Knowledge Management Systems Week 1 Schedule —

Knowledge Management Systems • Week 1 Schedule - Web Site • http: //www. ischool. utexas. edu/~i 385 q - Syllabus Review - Personal Introductions - BREAK - Readings Discussion

The Big Question(s) • How can KMS help people coordinate, discover & organize information and knowledge? • How can intranets, groupware, weblogs, wikis, instant messaging, search engines, PIMs & email in both individual and organizational contexts help us manage knowledge? • Are certain types of KMS suitable for certain types of tasks, groups or roles?

Syllabus and Topics Overview • Weekly Work - Readings • Primary • Secondary - Blogging - Class Work - Discussions • Participation is the key to getting something out of this course • Cooperation & Collaboration with others in class

Assignments • Discussions - Class discussions - Class blog • Presentations - Book report (see Assignments page) - Weekly topic (Secondary readings) • KMS evaluations - Examine a KMS for utility, practicality & potential - Use the KMS for an extended period • Research Papers - Gradual, weekly assignments for full paper

Rules for Assignments - All assignments due at the absolute beginning of class (do not be late) - Late assignments are penalized 20% per 24 hour period after the beginning of class • You are responsible for making sure the assignment is received • E. g. Due at Noon today, turned in tomorrow at Noon = 20%. Turned in a week later = 0. • Arrangements can be agreed upon for known issues - Travel, Serious Illness or Work - Do not mail attachments to me unless agreed upon - Make assignments Web accessible • When required, notify class of your assignment via blog or class listserv • Posting or sent email times count as submission times

Tools for KMS work • Web browser (HTTP) - Firefox • News or Feed Reader (RSS, Atom) - Web Based • Google reader - Windows • Feed. Demon • Thunderbird (also for email) - Macintosh • Net. News. Wire (Lite version) • Blog posting tool (XML-RPC) - Mars. Edit - Ecto

Tools for Graduate School • Text creation & editing tool - Spell & Grammar checking (not a substitute for proofreading) Formatting & Style markup XHTML Output (not MS Word) Learn one tool well, rather than many tools a little • Bibliography (Information Database) - End. Note • Notes, Information Management tools - One. Note - Omni. Focus - Text files • Analysis - Calculations - Charts

KMS & Tools • Tools make the rules - The functionality of what you use defines the possibilities of your work - Learning a few tools well makes work more productive • Use tools that support collaboration - Open file formats - Easy availability • Where to find tools - i. School IT Lab Campus Computer Store Versiontracker. com & Download. com Sourceforge. net

Types of Blogging Systems • Why not blog yourself? • Putting Weblogs to Work • Blog Tools - Blogger Movable Type. Pad Live. Journal Radio Userland Word. Press • Class Blog: Word. Press

Personal Introductions • • • Why KM? Tools you use to organize your information Tools you use to organize your knowledge? Background that might be applicable Anything else

Readings Discussion • Prusak, L. Where Did Knowledge Management Come From? • Ruggles, Rudy. (1998) The State of the Notion: Knowledge Management in Practice. California Management Review. Vol 40, No. 3. pp 80 -90.

Where did KM come from? • Replacement for Info Mgmt or MIS? • Globalization (Competition) • Ubiquitous Information Technology - Organizing information to get to knowledge - IT Costs are small(er) • Support & training vs. Hardware & software - We can capture knowledge as developed • Knowledge Centric Organizations - Personal knowledge more valuable than before - “judgment, design, leadership, better decisions, persuasiveness, wit, innovation, aesthetics, and humor” i. e. more focus on people than before - Strategic Approach for Working with Knowledge as Core Function of the Organization

Where did KM come from? (2) • • Not just about moving data around Help organizations do things (k centric) Focus on Users, not Technology Sociology - “Human Capital” - Social Networks • Philosophy - “know how” & “know what” • What other fields apply to KM?

So is KM just recycled? • Back, but to the Future? - Is the pendulum swinging away from KM? • Information Management - User focus • Quality Movement - Information development & coordination quality • Human Capital - Individuals are the assets - Improve personal and group work • Not re-engineering the organization - Cutting and optimizing without much future focus - IT can replace people • Outsourcing non-critical (KM producing) tasks

State of the Notion: KM in Practice • 1998, Broad Study of 431 Corporations • Activities - Generating new K Accessing K from outside Using K in Decision Making Embedding K in work Representing K in technology Facilitating K growth Transferring K Measuring K (p 81)

KM Efforts Underway

Accomplishing KM - How can any one, any group do all these? • Is the Journey to KM the Reward? • Does making people aware of Knowledge help to establish KM? • Can a focus on rewarding and acknowledging KM work enable KM in an organization? • How can a KMS help or hinder the KM process?

KM Project Priorities

KM & KMS Challenges • • Is it possible to get beyond a buzzword? Can technology solve everything? Can people solve everything? Can organizations and groups solve everything?

KM Difficulties

KM Barriers

A new view of KM • Technology - Innovation - Adoption - Implementation • People - Behavior - Personality • Organizations - Culture - Industry - Environment

KM as a Network • Networking metaphors are apt - Routing (around damage) Frequency Latency Information Gain Entropy Chaos and Complexity Theory - The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. • is the greater than Knowledge?

Questions about KM or KMS? • • • Terminology Theories Empirical studies System descriptions Organizational environments

Class Work: what’s a KMS? • Features that a distributed knowledge collection tool should have - Collaboration Coordination Creation Collection (retrieval) • What would you look for to determine whether to build or buy for a blog system? - Platform Content Management Open format Extensibility • Group blogs or individual blogs - Feeds, trackback and guest accounts - Tracking multiple blogs - specialized vs. generalized

Topic Selection (next week) • Choose a topic (week) to overview & lead the discussion about our readings - What was interesting about the readings? What were the great ideas? What were bad ideas? How can the concepts be used by people or organizations? • How can a KMS help coordinate, discover, organize information & knowledge? • Your own point of view about KM, KMS + the practicality & promise of these tools and procedures