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 + social

Whether 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

sisterhoodYou

should do

this as

well!

Not

working? Then this

should

work

This is not

us!

http://www.gapingvoid.com/sms229.jpg

Technology stewards?

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?

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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: KM4Dev

global 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)

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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