SABC Media Library's best 5 tweets this month

Twitter Ads are compiling interesting Analytics with regards Timeline Activity, and this is our "Best" tweets this past month.

Best Tweets of SABCMediaLib

1. Our Video Biography via Vizify got marked as a favourite:

SABC Media Libraries Twitter Bio video via Vizify: Just made a movie of my twitter: https://t.co/e4aghsjeTy Le... http://t.co/jq6PWKmYLp
— SABC Media Library (@SABCMediaLib) June 18, 2013

2. Our daily newspaper about Knowledge Management and Knowledge Café got marked as favourite
    The Daily Knowledge Café:

The Daily Knowledge Cafe is out! http://t.co/vVgZPHMN8y
— SABC Media Library (@SABCMediaLib) June 16, 2013

3.  The blog post about The Use of Vine in Libraries and Archives also got marked as a favourite:

The use of Vine in libraries and archives: Vine is a mobile app that is available on iOS and Android. It recor... http://t.co/bn7G2AXBs2
— SABC Media Library (@SABCMediaLib) June 11, 2013

4. Another The Daily Knowledge Café got 2 Retweets.

The Daily Knowledge Cafe is out! http://t.co/vVgZPHMN8y ▸ Top stories today via @IamDdanz @coveo @LoulouVance
— SABC Media Library (@SABCMediaLib) June 11, 2013

5. The daily SABCMediaLib.li about libraries and archives got marked as favourite:

SABCMediaLib.li is out! http://t.co/ycfSzfBZ9s ▸ Top stories today via @sdeeble @EllysEyeland @SuiteBrigitte
— SABC Media Library (@SABCMediaLib) June 11, 2013

To get to these analytics, it is necessary to sign in at Twitter Ads, and to set the account to Advanced under Billing History.

It is not necessary to set up any campaigns to get the Analytics.


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

The Knowledge Café combined with a Drum Café

David Gurteen in action

David Gurteen facilitated an interactive Knowledge Café with the help of drums at the recent International Knowledge Management Conference (ICKM 2012).

It formed part of the opening proceedings, and helped conference delegates connect with each other during the speed networking session, as well as connection through the drumming.

Warren Liebermann with his drummers & singers

Warren Liebermann of Drum Café with his drummers provided an interactive experience for all which opened up the synergy and receptive mood of the conference.

Conference delegates with musical instruments

The question was asked about the format of teaching which has not changed for centuries, and the informal and interactive way of the Drum Café brought home the message even more.

"Is the lecture format of teaching an effective way of learning and sharing knowledge and if not, what is?"

Drum on a chair at ICKM 2012

The following four questions paved the way for the rest of the conference proceedings:

"At this conference, to what extend are you prepared:

1. to get value from being here?

2. to engage personally to achieve this?

3. to take risks to learn?

4. to take responsibility for the learning & engagement of others?"

ICKM 2012 Conference delegates

The success of a conference depends on each delegate's willingness to participate!

The combination of the drums facilitated the interactiveness of the Knowledge Café, and it created a wonderful synergy for the rest of the conference!


See blog post & video playlist by David Gurteen about the same event:
A wonderful combination of a Knowledge Café and a Drum Café


Blog post by Karen du Toit, conference delegate at ICKM 2012.

Conversations for business - David Gurteen Knowledge Café workshop

David Gurteen facilitated a workshop on the implementation of Knowledge Cafés at the International Conference on Knowledge Management 2012. 

He is a Knowledge Management consultant, speaker and facilitator at Gurteen Knowledge. 

He is well-known for his Gurteen Knowledge Cafés which helps to facilitate conversation in business.

The Knowledge Café workshop brought up a few interesting points which regards conversation in business:

- People love to feel important. It is very valuable to remember in conversation in business.

- The circle as a mechanism in conversation. It helps to enable equal access to each other. 

- The conversation needs to be centred around a central point.

- Misconceptions are addressed through conversations, and it enhances better understanding in a business environment.

- There is power in presence. Direct conversation leads to a different conversation which is based in the direct connection with each other.

