As some of my regular readers will know, I’m involved in a major new project to deliver the ‘next generation’ community of practice platform for UK local government organisations – see previous blog posts about the ‘Knowledge Hub’. The current platform has been (and continues to be) a huge success, with over 63,000 users and more than 1,300 active CoPs, working towards various outcomes but with a common goal to improve public service. These will eventually be migrated to the new platform when it goes live early in 2011.
The new platform will use open source software and delivered using an agile development process (a series of Sprints and Scrum workshops), which means incremental but rapid delivery of features and enhancements. More about this in a future post.
Having been heavily involved in the architecture and design of the current platform, I was caused to reflect on some of the key design characteristics that need to be considered as we progress to the new platform. In fact, we should be able to learn from the mistakes (yes, there were quite a few) in the design of the original platform and ensure these characteristics are optimised for the new environment. Not all of this is hard-wired stuff, but it should cause developers and system administrators to ponder on whether their design solution will support the usability and sociability requirements needed to encourage community engagement, collaboration, reciprocity of knowledge and an inherent trusted community space. Understanding the users and their needs is a key starting point.
Users typically want to know whether they can find and do what they want, when they want, and that their interactions are comfortable. The eight questions that follow raise the typical concerns expressed by most users. The answer to these questions provides heuristicsfor developers, system administrators and community moderators/facilitators. In conjunction with guidelines, they are useful for guiding the development process and planning evaluations. They will be used as we begin the development and design for the Knowledge Hub.
User Questions
Usability Concerns
Sociability Concerns
1. Why should I join this community?
Does the community have a clear and meaningful name? Is there a clear description of the community’s purpose? Is the content attractively presented (design, colour, graphics etc.? Will the site be updated regularly
What title and content will communicate the community’s purpose effectively and attract people?
2. How do I join or leave?
Are the instructions for registering clear? Is it a short procedure? Is there a statement ensuring privacy and security?
Should this be an open or a closed community? How sensitive are the issues and participants?
Do we want to control who joins?
3. What are the rules?
Are policies clearly and concisely worded and appropriately positioned?
What polices are needed? Should a facilitator guide and enforce rules? Do we need disclaimers ort other statements of intent?
4. How do I read and send messages?
Has appropriate support been defined and provides (e.g. templates, emoticons, FAQs, single messages or digests for listservers?
Is support needed for newcomers? Should the system facilitate sending private and group messages?
5. Can I do want I want easily?
What capabilities will best meet communications needs (e.g. different formats for information, such as Web pages , FAQs, content variation; search facilities, effective help at the appropriate level; private communication, etc.)?
What is the best way to ensure that the community is a congenial place, one where people can do what they want to do? What are the communication needs of the community?
6. Is the community safe?
What are the best ways to protect personal information, secure transaction processing, support private discussion, and protect members from aggressive behaviour?
Will the community need a facilitator to ensure appropriate behaviour? What level of confidentiality and security is needed?
7. Can I express myself as I wish?
Will users need, want or expect emoticons, avatars, content icons, a seamless link to private email, Web pages etc.?
What kind of communication capabilities does a community with this purpose require, and how should they be supported?
8. Why should I come back?
How often and by what method should content be changed (e.g. news, broadcast, provocateur to stimulate discussion, etc.)?
What will entice people to return on a regular basis?
These are my links for July 16th through July 21st:
Inspirational Uses | London DataStore – The GLA itself is doing some of the most inspirational stuff around opening up government data – the London Data store is a model for sharing data and working with developers to make sure that data is opened and shared in a useful way.<br />
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But they've also been collecting examples of inspirational uses of London data. Useful, visually pleasing or just really, really interesting (and sometimes all three).
- Peer Assist – Peer Assists are events which bring together individuals to share their experiences, insights and knowledge on an identified challenge or problem.
Video Sitemaps – Get Started with Video Sitemaps – Sitemaps help get your videos indexed and improve their visibility in Google Search. Better yet, they’re easy to implement and can be used by anyone with videos on the web.
10 Tips for Corporate Blogging : Technology :: American Express OPEN Forum – There is a laundry list of issues that need to be addressed when it comes to improving corporate blogs, but here we've narrowed down the key elements that companies should focus on. Here are 10 tips for corporate bloggers hoping to make a positive splash in their communities.
These are my links for July 7th through July 15th:
Martha Lane Fox want all citizens of working age online – A noble aim, but is it a realistic target? After all there is:<br />
(a) no budget<br />
(b) no incentive for retailers to provide cheap or subsidised access<br />
(c) dogged reluctance from some to use the internet (even if it was free)<br />
(d) little support for novice users once they are connected<br />
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I bet the phishing sites and spammers will have field day if the target is achieved. All those new (and naive) punters. Come to think of it, they really do have an incentive to see this target met – maybe they are a source of potential funding?
Steve Dale at KIMPS09 | The best of Knowledge Management Information Site – Steve Dale is developing the Knowledge Hub for IDeA, as reported here socialreporter.com However it is proving difficult to explain to people that it isn’t just a big knowledge warehouse. Steve reflects on how to explain, at the KIMPS09 knowledge management conference.
