and NCSI-KM-Forum (India) were also affected.
A new yahoo group (titled 'actkm') has been formed as an interim measure till we figure out the best way forward. We will use the new group as a way of communicating with group members i the interim. Note the slightly different group name of 'actKM' - we didn't form a new group using the old 'act-km' name as we don't want to jeopardise any chance of getting the group re-created. Please 'join' the new group so we can keep you posted on developments. The url to join the new group is http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/actkm/
Most importantly, please let everyone you know who is an actKM member know about this new group and encourage them to join asap. We don't want to lose the great community that is actKM.