- Relationships are important in an organization. Conversation improves relationships.

- The most important resource in an organization is the individual. The focus should therefore be on the person/personnel.

- The following stands in the way of conversation in an organization: 

•   Hierarchy; 
•   Language of blame; 
•   Company Talk; 
•   Who is perceived to have the power; 
•   Top-down-management conversation.

- The Knowledge Café addresses most of the imbalances and problems encountered in business conversations. 

The Knowledge Café brought up a few interesting applications in business:

-  Organize lunch dates with people in different departments (done through Human Resources).

- Breakfast dates: "What is spoken at breakfast remains at breakfast."

- Instead of meeting call it a forum with the theme of "Fearless conversation!"

- Communities of Practice can use it directly or virtually.

- Knowledge Cafés without furniture in the room. It gets business done!

- The use of conversation cards in a Knowledge Café, such as "Take the lead!" and "Be quiet!" and "listen more!" that are handed to participants.

- Use of Knowledge Cafés can be very valuable before decision-making happens.

- A picnic day with different struggle heroes. It can be applied to using leaders or specialists in the organization who are sitting at each picnic spot, and the participants rotate around them.

- To break protocols in certain communities. Everybody gets a chance to speak.

- Knowledge Cafés do not need many resources to make it happen. No flip charts and other paraphernalia are necessary. There is no need to record the outcomes. 

It mostly only requires a coffee to make it happen. 

The Knowledge Café made us aware of how many and varied its applications can be in business. It is only limited by our own imagination.

Each Knowledge Café will also bring up another set of applications.

Related reading:

- For more reading on the David Gurteen Knowledge Cafe:

Knowledge Café

- The SABC Media Libraries & SABC Training had a private Knowledge Café facilitated by David Gurteen: Report from a Knowledge Café with David Gurteen at SABC Media Libraries

Blog post by Karen du Toit, SABC Radio Archives

Storify of the David Gurteen private Knowledge Café at the SABC Media Libraries #SABCkcafe

David Gurteen, the international Knowledge Management expert, is holding a private Knowledge Café for SABC Media Libraries and SABC Training on 3 September.

The Storify of the SABC Knowledge Cafe (hashtag #SABCkcafe) curates all the social media and web activities of the event in a storyline. We will keep on updating it!

Knowledge Café newspaper publishing daily - created by SABC Media Libraries

The SABC Media Libraries' newspaper focusing on Knowledge Cafés and Knowledge Management, The Daily Knowledge Café, is a good way to get the most recent information available in social media.

Paper.li generates the newspaper automatically on a daily basis.

 As we are having an upcoming Knowledge Café by the guru himself, David Gurteen, this is one of the ways to update us again about the topic.

Please tell us what your thoughts are about the newspaper? Should the topics be more broader than knowledge café and knowledge management?


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Archivist, SABC Radio Archives


Related posts:

- David Gurteen Knowledge Cafe - background reading in preparation

- Paper.li, a great tool for link building, content curation and social networking

David Gurteen Knowledge Café - background reading in preparation

David Gurteen, Knowledge Management expert and Knowledge Café guru, is coming to South Africa in September to facilitate a workshop on Knowledge Café's, as well as speaking at the International Conference of Information and Knowledge Management 2012.
Hopefully he will also present a Knowledge Cafe at the SABC for the SABC Media Libraries, as well as for SABC Training.

The SABC Media Libraries held a Knowledge Café, called LibCafé,  in August 2011 based on the principles of David Gurteen's Knowledge Cafés.

Some more posts about our own Knowledge Café can be found here: LibCafe

A quote from David Gurteen's website sums up the premise of a Knowledge Cafe:

A Knowledge Cafe is a means of bringing a group of people together to have an open, creative conversation on a topic of mutual interest to surface their collective knowledge, to share ideas and insights and to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and the issues involved.
This ultimately, leads to action in the form of better decision making and innovation and thus tangible business outcomes.

