Knowledge management in a digital environment Sandra John, Chief Caribbean Knowledge Management Centre

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Knowledge management in a digital
environmentSandra John, ChiefCaribbean
Knowledge Management Centre
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KM an understanding
Making the case for KM
KM in the Caribbean Context
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Understanding Knowledge Management

• KM means different things to different
  organizations.
• Each organization must arrive at its own unique
  understanding
• KM is not about purchasing a computer software
  package and configuring it to suit our data
  needs,
• It is about first creating a "willing" human
  network and developing a culture of knowledge
  sharing as an integral part of your work flow.
• Agreeing on objectives in advance is also
  critical to the success of any strategy

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Data, information and knowledge
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Knowledge involves

• Beliefs and values
• Creativity
• Judgment
• Skills and expertise
• Theories

• Opinions
• Concepts
• Rules
• Relationships
• Previous experiences

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What is knowledge management

• The process by which we consciously seek to
  build, shape and exploit the body of knowledge
  within our organization Giannetto and Wheeler
  KM Toolkit
• Tools and methods to help mobilize an
  organizations knowledge rapidly and effectively
  - KM Africa
• Systematic explicit management of knowledge
  related activities, practices, programmes, and
  policies within an enterprise - Wiig

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Understanding KM
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Asking the right questions

• Who has it? Where do they keep it?
• Who else needs it?
• How can we persuade them to share it?
• How is it communicated?
• How is it kept up to date?
• Where is it stored? How to access?
• Which knowledge is relevant?

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KM- the process

• Identify sources of knowledge
• Determine which is key to success
• Capture details of expertise of staff
• Classify knowledge into meaningful categories
• Communicate the availability to all who need to
  use it
• Encourage and facilitate sharing of best
  practices and lessons learned
• Identify new knowledge products might be helpful
  in moving closer towards the development goals

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Making the case for KM in the CaribbeanSandra
John, ChiefCaribbean Knowledge Management Centre
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WSIS Development Challenge

• Our challenge is to harness the potential of
  information and communication technology to
  promote the Millennium Development Goals
• eradication of extreme poverty and hunger
• achievement of universal primary education
• promotion of gender equality and empowerment of
  women
• reduction of child mortality improvement of
  maternal health
• combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• ensuring environmental sustainability and
• development of global partnerships for
  development for the attainment of a more
  peaceful, just and prosperous world.

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Information society, Knowledge economy

• Widespread use of knowledge to produce economic
  benefit
• High value on innovation and new ideas and
  relationships
• Improved productivity
• High quality goods and services
• Knowledge recognized as a source of
  competitiveness
• Widespread use of computers and the Internet to
  generate, share and apply knowledge
• smart people, smart systems

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Development Strategy

• A clear vision for the country accompanied by a
  coherent medium term development strategy
  understood and communicated, debated and derided,
  attacked and defended, adjusted and amended .
  and eventually, accepted by most stakeholders
  and implemented by all influential branches of
  government

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Knowledge Strategy

• Prominently positioned in that development
  strategy and consistent with its aims should be
  an articulation of the expected contribution of
  knowledge. That strategic plan will provide the
  knowledge strategy with a rationale - a context.
• But to be useful, this knowledge has to be
  managed

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High level leadership

• Responsibilities
• Leadership and implementation
• Inter-departmental coordination
• Identify roles for existing organisations
• Make recommendations for re-training and
  retooling
• Assess and report on progress

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KM in the Public Sector

• The public sectors most valuable asset is the
  knowledge of its people
• Raise awareness of KM
• Begin to think and talk about KM
• Communicate the benefits
• Recognize that knowledge transfer adds value
• Value knowledge as a source of competitive
  advantage
• Enable and reward a culture of sharing

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I do not share information because

• Do not have the time
• The information I have is confidential
• Did not think it would be useful
• Too much trouble
• Knowledge is power
• Never thought about it
• Might make someone else able to do my job
• My information is my advantage
• Information might be used inappropriately
• They will no longer need to come to me
• If it is inaccurate, Ill be blamed

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Benefits of Knowledge sharing

• Fosters better working relationships
• More knowledgeable workforce
• Avoid duplication or misdirected effort
• Less time spent on research
• Better reports, policies presentations
• More objective decision making
• Facilitates brainstorming for innovative ideas
• Opportunity to build on the ideas of others
• Smoothes process of change management

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Efficient information flows

• Facilitate implementation of a cohesive
  development strategy
• Avoid miscommunication and the dissemination of
  incorrect information
• Avoid presenting a distorted picture of the
  nations social and economic conditions to
  citizens and to would-be investors
• Facilitate the wider use of resources, ideas,
  documents
• Create a more positive impression of the Public
  Sector
• Offer a more efficient service to business
  clients
• Maintain a complete archive of projects/ policy
  changes
• Fully exploit the investment in ICTs the
  communications enabler
• Add value to existing information
• Results in better communication all round

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Objective

• provide an increasingly modern and efficient
  information service to the member countries of
  the Caribbean Development and Cooperation
  Committee, with a view to strengthening their
  capacity to bridge the digital divide and bring
  the goal of a Caribbean information society,
  knowledge economy closer to realization

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CKMC - responsibility for

• Website
• Intranet
• Documentation Centre
• Knowledge Management Portal
• Caribbean Digital Library
• WSIS Follow up
• Research/technical assistance related to ICT for
  Development

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http//ckmportal.eclacpos.org

• Knowledge Management Portal - a vehicle for all
  web-based information services
• Development profiles
• Caribbean Digital Library
• ICT Profiles
• Bibliographic database
• Skills Bank
• Communities of Practice

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Our commitment

• Open Source, Open standards software
• Plone is the content management software we
  chose
• Partnering approach
• Information sharing
• Learning before advising
• Capacity building
• Problem solving

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Challenges

• Human resource constraints
• Maintaining productive partnerships
• Time constraints the broad scope of our
  activities does not allow for sufficient time to
  be allocated to each task.
• Limited extra-budgetary funding for projects and
  programmes

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Thank You!