Recent Links

I found some interesting links at ResourceShelf that are worth reposting:

The high cost of not finding information...

- Knowledge workers spend from 15% to 35% of their time searching for information.

- Searchers are successful in finding what they seek 50% of the time or less, according to both Web search engines and our own surveys. An IDC study in 2001 ("Quantifying Enterprise Search," IDC, May 2002) found that only 21% of respondents said they found the information they needed 85% to100% of the time (see Figure 1).

- 40% of corporate users reported that they can not find the information they need to do their jobs on their intranets.

Census Report with statistics about television in the United States


Fast Company: It's a blog world after all

Blogs were once the domain of angst-ridden teens and doomed presidential candidates. But the likes of Verizon, IBM, Microsoft, and Dr. Pepper are all climbing on the blogwagon. Turns out, Web logs are a nifty knowledge-management tool. And companies also see them as a promising medium for advertising (naturally).

via boingboing

Repost from Knowledge_Management@yahoogroups.com

--- In Knowledge_Management@yahoogroups.com, "Ken Standfield" wrote:
>
> Proving the business case and ROI for KM is essential for the wide
> spread adoption of KM within organizations. Without hard figures, KM
> projects become a "nice to have, but not essential" project. If the
> robust metrics are used, KM projects become a "must do, must support,
> and must fund" project.
>
> I'm interested in speaking to group members who are interested in the
> subject of measuring the financial benefits of KM and creating the
> business case for KM.
>
> Best regards,
> Dr Ken Standfield,
> www.intangibleStandards.org

Ken:

One paper you may want to consider is Bontis and Fitz-ens (2002). "Intellectual capital ROI: a causal map of human capital antecedents and consequents" Journal of Intellectual Capital. 3(3). 223-247. A preprint is available at

http://www.business.mcmaster.ca/mktg/nbontis//ic/publications/JICBontisFitz-enz.pdf

It seems that a number of KM projects proceed in to the trap of ROI (see http://www.darwinmag.com/read/030102/roi.html for discussion of ROI limitations). ROI as a tool was developed to evaluate tangible assets and works quite well for solid assets such as machine tools. If we are to believe our KM pundits, however, KM involves both social aspects and technology.

Business units involving both technology and social considerations aren't new to organizations. In fact, most staff positions--such as legal counsel or accounting--involve these aspects yet don't have to use financial metrics to justify their existence.

As I a thought experiment, I suggest exploring how accounting or law departments justify their existence. Do they require metrics? Why? Why not? What historical antecedents led to their reified existence within organizations? Can KM evolve in a similar manner?

Cheers,
George

The Black and Blue Album

I rarely repost from other blogs but this tidbit is worth it.

Some guy has provided a new remix based on Jay-Z's black album. This time it has been remixed with Weezer's blue album to make "Jay-Zeezer." Brilliant.

via boingboing via metafilter