Cybrargonians on the Net #7a

By Terry Brainerd Chadwick, InfoQuest! Information Services

This column was originally scheduled for the November issue of the Oregonized Librarian newsletter, but wasn't published until the Spring issue. Therefore, this is an update of the column on Knowledge Management resources published on the Net in November 1996, with updated links and a new Fun Sites section. If you're a game show fan, you'll enjoy our Fun Sites section.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (KM)

The big buzz word today in business is Knowledge Management, particularly in regards to corporate intranets. Knowledge Management can be described as "the systematic process of finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting knowledge in a way that improves an employee's comprehension in a specific area of interest." (Knowledge Management Server) Given this definition it would seem that librarians -- those people trained in the organization, analysis, retrieval, and dissemination of information and knowledge -- should be in the thick of implementing KM within their organizations. But once again -- as in the appropriation of "information services" by computer professionals -- we haven't had been a major influence in the development of this field.

It's not too late. To bone up on KM, visit some of the sites listed below. To find out how to get involved in making KM work within your organization, join the new Knowledge Management for Librarians mailing list described later in this column.

A Business Researcher's Interests: Organizational Knowledge Management & Organizational Learning
By Yogesh Malhotra
This is a major index site for knowledge management issues with sections on articles, books & bibliographies, tools for knowledge management, WWW knowledge management resources, and related topics. If it's on the Net and it has to do with KM, it's probably listed here. This is a particularly useful index because it contains an introduction that describes Knowledge Management and the author’s favorite sites are annotated.
http://www.brint.com/OrgLrng.htm

Thomas Bertel's Learning Organization Home Page
This is one of the most thoughtful pages dealing with the overall issue of intelligent organizations. Although the focus is on the concept of "learning organizations," there are links to resources about the narrower field of knowledge management as well.
http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~jseng/tom/home.htm

Knowledge Management Server
This page, developed by students participating in the Masters in Business Information Management Department of the University of Texas at Austin, is dedicated to the investigation and exploration of the topic of Knowledge Management as it relates to the business world of today. It contains a KM FAQ and glossary, resource reviews, and a list of publications about KM.
http://knowman.bus.utexas.edu/index.htm

Climbing the Value Chain: A Case Study in Rethinking the Corporate Library Function
by Nancy Lemon, Leader Knowledge Resource Services Owens Corning
This article describes the Owens Corning Corporate Library's use of knowledge management to move from being just a "library" to becoming a provider of Knowledge Resource Services for the company.
Online Magazine, November 1996.
http://www.onlineinc.com/onlinemag/NovOL/lemon11.html

Reality Check: Uneasy Pieces, Part 1: Knowledge Management
By Anne Stuart, senior editor at CIO
This article describes what knowledge management is, how it works, what it promises and the pit, falls. The page also contains links to knowledge management information on the Internet.
CIO Magazine, June 1, 1996.
http://www.cio.com/CIO/060196_uneasy_1.html

Webmaster's Intranet Resource Center
CIO Magazine has a special section on Intranets called the Intranet Resource Center. Besides the usual resources, it contains a special section on case studies that have been written up in their magazines, including a number which focus on or discuss the librarian's roll in the process.
http://www.cio.com/WebMaster/wm_irc.html

KM Metazine
The Knowledge Management Metazine is produced by Knowledge Transfer International (KTi). It is available as an executive summary called KM Briefs in Acrobat PDF format and as the full text KM Metazine in both HTML and PDF formats. Issue 1 KM Metazine is on "Knowledge, productivity and competitiveness; " Issue 2 is about "Who owns knowledge management?" and Issue 3 is called "The 'knowledge worker' gets down to business." Articles include a summary of top firms knowledge management programs, the terminology of knowledge management, skills needed in a Chief Knowledge Officer, moving from information worker to value worker, as well as descriptions of conferences and other upcoming events in the field.
http://www.ktic.com/topic6/km.htm

Knowledge Management Forum
Hosted by Bo Newman
This is a web forum peopled by practitioners in the field, who discuss the theories, methods, and practices of Knowledge Management. The forum contains discussions on what knowledge management is and isn't. This does not appear to be an active forum that encourages questions from the public. The site also includes a definition of KM, a bibliography, papers in KM, related links, as well as information in how to become involved in the forum.
http://revolution.3-cities.com/~bonewman/

Knowledge Management for Librarians (libknow-l)
InfoQuest! Information Services announces the launch of a new mailing list discussion group called Knowledge Management for Librarians, aka libknow-l.

This mailing list is sponsored by InfoQuest! Information Services. It is designed to be a forum for librarians and information specialists to discuss the issues of how to manage knowledge in our, or our clients’, companies and organizations. The main topics include how to get librarians involved in our organizations' efforts to implement knowledge management and intranets; the general issues of knowledge, information and library management; technical and systems questions related to the issue of knowledge management and intranets, etc. Secondary topics would be related to general library-related questions, including some research questions. The list will also contain announcements from the Oregon Chapter of SLA.

To subscribe, send mail to:
majordomo@teleport.com
In the body of the message type:
subscribe libknow-l

This is a confirmation-based mailing list, so after you send the message to subscribe, you will receive two messages back from the listserver, one of which contains the confirmation number that you need to send back to majordomo in order to complete your subscription.
To participate in the discussion group, send messages to:
libknow-l@lists.teleport.com

Update:
The Intranet Journal, featured last issue, also contains a lot of information about knowledge management. It has a discussion forum called Intranet Soundings that is a good place to find information about intranets and knowledge management issues. The Journal has a new address:
Intranet Journal: http://www.intranetjournal.com/
Intranet Soundings: http://www.intranetjourlnal.com/ijx/

FUN STUFF

Are you a game show fan? Do you yell out Jeopardy answers before the contestant on the screen hits the button. Have you always wanted to be on a game show and strut your stuff? On the WWW, your dreams can come true.


This pop trivia game, which is updated twice a week, could also be called Twisted Jeopardy. They boast that if you think you're good at trivia, "You don't know Jack." This is an interactive game that can be played by one or two people. A twisted announcer gives you categories, you choose one, and buzz in if you know the answer. The announcer often makes insulting comments about your incorrect answers, and there are even real commercial breaks. It takes about 20 minutes to play. After you've downloaded the software, available for Windows95 and Macintosh, you can start playing. The producer, beZerk, has recently started a new game show called "You Don't Know Jack, Sports."
http://www.bezerk.com/htmls/tuner1.html ">

Gameshows.com
Gameshow.com contains free gameshows from the creators of Jeopardy. The two currently on the site are called Out of Order and Strike a Match. Out of Order has you to unscrambling some words located within sentences in various categories such as History. Like a TV gameshow, you get to buzz in and enter your answer within a defined time. In Strike a Match you Match words by figuring out what they have in common. Games are updated several times a week. Both games take some time to be downloaded to your system before you can play for the first time.
http://www.gameshows.com/

Riddler
Riddler is a multi-games site that has sections for members and non-members. The games that non-members can play include Klondike, a classic Solitaire games; Incognito, a wordsearch game; Mental Floss Lite, a trivia game; and Sporting Chance, a sports trivia game. It costs nothing to play, but if you want to win prizes you do need to register to become a member and fill out a survey.
http://www.riddler.com/home.html


Please send any suggestions or coments to tbchad@tbchad.com. Cybrargonians on the Net will be archived at: http://www.tbchad.com.

Copyright March 1997, Terry Brainerd Chadwick. Reproduction/distribution is allowable for non-profit purposes with the author's consent.


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