Armchair Auditor – Armchair Auditor lets you see how your council spends your money. Sometimes you want a high-level view of how much money is being spent by each council service or paid to each supplier. Other times you want to examine the details right down to individual payments. Armchair Auditor lets you do both.
inkdroid › the 5 stars of open linked data – Tim Berners Lee explains the 5 stars of open linked data, where each star represents a further step in the journey towards publishing data which is compliant with open linked data standards. Also a neat and simple description of linked data, ontologies and vocabularies using a packet of chips (crisps) to illustrate the points.
It’s taken a while for me to get around to posting an update to my ‘Knowledge Hub Part 1’ post, mainly as a result of being fully immersed in the technology procurement process these past several months. This phase is now almost complete and we will shortly be starting on the actual development of the Hub, so now seems to be an opportune moment to remind everyone what this ‘Knowledge Hub’ thing is, and to give a first airing of the accompanying video (commissioned from Learning Pool – thanks guys). The following is brief summary, partially lifted from an explanation I produced for http://www.local.gov.uk/knowledgehub – and in plain English as far as I’m able:
What is it?
The Knowledge Hub is essentially the next generation development of the highly successful local government CoP platform (a previous project of mine). It will replace the existing infrastructure with new open technology facilitating integration with mainstream social media applications (for example Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN) and the rapid assimilation of new applications and web services as they emerge. This will enable, for example, much better personalisation and permeability of content. In addition Knowledge Hub will provide facilities that allow data on performance to be combined and shared (so called “linked-data”) potentially providing the framework to deliver the wider move to transparent government
Why is it important?
As the UK moves towards economic recovery it is expected there will be greater demands on local government to:
continue to demonstrate cost-effective delivery methods
be ‘fleeter of foot’ in gathering and using sector knowledge – not only to learn from others’ experience but also to accelerate the development and implementation of innovative delivery.
The strategy is based on the premise that knowledge of ‘what works’ and ‘what doesn’t work’ can be found within the local government community. Unleashed, this knowledge can be collectively focused on excellent public service delivery.
The overarching outcome of the Knowledge Hub programme is that by 2012/13, the culture of local government will be one of collaborative knowledge generation. This will involve everyone learning, sharing and problem-solving using a technology platform provided by LG Improvement & Development but owned by the local government sector.
While a working title of a ‘Knowledge Hub’ is being used it is perhaps more appropriate to use the metaphor of a dynamo-powered light, which shines brighter and illuminates the way more clearly the more involvement there is from participants and users.
What is the scope?
The Knowledge Hub will comprise three interdependent elements:
(a) Technology:
This includes the systems, software applications, hosting and service support.
Support for and development of culture and user behaviours that will foster the dynamic evolution of knowledge sharing and innovation through improved evolutionary networks of collaboration.
Some of the key features
The Knowledge Hub will not replicate or replace any similar initiatives currently being used, developed or proposed by individual councils or partnerships. Rather, the Hub will bring together information about innovation and good practice from any number of these sources to help the development of the whole sector.
It will be a web-based service and will be accessible through any device with web capability, including mobile phones and PDAs.
The technology and systems will support ‘agile’ development, allowing new functionality and services to be added quickly.
It will find and follow people with same/similar interests, leading to opportunities for collaboration coproduction and partnership working.
It will provide visualisation tools e.g. ‘heat maps’ showing emerging trends and ideas.
It will enable performance data to be shared between councils for comparison and benchmarks.
It will have a ’serendipity engine’ which will identify related ideas and themes.
It will aggregate and integrate conversations and content from different sources and enable key themes to ‘bubble up’ to the top.
It will support open standards and be available as an open platform with a published application programming interface (API) enabling third party developers and social innovators to create new applications, widgets and mashups.
These are my links for June 18th through July 4th:
Design Issues for the World Wide Web – These statements of architectural principle explain the thinking behind semantic web specifications. These are personal notes by Tim Berners-Lee: they are not endorsed by W3C. They are aimed at the technical community, to explain reasons, provide a framework to provide consistency for for future developments, and avoid repetition of discussions once resolved.
UNICEF seeking a CoP facilitator – A topic close to my heart having developed the CoP platform for UK local government (http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk). With over 1000 facilitated CoPs working towards improvement in public services, there may be some facilitators looking for a new or additional challenge for a very worthwhile cause.
Open data – Salford City Council – Salford has a range of open data feeds. A lot of these are around council decisions and council meetings. The requirement to publish this information has been overshadowed a little bit by the announcement of the requirement to publish all expenditure over £500. So it's great to see Salford's example of a nice clean page with lots of different feeds covering governance arrangements, job openings, councillor information and an always useful "what's on" listings.
Seeing Standards – The standards represented here are among those most heavily used or publicized in the cultural heritage community, though certainly not all standards that might be relevant are included. A small set of the metadata standards plotted on the main visualization also appear as highlights above the graphic. These represent the most commonly known or discussed standards for cultural heritage metadata.
Martha Lane Fox appointed as UK Digital Champion – Encouraging letter from the PM. I just hope that MLF doesn't get ground down by the bureaucracy of government. The 'Big Society' agenda requires speed and agility to develop some momentum.