For more background information about Knowledge Cafés, videos about previous Knowledge Cafés by David Gurteen and upcoming Knowledge Cafés, read at KCafe by David Gurteen.


http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafe

(Photo from our LibCafe in 2011)


Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

Five things to unleash your Knowledge Management story, by Elmi Bester

Elmi Bester, manager of the CSIR Knowledge Commons. inspired us yesterday in a Knowledge Management Seminar at the University of Johannesburg. It was organised by the Department of Information and Knowledge Management.

The topic of presentation:

What's your knowledge management story?

The invite to the seminar asks a couple of questions:


"You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not."
                                                                                                    -Isabel Allende

We are the storytellers of our own profession, and we can create our own legend. Or we can allow others to tell our story. Or there is just no story that we tell?
In this presentation we will explore the different knowledge management stories we tell, and how these shape identity and the support for knowledge management. Is it a solution story or a problem fixing story? Is it a story about what is knowledge and what is not knowledge? Is it about asking the right questions or providing the answers? Is our story about doing things right or doing the right things? Or a bit of everything?
The stories we tell also depends on how we portray ourselves. What does it mean to tell our story as a knowledge management professional, or an idea practitioner, or a change agent, or a strategist? What are the five things to do to unleash your knowledge management story?"

A couple of notes from the seminar:

- Knowledge Managers struggle to sell Knowledge Management (KM) in the workplace. They are unable to sell the importance of what they are trying to achieve, and there is a disconnect between them and the company.

- Elmi Bester challenged us to write a business card without a title attached to it. I redefines who you are, and it tells the story of you.

"I do not have ALL the information, but I can find it for you!"
"One" of the stories of Karen du Toit

- The power of storytelling lies in the fact that it opens up people on the right levels. It connects us!

- Stories help us to find our voice. It helps us to speak to people.

- Stories have more impact when they are attached to themes.

- Stories help us to build a vision together.

- The WHY of stories:

• It reveals who we are; 
• it inspire us; 
• it makes us stick our stories together;
• it connects us with a purpose; and 
• it adds to our values. 

- Elmi Bester challenged us to write a story in the present tense (but dated in the future) for our company/group/organization, which incorporates the following: 

Future stories:
26 july 2013 ( in present tense)What we've achieved                                                                        
The bumpy road
What's in the pipeline
Where we have been... And where we are going... 



- When you give your story to a group of people, the story is bound to leave better!


- Elmi Bester has compiled a Storify of yesterday's seminar. 
 Knowledge Management Seminar, Univ of Johannesburg. 26 July 2012

Knowledge Management Seminar, UJ 26 Jul 2012

- 5 things to do to unleash your KM story:


1.  Start an inventory (borrow and acknowledge from others)
2.  Lengthen your stories 


3.  Change your shareability footprints (for all people, teams, etc. - without losing uniqueness)


4.  Tell every story better (practise) 


5.  Make stories the heart of your connection

- Remember: Always tell your story in presentations and engagements with other people.

- Stories give people meaning. It takes away the need to convince people about KM.
  Stories give meaning to KM!




Read more:


Storify: Knowledge Management Seminar, Univ of Johannesburg. 26 July 2012

Slideshare: (will be uploaded as soon as it becomes available)



What is your story?
What is your KM story?




Notes by Karen du Toit, Finder of Information 

Knowledge Management, the good, the bad & the ugly

Roland Wagner at KM Seminar
UJ Dep of  Information & Knowledge Management

Notes from a seminar by Roland Wagner (Project coordinator at Damietta Peace Initiative) about Knowledge Management, with specific reference to organizational culture. 

The seminar on 31 May 2012 was hosted by the Department of Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Johannesburg (Kingsway Campus).

Roland Wagner has extensive experience with regards Knowledge Management. See his biography that is copied from the invite below.

Some notes that was taken at the seminar:

- "Knowledge is a social construct - generated in collaboration and interaction with others"

- Culture comes to play in this social interaction! 

- A company's culture is the reflection of the macro-economic culture.

- "Good" or "bad" culture can be identified by the impact of corporate culture.

  Positive which makes it an enabler in the organization

  Negative where it is seen as a barrier in the organization.

- The role of Knowledge Management is to create an enabling environment. It can't be done    without the active role of Human Resources. They should be involved!

