Mathemagenic

Came via w3future.com to days 30 days to a more accessible weblog

This is something to read and to think about. The only problem is that my knowledge about usability is better than my knowledge of HTML, XML and the rest of things I need to make it more usable or accessible.

Five reasons people don't tell what they know reader comments

A well managed and organized LMS (learning management system) database of Learning Events (formal training, on-the-job traianing, single point lessons, mentoring, etc) that each employee has participated in can tell where the knowledge of a workforce "should" reside. Good data mining can then reveal where pockets of certain types of knowledge should reside. These pockets can then be tapped for special projects and assignments. This in conjunction with the proposals put forth in this article could be very powerful.

Something from left to read

Five reasons people don't tell what they know

1. People believe that knowledge is power

...When a company's evaluation, promotion and compensation are based on relative numbers, the perception is that sharing knowledge will (always) reduce the chance of personal success...

So, (1) change the reward system and (2) use other motivators than money.

2. People are insecure about the value of their knowledge

...There are mini-cultures in every organization. Regardless of the overall corporate culture, individual managers and team leaders can nurture a climate for collaboration within their own work group or staff. And the best of these leaders do so by taking the time and effort necessary to make people feel safe and valued. They emphasize people's strengths while encouraging the sharing of mistakes and lessons learned. They set clear expectations for outcomes and clarify individual roles. They help all members recognize what each of them brings to the team. They model openness, vulnerability and honesty. They tell stories of group successes and personal challenges. And most of all, they encourage and respect everyone's contribution...

3. People don't trust each other

People need to trust each other to share, and building this "social capital" takes time

4. Employees are afraid of negative consequences

...Knowledge is highly contextual. It is triggered by circumstance, such as when the "right people" happen to meet at the right time and discover, in the course of conversation, that each has information needed by the other. So two things seem evident: 1) Knowledge sharing has an elusive, circumstantial quality, and 2) It is in the combination (and collision!) of ideas that creative breakthroughs most often occur...

When challenging and stupid ideas are not criticises...

5. People work for other people who don't tell what they know

...Today, informed collaboration is seen as essential for organizational success, and leaders need to make sure that every employee has access to every fact about every aspect of the business--terrifying or not--including finances, competitive products/services and organizational strategy. Moreover, this calls for an increased investment in educational and personal development programs so that all employees have enough practical background to utilize the business data being shared...

In addition, there are more ideas from readers' comments

• people often don't share because they assume there is no need to
• they are isolated physically, mentally and/or socially
• language barriers
• legal issues, particularly when you have joint ownership of companies
• international situations, such as embargos

We had a heated discussion about student assessment yesterday after dinner. A few points:

I do not agree with the point that if instructor comments and student follows these comments this means higher mark. For me giving 9 (Dutch system) means that student is independent in understanding material, transforming it and expressing new ideas. If he (she) is building only on my comments, this is not independent, so it's only 8.

Giving measurable criteria for observing such independence and measuring the quality of someone's own ideas is not an easy task (at least for me). I still rely on intuition - somehow I know it. It works like that for all my courses, in spite of very detailed assessment system with a lot of criteria and certain amount of points for them, I don't really calculate the mark - I know it.

I think that clarifying evaluation criteria is a joint responsibility of student and instructor, so if student would ask "why you did not tell us before?" I would answer "why you didn't ask?" (In fact I'm not so bad and trying to articulate as much as possible, but it not always work).

Hmmm, my evaluation of students is so biased…

Came via Yahoo! Groups: klogs - The Case for using K-logs in Research

It gives ten reasons why klogging fits academic culture and six reasons to resist it. As I could expect it also links to article Blogging thoughts: personal publication as a research tool, the one that encouraged me to start my own log.

There are a few links to follow and read:

• Networking on the Network - something for my PhD
• Manufactured Serendipity to think about the impact of blogging on creating things
• wiki "The case for k-logs in academia"

In any case I should find some time to read more about wiki

Was cleaning my table: I have enormous amount of print outs to read. Trying to set up some priorities. Would be something like:

• KM/HR connections
• communities/training connections
• informal learning (but it's too much!!!)