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Home > Vol.
1, No. 1 > Open Articles |
Jul 2000 | |
As We Map and Manageby Xenia Stanford, Editor-in-Chief, KnowMap and President, Stanford Solutions Inc.
Why KnowMap?Because you asked for it! In addition to talking to people at workshops, in businesses and other venues, Stanford Solutions Inc. conducted a survey in the fall of 1999 to determine your knowledge management and mapping needs. Of the hundreds talked to we added the input of 164 people who responded to the survey from many places in North America and even abroad. See the map below to find the location of our respondents:
How Do You Prefer to Learn Mapping?When given the choice of how you would like to learn about knowledge mapping techniques, close to 50% chose books, newsletters or magazines as a preferred means. Further questions asked what format was preferable. Print delivered via mail followed closely by web pages, e-mail messages and e-mail attachments were all acceptable methods. For frequency you chose weekly followed by quarterly and then monthly, although there was only a slight (2-3 %) difference in preference between each. Surveying what currently exists in the market place to meet your needs we found several magazines focussing on knowledge management, which included occasional articles on practical tools, such as knowledge mapping and/or knowledge auditing. However, we did not find any that focussed on mapping and auditing. Thus we chose to present a Web-based magazine concentrating on knowledge mapping and other practical techniques for knowledge elicitation, creation, sharing, learning and applying for wise strategy and decision-making. Although the name KnowMap certainly reflects this, we also heard from you there was more to learn about other practical knowledge management tools, such as auditing. So we created the name KnowMap: the Knowledge Management, Auditing and Mapping Magazine to reflect all these areas. Our concentration will be on the practical tools for fostering a knowledge management culture where knowledge can flow freely and be applied where and when needed to ensure competitive intelligence and success. Why Stanford Solutions?Why should Stanford Solutions produce this newsletter? Surveying what others are doing in knowledge mapping and auditing, led us to the conclusion we could make a difference. Although there are many who already sell knowledge mapping products and techniques, most focus on one type - their area of specialty. Stanford Solutions' approach is to show you the variety of techniques available and help you match them to your specific needs when and where these needs arise. We look at knowledge mapping not as a single technique but as a toolkit. A mechanic uses many tools to fix a car. One tool is required to remove the tire from the rim and another to repair the problem found. Even though the mechanic may use a wrench to remove the lug nuts, there is not just one wrench in the professional mechanics toolkit. As one manufacturer of torque wrenches advertises, the "product should do the job properly, not generically". They continue in their claim that "Most manufacturers make one style of wrench ... we make them all because each wrench has its own specific purpose and utility" (Mountz Inc. advertising). As wrenches are to Mountz so mapping and auditing is to Stanford Solutions. There is not just one type of mapping or auditing process or tool but many. Each has its own specific purpose and utility. Our goal is to help you match the right tool to the specific job. We do not necessarily manufacture the mapping and auditing techniques but we scour the world in search of all the tools available, analyze if, how and why they work and in what circumstances they may be the best one to use. Therefore, it felt natural for Stanford Solutions to gather this knowledge and present it to you. We hope this will enable you to use it to grow your knowledge and create your own wisdom by applying the best techniques to your own circumstances. What Else Did You Tell Us?You told us what other general knowledge management issues are important to you and we plan to continue to listen to you on future concerns. We have tried to address some of the current issues in this newsletter. One area in which we learned you had concerns was your knowledge management career. "What shall we call ourselves?" "What will be the nature of our work?" "What skills do we need?" These were common refrains we gleaned from one-on-one interviews, newsgroups, e-mail lists and other forums. Debra M. Amidon has graciously agreed to share her expertise in the article "Knowledge Jobs: Innovation...Knowledge to Action sm" (sm stands for registered service mark; similar to trade mark) Also our Jobs section will help you see what firms are hiring knowledge management positions, what they are calling them, what skills are required and what duties are expected. We will