1st Quarter 2008
Knowledge Sharing Workshop kicks off
The Knowledge Sharing (KS) Workshop organized by the KS Project of the ICT-KM Program has had a very successful subscription with its first introduction.
Forty people have joined this unique opportunity to explore and experiment with knowledge-sharing principles and methods in an innovative 3-phase workshop. Simone Staiger-Rivas, project leader from CIAT, working with the other facilitators and coaches Nancy White, Petr Kosina and Lucie Lamoureux says that she is pleased with the range of participants and is excited by the workshop.
In the first phase, a four week on-line session from 24 March to 18 April, over 15 CGIAR staff joined with participants from partner organizations, including a dozen staff of the Regional Agricultural Information & Learning System (RAILS) of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA); staff from FAO and other partner organizations.
The first week was all about discovery and started with a round of introductions and the beginning of a very animated discussion on our "Why Knowledge Sharing"? Nancy White, the main facilitator asked: "What are the two or three areas in your work where you think knowledge sharing could make a difference in your work and its outcomes?" The resulting dialogue was animated and informative. The facilitators put together a 'tag cloud' of the discussions illustrated the many different but interlinked concepts in knowledge sharing that arose from these discussions. One participant noted that the tag cloud "reflects some important terms that I'm sure people have in their minds, but sometimes we forget them".
Week two was all about exploring the landscape of people, tools and processes in knowledge sharing. The group carried on sharing ideas on the 'with whom we share knowledge with' and 'how' through three entry points: (1) Network maps to understand selected project environments, (2) A discussion on target groups, and (3) a screening of the ICT-KM KS toolbox in order to start to think about possible tools or methods to improve KS within networks.
The 17 participants shared network maps and saw how knowledge flows out to application by looking at the network of people involved in their projects or teams. Mapping helped them to see where they are or are not sharing knowledge, where they may need to change tools and methods to improve KS and to look for opportunities to better leverage knowledge. Everyone in the workshop had access to a facilitator who could answer questions to review and discuss their map. The observation from one of the participants noted the usefulness of the mapping exercise. For her it became obvious that there is no one-way communication in her network. As she pointed out "for a real community of practice to emerge it needs to move both ways".
Based on the first week's conversations about different applications of knowledge sharing, some common types of applications were identified. In the second week's activity, the participants were asked to join a small group of peers from the workshop who shared some similar KS needs and start to think about tools and methods to support that activity. Besides helping think about scanning and picking KS tools and methods, this activity gave participants a short experience in virtual team work.
At the end of the second week of the workshop overall most participants emphasized that they "learn a lot" but admit at the same time that the amount of information to digest is tremendous. As Simone has pointed out the energy and enthusiasm of the participants has been great and she is really looking forward to the remainder of this first phase as well as the following two phases as well. The next phase is an opportunity for the participants to meet and talk face to face. This part of the workshop will be held in Addis Ababa 6 to 8th of May and will be followed by another on-line phase from May to September.
The ICT-KM newsletter will continue to keep you posted on the developments of this workshop as it continues through the year.
Back
The Knowledge Sharing (KS) Workshop organized by the KS Project of the ICT-KM Program has had a very successful subscription with its first introduction.
Forty people have joined this unique opportunity to explore and experiment with knowledge-sharing principles and methods in an innovative 3-phase workshop. Simone Staiger-Rivas, project leader from CIAT, working with the other facilitators and coaches Nancy White, Petr Kosina and Lucie Lamoureux says that she is pleased with the range of participants and is excited by the workshop.
In the first phase, a four week on-line session from 24 March to 18 April, over 15 CGIAR staff joined with participants from partner organizations, including a dozen staff of the Regional Agricultural Information & Learning System (RAILS) of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA); staff from FAO and other partner organizations.
The first week was all about discovery and started with a round of introductions and the beginning of a very animated discussion on our "Why Knowledge Sharing"? Nancy White, the main facilitator asked: "What are the two or three areas in your work where you think knowledge sharing could make a difference in your work and its outcomes?" The resulting dialogue was animated and informative. The facilitators put together a 'tag cloud' of the discussions illustrated the many different but interlinked concepts in knowledge sharing that arose from these discussions. One participant noted that the tag cloud "reflects some important terms that I'm sure people have in their minds, but sometimes we forget them".
Week two was all about exploring the landscape of people, tools and processes in knowledge sharing. The group carried on sharing ideas on the 'with whom we share knowledge with' and 'how' through three entry points: (1) Network maps to understand selected project environments, (2) A discussion on target groups, and (3) a screening of the ICT-KM KS toolbox in order to start to think about possible tools or methods to improve KS within networks.
The 17 participants shared network maps and saw how knowledge flows out to application by looking at the network of people involved in their projects or teams. Mapping helped them to see where they are or are not sharing knowledge, where they may need to change tools and methods to improve KS and to look for opportunities to better leverage knowledge. Everyone in the workshop had access to a facilitator who could answer questions to review and discuss their map. The observation from one of the participants noted the usefulness of the mapping exercise. For her it became obvious that there is no one-way communication in her network. As she pointed out "for a real community of practice to emerge it needs to move both ways".
Based on the first week's conversations about different applications of knowledge sharing, some common types of applications were identified. In the second week's activity, the participants were asked to join a small group of peers from the workshop who shared some similar KS needs and start to think about tools and methods to support that activity. Besides helping think about scanning and picking KS tools and methods, this activity gave participants a short experience in virtual team work.
At the end of the second week of the workshop overall most participants emphasized that they "learn a lot" but admit at the same time that the amount of information to digest is tremendous. As Simone has pointed out the energy and enthusiasm of the participants has been great and she is really looking forward to the remainder of this first phase as well as the following two phases as well. The next phase is an opportunity for the participants to meet and talk face to face. This part of the workshop will be held in Addis Ababa 6 to 8th of May and will be followed by another on-line phase from May to September.
The ICT-KM newsletter will continue to keep you posted on the developments of this workshop as it continues through the year.
Back
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