Halcyon Intelligence

HALCYON INTELLIGENCE HELPS YOU STAY AHEAD IN IDEAS, KNOWLEDGE, ISSUES AND VALUES MANAGEMENT.

Dealing with information overload...

 

...can create opportunities as well as threats! 

Can knowledge serve a wider public good?

 

A recent blog post examines issues around "societal knowledge management" - i.e. opportunities to build, maintain, and make the best use of national and international "broad knowledge assets".

Are we drowning in the shallows?

 

Nicholas Carr argues in The Shallows that:

• The Internet alters the ways in which we think and take in knowledge.
• Reading books demands focused linear thinking, but reading Internet articles fragments how we process information.
• Our brains are hardwired for distraction; the more we're distracted, the more distraction our minds crave. 
• The Internet encourages superficial thinking, perfunctory reading and shallow learning.
• Studies show that web viewers retain less information than readers of printed text.
• Memory is no longer so necessary because technology makes information readily available.

Much of this feels, prima facie, about right, but some points are less clear cut.  For example, "fragments" can be a very good thing, allowing end-users to engage with content directly without it being skewed and distorted by intermediaries.

Knowledge and national culture

 

Nick Milton of Knoco has an interesting series of observations around KM and national culture, comparing for example the open Australian sharing culture with the more reserved Eastern cultures and the impact that each has on how knowledge is shared.

Creating value through sharing knowledge

 

 

Group intelligence vs. individual ignorance

 

Academic research suggests that a group’s "intelligence" depends in part on its members’ ignorance, in the sense that groups often make what look like wise decisions, even when most of the members of those groups are ignorant of what is going on.

Building a global sensing network

 

Recent research suggests that future business success will be built upon the ability to identify and gather technology trend information, customer insights and local social mutations from around the globe.

Future leaders may be those that build superior "global sensing networks" and do a better job at selecting the optimal actionable insights to drive action and innovation.

This is a core area of focus and experience for Halcyon.

Living organisational values

 

In Values Management and Value Creation in Business, the Bertelsmann Foundation asks how important is it to actually live a company's values and argues that values provide internal and external orientation and legitimise decisions and actions.

How did we share knowledge before IT?

 

It seems to be almost a reflex action among knowledge managers, to see IT as the solution, argues Nick Milton.

Many KM initiatives that Halcyon was witnessed down the years would support this contention: as a former colleague once put it succinctly, "a fool with a tool is still a fool". 

Milton, rightly, is not against IT an enabler to knowledge sharing, but he contends that the key is to think what's needed and not to assume that technology provides all the answers:

"What conversations are needed, and how and where should they take place? What communal knowledge or stories need to be made available, and how and where should they be stored? Which people do we need to connect, and how and where is this best done?"

Rethinking knowledge work

 

In Rethinking knowledge work: A strategic approach, McKinsey argued that as knowledge workers’ information needs vary widely, the key to better productivity is applying technology more precisely.