- KM is multi-disciplined and there should be a marriage between all teams.

- Understanding of the sub-cultures (units, regions, departments) within an organization enables KM.

- Leadership has a direct impact on the culture in an organization.

- KM needs to map the organization's existing culture.

- Tacit knowledge very important, especially with regards risk management. KM & HR need to work closely on this!

- Storytelling as a KM output extremely important; although it is time-consuming.

- KM should be sensitized continuously in an organization.

- Roland Wagner believes it is sometimes better to getting consultants in for KM.

- Another important learning outcome: Knowledge sharing should not be rewarded! It should be part of the organizational culture. The employee's thinking is the organization's intellectual property.

- KM should create a culture of trust in the organization. It is done by communities of practice, office retreats, social events, open environment, and knowledge cafés.

Roland Wagner suggested some KM vs Culture Videos on Youtube:

The KM culture change. Nick Milton of Knoco Ltd

It's All About Culture - What is Corporate Culture?

Overcoming Resistance to Change - Isn't It Obvious?

What is Organisational Culture ? Why Culture Matters To Your Organization

Notes by Karen du Toit, Archivist, SABC Radio Archives.

Roland Wagner Biography:
"Roland holds a Master’s degree in Information and Knowledge Management and currently manages knowledge management initiatives at Damietta Peace Initiative, a non-profit organisation. Roland’s previous KM role at Anglo American is to implement knowledge management initiatives for various business units including transportation, safety and sustainable development, Anglo Research and Anglo American Projects. Roland’s key role for KM at Productivity SA was to introduce a holistic KM inititiative within the organisation, including the development of a KM strategy.  The KM strategy was guided by the research (qualitative and quantitative) approach that resulted in a “current assessment report” (CAR). He was also project leader in the development of a knowledge management strategy for the Department of Science and Technology (DST) as well as the Film and Publication Board (FPB).  The development of these KM strategies also included knowledge and information audits, as well as evaluating the feasibility of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems. Roland also mentored and coached the Anglo American engineering team in applying Lessons Learnt projects.  This activity took place in 2008 where he held a Lessons Learnt workshop. He is also a member of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).
Completed projects include:
Development of the knowledge management strategy for Productivity SA
Development of the knowledge management strategy for the Department of Science and Technology
Lessons learned project and knowledge management strategy for the Film and Publications board
Knowledge management consultant to assist Kumba Iron Ore (Anglo American) in completing three knowledge management projects. The projects involved are part of knowledge mapping within Kumba’s supply chain: A lessons learnt project within Kumba’s Sishen Expansion Project (SEP) and the development of a briefing and de-briefing tool for Kumba’s Human Resource department as well as developing a benchmarking project plan for Kumba Iron ore’s heavy mining equipment.
Project manager in developing an agricultural information system for the Department of Agriculture in the North West Province.
Local Economic Development (LED) expert to assist the Government of Limpopo in establishing an LED Resource Centre in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. This is an EU funded project (as part of the larger EC supported LED Program for Limpopo) and work entailed conducting research, assisting the development of a Business Plan for the Centre, benchmarking similar centre locally and internationally and capacity building support to the hosting institution.
Team member on the Manstrat consulting team that assisted the Free State Department of Agriculture in developing a Training Strategy for its Non-Formal Training Unit (VET program).
Team member on the Manstrat project team that assisted the Department of Agriculture in the North West Province to undertake feasibility studies and develop business plans (turn-key projects) for a total of 15 agricultural ventures." 

LibCafé curated - SABC Media Libraries Knowledge Café

LibCafé WordItOut word cloud

The SABC Media Libraries had a very interesting and successful Knowledge Café #LibCafe last week.

We are still busy  looking at some of the results that were generated through the tools used in the LibCafé. Even the scribbles done by the participants are a valuable way in finding our way through the maze of social media.

The question that was asked: "What do you need to start using social media?"

