I'm strictly an amateur in the field of content management and *knowledge management*. But since weblogs are considered to be a species of content management tool, I get exposed to all sorts of bits and pieces of information and concepts about KM and CM as I read my favorite blogs.
Currently, I've just come across Richard MacManus's post called The Passion of the Information Flow. Richard is undertaking to evangelize and introduce wiki's and blogs into his corporate environment. And I've got a free ticket. I am excited to see him putting his *money* where his mouth is in the real world where he works.
Richard turned me on to TWiki creator, Peter Thoeny's presentation on the use of Wiki's in the corporate world which is a treasure trove of wiki nuggets about wikis and leading edge km. Richard culled a quote from Thoeny's presentation that comes from an intriguing-sounding book called Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation:
"knowledge cannot be managed, it can only be enabled."So true. We need environments where knowledge can be fruitfully exchanged. Where mavens, thinkers and observers are emboldened and drawn to participate in the "flow of information". But then, that's the way my mind works best - it blends and bends things. I'm not the systematic type. More the ADD type I would think.
The reason my blog has lots of original content (original to me at least) is that I have a terrible memory for facts, figures and sources. I frankly discard the data and have little interest in it to begin with. An extreme N on the Myers-Briggs scale, I rarely remember the ingredients that go into my beliefs and concepts. I like to immerse myself in the chaotic streams of ideas, experiences and information I find on the web - especially in blogs. New ideas and insights seem to sprout in abundance from this fertile ground.
Think tanks, R&D facilities and creativity sessions are friendly to this type of environment or at least try to be. Artists take to this sort of thing sometimes and perhaps Bohemian and Psychedelic culture have taken it to the max. Corporate culture tends towards control, line of command, corporate espionage and public image. Almost the antithesis, formally, of a knowledge enabling environment.
Fortunately, humans will be humans, and underneath the corporate veneer lies a hotbed of gossip, politics, water-cooler *chit-chat* and informal lines of communication. It pleases me greatly that weblogs and wikis seem to be infiltrating and making little incursions into corporate denizens. Good blogs here and there within the corporate walls can generate a readership and participation with or without corporate approval. There's always the threat of pseudo blogs stripped of their authentic voice and individuality. But these wither. Truth will out.