Technology Stewardship for communities
Elmi Bester
KM Practitioners Group – Johannesburg Chapter
26 May 2010
Welcome!
Human spectrogram
Agenda
- Why (and how) did the CSIR became interested in technology stewardship?
- What are the practical value and implications of technology stewardship for knowledge management initiatives? Is this not something KM practitioners have been doing all along?
- What are the traits of value-adding technology stewardship?
- What’s next in terms of technology stewardship for the CSIR?
Woot Woot! Woo Hoo!
© CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za
Technology has fundamentally changed how we can be together.
Tech + socialWhether we are in the same place
or scattered across the globe.
We have the business imperatives.
We have the technology.
Yet why does it remain so hard?
www.wealthyleader.com/blog/
crystalking.com/writingblog/ crystalking.com/writingblog/
crystalking.com/writingblog/
© CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za
http://www.kf6nvr.net/blog/archives/images/computing_stress.jpg
Technostress
Just more islands
Disillusionment
© CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za
“Technology stewards are people with enough
experience of the workings of a community to
understand its technology needs, and enough experience with
technology to take leadership in addressing those
needs. Stewardship typically includes selecting and
configuring technology, as well as supporting its use in the
practice of the community .”
Digital Habitats (Wenger, Smith, White)
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/photos/stylus/74095-SocialNets.jpg
http://tparty.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8345159f569e201156fa9aab2970c-400wi
http://thetearoom.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54fccb6d2883401156f5dcdcb970c-800wi
It is not about replicating what is working for me/ us/ others …
The community
This is working for the Ya-Ya sisterhood
You should do
this as well!
Not working? Then this
should work
This is not us!
enable people to…
• discover & appropriate useful technology
• be in and use communities & networks (people)
• express their identity
• find and create content
• usefully participate
Nancy White © 2010 http://onlinefacilitation.wikispaces.com/Stewarding+Technology+for+Online+Communities
What are the practical value and implications of technology stewardship for knowledge management initiatives?
Is this not something KM practitioners have been doing all along?
Is this part of the KM agenda?
Discussion
© CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za
What are the traits of value-adding technology stewardship? (1)
Support community experimentation & make
‘tool use’ visible
From Digital Habits (Wenger, Smith, White 2009)
Principles
Keep vision of your community’s success above the technical details of technology
implementation
Keep the technology as simple as
possible while meeting needs
Let the configuration of technologies evolve as the
community evolves
Use all of the knowledge around you
Practices – information management,
facilitation, journalism, summarising etc
http://www.lukegilman.com/high-on-the-hog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/social-media-whiteboard.jpg
IMPRESS THEM… or confuse them…
do they need to know all of this?
www.oriones.com/.../01/twitter-bots-cartoon.gif
What are the traits of value-adding technology stewardship? (2)
© CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za
There is a method in the madness… with frameworks
… meetings
… relationships
… community cultivation
… access to expertise
… projects
… context
… individual participation
… content publishing
… open-ended conversation
Community activities
oriented to …
Base material from: Digital Habitats: Stewarding technology for
communities© 2009 Wenger, White, and Smith
activities oriented to …
Community Name: KM4Devglobal knowledge sharing network
… open-ended conversation
… meetings
… projects
… access to expertise
… relationships
… context… community cultivation
… individual participation
… content publishing
Base material from: Digital Habitats: Stewarding technology for
communities© 2009 Wenger, White, and Smith
With only one meeting a year, large size and diversity, KM4Dev focuses on enabling individual participation.
Community knowledge wiki, content management system to bring together resources.
Email list is core of community activity
Once a year and only about 10% do/can participate.
When funding allows. E.G. supporting ShareFair
Informally via the email list by asking/answering questions.
Relationships mostly via meetings and core group.
Strongly external – all resources public/shared.
While everyone pays attention to the community, no centralized efforts…
• Right balance between evangelism and scepticism
• To establish the right practices first you must practice
• Listen Listen Listen
• Reflective conversations
• It is about the second wavers
• Geeky friends, information specialist friends, communications friends
• Ambient awareness of community, community boundaries and technology use
• Mindful learning agenda
What are the traits of value-adding technology stewardship? (3)
http://steve-dale.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dilbert-laptop2.gif
What’s next in terms of technology stewardship for the CSIR?
Focused initiativesSafe-fail
Overcoming tool barriers?
Embedding technology stewardship in relevant places
Digital literacy?
don’t worry – there will be bumps in the road…TALK about them http://onlinefacilitation.wikispaces.com/Stewarding+Technology+for+Online+Communities
Waves are funny things. Think of ocean waves. They go up and down, they can be gentle or pound us into the sand. Just when we think we have their rhythm, the next wave changes and surprises us. The key is staying alert, knowing how to swim and to expect the unexpected.
• Nancy White, 2010