We have curated our tweets identified by the hashtag #LibCafe in Twapperkeeper:
http://twapperkeeper.com/LibCafe

Also in Twubs:
http://twubs.com/LibCafe

We have found a strange phenomenon which happened with regards Twitter. Our main Twitter account @SABCMediaLib was not picked up by any of the curation options that we used. The account is not blocked, nor is it private. It is only the tweets that were retweeted, or that came from the other sources, such as the @SABCRadioArc account, that were curated.

If anybody has an idea about the reason, please let us know?

The story of the day is compiled in Storify, which include tweets, blog posts, links, photos and related information about Knowledge Café's as well as specifically our LibCafé.
http://storify.com/sabcmedialib/libcafe

The Prezi, the presentation tool that was used, is also available online:
http://prezi.com/nxg-6mv1cemx/libcafe/

The TwitterFountain can be seen her:
http://thefounta.in/i5nC7


Related post:
What do we need to start using social media in the SABC Media Libraries?

Blog post by Karen du Toit, and WordItOut word cloud by Obakeng Phiri (intern) (SABC Radio Archives).

What do we need to start using social media in the SABC Media Libraries?

Prezi of #LibCafe

LibCafé, our first Knowledge Café, wanted to create an environment for conversation about the use of social media in the SABC Media Libraries.

The question: What do you need to start using social media?
We used the Knowledge Café as a facilitation tool towards a better understanding and learning environment about the uptake of social media in the SABC Media Libraries.

The SABC Media Libraries have a website and a blog which feed into the Facebook fan pages of the different departments, as well as the Twitter accounts. (See below for the different accounts.) We are two people who manage these accounts for the SABC Media Libraries. Representation of all the departments are slow in uptake, not necessarily because of disinterest, but because of heavy workloads and under staffing. The issues of workload and under staffing are global phenomenons, and not only problems unique to us.

The hope is that we could get a better understanding of what is needed to get more people involved, and to see where we can address some of the issues that make it difficult for people to use social media in their daily work activities.

We are very grateful towards Manti Grobler who facilitated our LibCafé, with her experience in the method of Knowledge Cafés. She believes that it is imperative to get a measurable result out of the process, and that it does not stop with the conversation only. David Gurteen, The Knowledge Management expert, and worldwide facilitator of Knowledge Cafés, believes that conversation is the most important, and that you don't have to get a result for it to be successful. We used his theory and videos about Knowledge Cafés extensively in our preparation as well as presentation.

The collective discussion in our LibCafé came to the following conclusion of what we need to focus on in taking social media forward in the SABC Media Libraries:

What did we discover?
(See #LibCafé Prezi snippet above)

We need:

1. Skills    It includes know-how about the applications, social media etiquette, language and we need to know the pitfalls.
2. Access    Tools such as the Internet, smart phones, etc.
    Unlimited time (when; duration)
    Permission
3. Audience

4. Interest (blending social media into your daily activities)

5. Finding your own voice    Desire, motivation, passion

Where to from here?

"A social media inFundi has more eyes on the World"

We have already announced a social media empowerment plan for the SABC Media Libraries to take the issues of Skills and Interest forward.
We identify inFundi's who social buddy the next inFundi's.

The inFundi status is measurable by the following criteria:

• Open a Twitter account;
• 30 Tweets; 
• Follow 50 Twitter users;
• Need to get 20 followers;
• Facebook - make 10 Facebook fan page updates on the relevant department's fan page.

The new inFundi's social buddy the next set of inFundi's. The first set of inFundi's will be awarded surprise packets, courtesy of Manti Grobler.

The issue of access need to be taken up by the management and social media committee of the SABC Media Libraries. 

Blog post by Karen du Toit, SABC Radio Archives. 

The Facebook fan pages:

SABC Radio Archives

SABC Record Library

SABC Music Library

SABC Audio Restoration

SABC Information Library

Twitter accounts:

SABC Media Libraries

SABC Radio Archives

SABC Record Library

SABC Information Library

SABC Music Library

SABC Audio Restoration

Related posts:
LibCafé - SABC Media Libraries first Knowledge Café
The Knowledge Café via David Gurteen - start of our LibCafé
The Knowledge Café to address a PowerPoint aversion
Experience of a Knowledge Café at KMUK11 #KCafe
Twitter Twub: #LibCafe

LibCafé - SABC Media Libraries first Knowledge Café

The SABC Media Libraries had their first Knowledge Café called LibCafé yesterday.
It is identified by the hashtag #LibCafe on Twitter.
The theme was: "Diving into social media"

The question that was explored extensively is: "What do I need to start using social media?"