continue to bring you articles displaying current wisdom in the job market place so you can identify where you need to develop your skills, how you can evolve your new roles and succeed. Another FAQ was "What is the difference between information management and knowledge management?" (For the definition Stanford Solutions uses to define knowledge management and knowledge mapping, see What is Knowledge Mapping? With the plethora of use, misuse and abuse of the term knowledge management, this is not an easy question to answer since there are so many different views. It seems many want to be seen doing knowledge management instead of information management. Many want to change their job titles to reflect this as well, under some mistaken impression that one is better or more necessary than the other. However, as Susan Henczel shows us in her article: "The Information Audit as a First Step towards Effective Knowledge Management", one is necessary to achieve the other. We cannot run without first learning to walk. Neither is de facto better or worse. Which we use depends upon our purpose or need. You also asked for case studies and examples of what others are doing. Thus we have Laura Kaspari Hohmann's "Case Study: Thoughts on the Flow of Information in a Mid-Sized Private Law Firm". In addition two people were willing to share their knowledge maps with us. Many sites claim to have site maps but few actually show visual spatial relationships. Site maps are mostly textual indexes rather than a symbolic way of displaying where you are compared to where you want to go. Colynn Kerr's site map, as shown in "The Sitemap Tree: Concept Mapping in Action", is a true map. It shows all the possible avenues one can take compared to where one happens to be at the time. Kerr designed the map for the City of Calgary website and used a tree image as the basis of his layout. However, one can also see the aerial view of a section of a city with its crescents, courts and streets. Following attendance at a Stanford Solutions' knowledge mapping course, Jane Turner went back to her workplace and created a map showing responsibilities and other requirements for committees involved in "Raising CAIN in British Columbia Archives, 2000-2004". In future issues we hope to include other examples of different real life applications and invite you to submit your maps accompanied by an explanation of their creation and purpose. Another former participant in a Stanford Solutions mapping class is using the competency-based model, such as that found at www.knowmap.com/ssi/competencymap.htm to devise a job description for a Library Director by showing the responsibilities required and the skills necessary. Lest you think knowledge mapping is just another fad or kindergarten approach, perhaps you will change your mind when you read Ed Rogers' thought-provoking article "Why Do We Need to See Our Knowledge?" As he so clearly demonstrates this practical tool supports the learning organization not by helping us uncover the answers under rocks but by creating new solutions through knowledge crafting. Who's Mapping?
The Prize
The Stanford Solutions' formal survey was conducted via the Internet with thanks to JR Solutions for assistance in formatting as well as gathering and reporting results including the map and graph you see here. A winner was selected by random from the qualified respondents. A picture of the prize (a millennium plate and glass) received by Mary Sue Rose of Enron in Houston, TX can be seen below.
Additional results on the knowledge management part of the survey can be found in the article: Many Faces of Knowledge Management by KnowMap Editor, Amanda Pitchford. The next issue of KnowMap will contain more information on the results of the Stanford Solutions survey, such as what size of organizations are mapping, what type of industry is using mapping, what profession seems to be most involved in mapping and what mapping techniques are being used. Works CitedKipling, Rudyard. "Just So Stories" (1902). Rudyard Kipling: Gunga Din and Other Favorite Poems. New York: Dover Publications Mountz, Inc. Torque Wrenches. 2000 www.mountztorque.com/html/body_wrenches.htm Quote Lady's Quote of the Day & Inspirational Quotations Site. Last updated April 8, 2000. www.quotelady.com/subjects/knowledge.html Read more about Xenia Stanford
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You
were asked how highly you anticipated your need would be to learn about
knowledge mapping in the near future. Over 50% rated the need as high
to very high. Including those who felt the need was moderate, over 85%
anticipated they had a need. The remaining 14% anticipated a low need
but less than 1% identified no requirement for learning about knowledge
mapping. 
The
vast majority of those surveyed report their organizations are not mapping
or not known to be mapping. Answers varied from 0 to "don't know"
and unreported (blank) (shown in 
