"Civilisation advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them."

—ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD

We know more than we can say, and we will say more than we can write down. This aphorism might be one of the reasons why podcasting is taking off. Now anyone can create their own radio programme and make it available on the web.

A couple of years ago I developed a simple approach to developing knowledge strategies. The premise was simple--that a strategy should incrememtally enhance the 'knowledge environment' and that this could be done by implementing a series of tangible initiatives. Each initiative should be coherent with how people view knowledge (the framework) and how they leverage the current infrastruture (knowledge environment)--while pushing forward both of these elements (see the above figure).

The strength of this approach lies in its focus on the tangible initiatives. But recently I have realised that this approach can be enhanced by applying Cynefin sense-making techniques to determine the nature of the initiative as part of the design process. For example, the project team might come together to decide the Cynefin domain for (say) the following initiatives: expertise location, document management, peer assist, communities of practice, and mentoring scheme. It is also possible to drill into a particular initiative and rerun the exercise using components of the initiative.

Then, based on the group's agreed position for each initiative, design an appropriatre implementation approach is adopted. For example, if it is decided that a mentoring scheme falls in the 'complex' domain, multiple small interventions might be developed and monitored to see what happens. Adjustments can then be made--probe, sense, and respond.

I just heard today that a chapter Trish Milne and I wrote has been published. The book is called Human Perspectives in the Internet Society and our chapter is entitles 'ActKM: Variety in a Community of Practice from a Complexity Perspective'.

Matt Moore made a good comment in response to my last blog entry

I have recently been trying to link the thinking on Small World Networks http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/June98/smallworld.bs.html to communities. If you see communities of interest as social networks consisting of tight clusters and loose links then you need to apply different strategies to grow the tight clusters than those to grow the loose links.

One of the thoughts sparked reading Duncan Watts' book, Six Degree of Seperation, is just how important boundary riders are to reduce the degrees of seperation. Watts' research show how it only requires a one or two boundary riders to reduce the seperation considerably between, say, two communities while there is a threshold where adding more connectors provide no additional connectivity. By adding just a few boundary riders you increase the number of weak ties, which Granovetter showed helps people find new knowledge. A good thing for a community of practice, I think.

There has been some discussion during November in ActKM about whether tacit knowledge can be captured. Opinion ranged from ‘definitely yes’ to ‘absolutely no’. This discussion reminded me of the distinctions made by Max Boisot between three types of tacit knowledge:

• Things that are not said because everyone understands them and takes them for granted.
• Things that are not said because nobody fully understands them.
• Things that are not said because, although some people understand them, they cannot costlessly articulate them.

I think it is possible to adopt individual strategies to manage each type of tacit knowledge.

Narrative, for example, is useful for discovering the things that are taken for granted--but you won’t find them all.

Techniques for developing intuition can be employed to enhance the things that nobody fully understands--but you won’t know everything.

Organisations might decide that certain critical (but complicated) knowledge should be more generally known--but some will be just too costly to convert.

It is difficult to build a community of practice from scratch. In fact, the construction metaphor of 'building' a community is inappropriate. Rather, it is important to 'foster' communities--and the first step is to find the communities that already exist in your organisation.

There are many places to search for evidence of existing communities. Like David Attenborough, the job entails tracking the telltale signs that will lead you to your quarry.

In the modern corporation, computer systems are a good place to start. You can begin by asking the system administrator whether email groups have been set up or whether specific collaboration spaces have been established. Both of these tracks can lead directly to existing communities. In addition, if you have an online meeting-room booking system, check whether regular meetings have been scheduled.

You can also include community mapping as an exercise within a wider knowledge-mapping project. An effective technique involves augmenting the Cynefin knowledge-mapping technique at the point where anecdotes are being collected. At the end of an anecdote circle, ask the participants to brainstorm four types of communities: (i) committees and formal communities; (ii) expert communities; (iii) informal or shadow communities; and (iv) communities that emerge only in a crisis. This exercise generates a long list of potential communities to investigate.

Experience has also shown that the following approach is effective. Provide a technological platform that supports community activities. Then advertise its existence, provide some information on how to use it, and see who comes. In one instance we had worked hard to establish three communities of practice while, on the periphery, a group of simulation modellers had discovered the collaboration platform that we had established--and they promptly made use of its functionality. We became aware of this community for the first time when we discovered them on-line. It should be noted, however, that the business case for the collaborative infrastructure had already been established before discovering the new communities.

This years' Cynefin Certification Training is shaping up to be a well attended and exciting event. Dave Snowden will be here with me and Viv Read to facilitate the learning. There has been considerable interest in the researchers' stream, which is a new idea for us. It will enable people to delve into the theory which underpins the techniques.

This is my 3rd blog with previous efforts at blogspot and radio. I plan to republish some of my previous blogs here as well as keep you up to date with what is happening with Anecdote and Cynefin in Australia.