The photos are uploaded on Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/SABCMediaLibraries/LibCafe30August2011#

Manti Grobler facilitated the Knowledge Café, which helped us immensely with her advanced experience in the Knowledge Management tool of business learning.

Manti Grobler explaining what a Knowledge Café is

I will be posting about the outcomes and experiences of the day!

We got some very valuable feedback from the participants in how to take social media forward in the SABC Media Libraries.


Blog post by Karen du Toit, SABC Radio Archives.

Experience of a Knowledge Café at KMUK11 #KCafe

WordItOut word cloud of Knowledge Café quotes

A most recent Knowledge Café which was facilitated by David Gurteen. #KCafe @DavidGurteen

Some of the quotes that came out in the Knowledge Café presentation:

Business is a conversation

Conversation is a meeting of minds

KM is about understanding

Dialogue

Conversation is our most effective KM tool

Conversation is a learning technology

                                                                                      (see the WordItOut word cloud above)

Gerald Meinert wrote about his experience of the Knowledge Café in a blog post, which can be read here:

One step beyond: KMUK11 - Knowledge Cafe: Having a cafe after the desert makes some sense, and the second good news: this time it was not in the virtual coffee-corner...

Our own Knowledge Café called LibCafé is upcoming on 30 August, and we are busy preparing the presentations and formulating the questions. Our topic will focus around social media in the SABC Media Libraries.

Do any of you have practical advice?
How do we get to a question that will spark the most debate?

The Knowledge Café via David Gurteen - start of our LibCafe

#LibCafe on Storify 

The SABC Media Libraries are planning a Knowledge Café at the end of August. We were introduced to the concept by Manti Grobler at the recent Information and Knowledge Management Conference 2011.

See the recent post The Knowledge Café to address a PowerPoint aversion where I try to conceptualize my own understanding of the Knowledge Café.

We have already started to use the hashtag #LibCafe on Twitter for our Knowledge Cafe.

A Twitter Fountain is also embedded on the SABC Media Libraries blog flowing with the hashtag #LibCafe.

The SABC Media Libraries Knowledge Cafe "story" is also being curated in Storify: http://storify.com/sabcmedialib/libcafe


David Gurteen is a worldwide Knowledge Management guru. He has been using the Knowledge Café for years to use conversation in business to stimulate a learning environment. We are using his insights extensively in our research into a Knowledge Café.

A quote from David Gurteen's work:

One way of energizing an organization to take real advantage of conversation and consequent tangible business benefits is the use of Knowledge Cafés. A Knowledge Café is an effective vehicle for opening up conversations and discussions that lead to a deeper understanding of the business world that is turn leads to improved decision making, new ways of working and innovation.

A Knowledge Café is a tool that is used to share tacit knowledge. It can be used within teams, Communities of Practice or across silos to question entrenched assumptions, to help facilitate learning from others and gain a deeper collective understanding of a subject – through conversation. - http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafe

 Read more: Knowledge Café, by David Gurteen


Related post:
The Knowledge Café to address a PowerPoint aversion


Post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives

The Knowledge Café to address a PowerPoint aversion

Knowledge Cafe Prezi

We as the SABC Media Libraries had the good fortune to attend the 10^th Annual Information and Knowledge Management Conference hosted by the Department of Information and Knowledge Management of the University of Johannesburg in June.

There were a number of good presentations, and the whole conference was very successfully hosted at the FNB Conference Centre in Sandton.

The one paper that caught my eye was the presentation by Manti Grobler about the concept and hosting of a Knowledge Café at SAP South Africa. She calls it “Welcome to Café CRM where conversation is served”. I am one of the people that as soon as a PowerPoint goes up, it makes me wants to nod off… This usually happens as well!

