Knowledge Management in Academia LO20411

Leo Minnigh (L.D.Minnigh@library.tudelft.nl)
Mon, 18 Jan 1999 14:41:51 +0100 (MET)

Replying to LO20397 --

Reply to LO20397

Dear LO'ers, dear Doc,

Thank you very much for your reference:
>
> if you haven't visited OutSights yet, you might be interested in doing so.
> OutSights is a knowledge-leveraging organization that maintains a
> "knowledgebase."

...snip
>
> You can find it at this address <http://www.outsights.com/>

And also Ricks additional comment:
>
> [Host's Note: Gene Bellinger, the creator and proprietor of outsights, has
> been a contributor here from time to time. LO readers will probably
> remember that Andrew Wong posts "knowledge objects" here in the Outsights
> model. ...Rick]
>

Yes, I have once visited this site, but too hastily to digest its value.
I also have seen the way Andrew Wong has used the systematics in his
contributions.
It is certainly of great value. Maybe Gene Belinger, or others could once
tell us what the effects/results/expariences are of those who have
consulted the knowledgebase.
The only comments/questions I have are:

1. The unravelling of a problem in Goal, Fact, Symptom, Cause is great,
and the probable answers as Fix looks all nice.

2. However, in one way or another, the layout fits not my easthetic
feelings. I hope that my honesty does not flame Andrew Wong, because I had
always mixed feelings with his contributions. For me, these read not easy
and are not inviting. I am not sure if I am the only one who have this
trouble.

3. Nearly each problem is unique (especially if the context is taken into
account. Some of the answers retrieved from this knowledgebase might be
of good value. But do they generate learning? Do they generate
stimulate new knowledge in the head of the questioneer?

4. Fits such a knowledgebase in the concepts of a learning organization,
where dialogue should be important?

5. Are the 'owners'(persons) of the information in the knowledgebase also
known in the database?

Maybe all these questions and remarks have to do with a more general
question:
Is the knowledgebase of the Outsights-site problem-oriented or
knowledge-oriented?

If I have a question/problem, I like to come in contact with a person who
could share his/her knowledge with me on that particular subject. So My
needs (goals) are more person/knowledge-oriented. So my needs are a
database where I could trace such person. And if someone asks me a
question which I don't know, I like to point the questioneer to a person,
who knows more than me. This is actually the way Doc (pointing me to the
Outsight-site) and Rick (pointing to Andrew Wong) acted in helping me.

So my original proposal (LO20383) was a database which was
person-oriented. And the person's knowledge was traceable by a retrievable
database of multi-information sentences (by use of various typographics).
In my mind this is the other way round: start with the available
knowledge, so the knowledge-owners should open themselves. Possible future
questions could be than answered.

But maybe I am completely wrong in the way the Outsight knowledgebase is
set-up and used. But it certainly could be of great value and it is very
intelligently structured.

dr. Leo D. Minnigh
minnigh@library.tudelft.nl
Library Technical University Delft
PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands
Tel.: 31 15 2782226
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Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas.
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-- 

Leo Minnigh <L.D.Minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>