But, it seems that there is a great Knowledge Management tool that will address this: The Knowledge Café!

A Knowledge Café is a way of engaging all the stakeholders in business to bring out tacit knowledge. It is a way of conversation where everybody gets involved in a less formal setting – the café – and where the discussion is orchestrated around a certain well-prepared topic. The idea is not to get to a decision, but to get to a learning environment where all the ideas and perspectives around a certain topic are brought to the fore!

Manti Grobler used Prezi as a presentation tool: http://prezi.com/2xiybjmsfrii/cafe-crm-johannesburg-13-april-2011/.

This is so much more exciting and visual than a PowerPoint presentation.

She also used Storify to compile the “story” of the day. The photos, tweets and notes were pulled into a storyline: http://storify.com/mantigrobler/cafecrm-13-april-2011

The Knowledge Café is a great way to use as a Knowledge Management tool. I played around with Prezi yesterday, trying to understand the concept of a Knowledge Café, as well as learning how to use Prezi as presentation tool! I used David Gurteen’s video on Knowledge Café which I found on YouTube as a starting point for understanding the concept. The video is also included in the presentation if anybody is interested to go and watch. 

Knowledge Café #KCafe Prezi

I can recommend Prezi for any presentation. You can also pull in your PowerPoint slides as well. No problem! (I’m a convert!)

What is better than sitting around a table with a cup of coffee and cake, and the discussion does not force a certain outcome? The conversation does not need to be “correct”; it only needs to be heard!

I love the idea of not being forced towards a certain outcome, but that the opinions of all the stakeholders are taken into account and everybody feels that their voice has been heard! I hope we will see more of this in the workplace than “death by PowerPoint!” (*hint*)

Blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

The collaboration side of Knowledge Management - seminar by Sharon van Biljon

We had the privilege to attend a seminar hosted by the Department of Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Johannesburg. Sharon van Biljon, Knowledge Manager of Global Business Services at IBM South Africa presented “The collaboration side of Knowledge Management”

 We found the seminar very thought-provoking, especially the fact that collaboration is seen as part of the employees’ role within the organisation. IBM has an Intranet that encourages collaboration with vast sets of tools, such as blogging, and IM (Instant Messaging). The use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook were not really discussed, and there seems to be an area where they can still improve their collaboration.

No business can survive without collaboration. No matter how you look at it, socializing has become a means by which corporations conduct their business. The more employees collaborate, the more connections are made which leads to an increased number of insights or knowledge - exactly what companies are looking for. The sheer value of connecting to knowledge sources is coming into its own after a shaky start in the early nineties. The overly formal business style of the time stifled a natural inclination among employees to find like-minded people, whether peers or mentors.   The days of doing only what you are given to do, is long past. Today, you need to fulfil given tasks, but in such a way that it will render you unique when it comes to quality and adding value to your company or organisation. Who other than your friends to help you socially and in business terms, who other than your peers, mentors and colleagues to render the same type of assistance when you need it?  Businesses are enabling business socialization as never before and reap the benefits in a number of ways, among them, financial, of course. Employees stand to gain from this, but moreover, they derive a deep satisfaction in branding themselves as experts within a collaborative network of like-minded experts. It remains a win-win all round. And who would have thought that collaboration could be fun, as well?

The following pointers were also very valid. Change is essential for progress. Only businesses that respond and change themselves through reinvention have survived. The need is there to effectively respond to social changes.

Collaboration is crafted with a governance framework, where there is

• No need to ask approval
• Self-regulatory
• Openness is crucial.

It extrapolates back to the SABC Media Libraries which has embarked on a Web 2.0 campaign to effectively collaborate with our colleagues as well as our audience and users of our services. We started on the project last year when no clear mandate was available of how to proceed. A year later and the directive were only now released to become more socially visible on Facebook and Twitter. We have been moving in the right direction, it seems.

The challenge now is to get everybody involved and excited as well. How do you get you personnel involved?

Karen du Toit
Senior Afrikaans Archivist
SABC Radio Archives