Welcome : Warwickshire Open Data – Warwickshire County Council is taking open and linked data seriously. They’re opening up data and supporting the developer community to do something useful with it through a Hack Warwickshire competition (open til 25 June). And they’re open to suggestions of what data should be open next.
Letter to Government departments on opening up data | Number10.gov.uk – A letter from Prime Minister David Cameron to Government departments on plans to open up Government data.
* Historic COINS spending data to be published online in June 2010.
* All new central government ICT contracts to be published online from July 2010.
* All new central government lender documents for contracts over £10,000 to be published on a single website from September 2010, with this information to be made available to the public free of charge.
* New items of central government spending over £25,000 to be published online from November 2010.
* All new central government contracts to be published in full from January 2011.
* Full information on all DFID international development projects over £500 to be published online from January 2011, including financial information and project documentation.
Open Local Data – Welcome to the wiki on winning the argument for localgov data.
Arguments for open local data « Local Data – Having trouble persuading your managers of the benefits of open data? Or just need persuading yourself? Well here we try convincing all of you. What follows is a Q&A compiled initially by Dan Slee of Walsall Council and Stuart Harrison of Lichfield District Council. The first part is a bit of background information, the second part comprises some responses to common arguments. This work is ongoing, and this page will occasionally be updated accordingly. You can watch and contribute on the Open Local Data wiki
A common and recurrent theme that I keep coming across is how to measure the value of knowledge management, e.g. the return on investment (ROI) of implementing a knowledge management strategy. This may cross over into having a social media strategy where the goal is to support knowledge sharing, so I’ll use these terms – KM Strategy and social media strategy interchangeably in this particular context.
I don’t doubt the importance of being able to measure results and it’s the job of managers to ensure they get value out of any investment in training, technology, organisational development or whatever. However, these things are notoriously difficult to measure – for example – how do you put a price on a conversation? This led to me thinking about turning all of this on its head and considering how we should measure the cost of NOT having a knowledge management or social media strategy, or NOT making any change.
Using this approach we can at least examine the current status quo and determine whether business processes, capacity, staff knowledge etc. are fit for purpose. So, rather than spending time and effort creating a business case for a KM or SM strategy, ask managers to justify why things should stay as they are.
Some pertinent questions for managers might be:
Is your staff currently motivated and inspired?
Do your staff have all the relevant information to do their jobs effectively?
Do your staff have the right tools for the work they are being asked to do?
Do your staff understand their place in the wider organisation and their input and output dependencies for the business processes they contribute to?
Do your staff have adequate opportunities to share knowledge and information with other parts of the organisation? Are they encouraged to do so?
Are you confident that you can react to rapidly changing demands on your staff?
Do you have sufficient knowledge and information to consider the impact of external events on you and your staff and to plan accordingly?
Do you know what your customers are saying about you (within and external to your organisation)?
Do current policies and guidelines support or hinder you and your staff in their work?
Does your manager fully understand what you and your staff do?
There are probably other questions that could be asked, but the key point is that any question which triggers a negative response is potentially a catalyst for change. This also means it could become a performance indicator if change is agreed, i.e. using qualitative or quantitative techniques.
So, we have the beginnings of a measurable approach to change; we know where we are now and we should know what the desired outcomes are. The difference is what we need to measure.
Of course, the problem remains that not all changes can be measured in strictly cash value terms, which is what many people consider to be the true meaning of ROI. I go back to the point I made earlier – how do you measure the value of a conversation or some information shared? The answer is, you don’t, and the sooner that everyone recognises this the better. Measuring impact can be just as important as measuring value. The impact might be things like improved customer satisfaction (measured using surveys), or less time to complete a task, or improved staff morale (measured using surveys). Any of these can – and potentially will – have an effect in terms of cash value to the organisation, but I firmly believe that converting impact to cash value is an exercise in futility, since more often than not, the formulae and algorithms have too many variables.
So, in terms of ‘ROI’, think ‘Return on Impact’ rather than Return on Investment when considering Knowledge management strategies, and develop the strategy from the starting point of getting staff to justify the present status quo. After all, change is part of life, and as Darwin once said:
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
OpenPSI – Open PSI is a collaboration between the University of Southampton and the UK government, lead by the National Archive, to trial a new form of community provisioned information service. This is a new form of "community provisioned" Information Service where we hope to stimulate interaction between the following communities: public sector information publishers, the research community, mashup creators
http://coins.guardian.co.uk/coins-explorer/search – This is our first attempt at producing a way to navigate around the 3.2m data items released by the UK government as part of Coins. Scroll down the page to choose which chunk of data you'd like to explore – and let us know what you find.<br />
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Find out what the acronyms mean with our glossary.
Publishing itemised local authority expenditure – advice for comment | data.gov.uk – The Prime Minister and CLG Ministers wish to see local authorities publish granular local spending data. The Public Sector Transparency Board has been set up to drive an open data agenda. The Prime Minister has made a specific commitment that new items of local government spending over £500 be published on a council-by-council basis from January 2011. http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/statements-and-articles/2010/05/letter-t… Many local authorities also wish to publish such data. Camden Council asked the Panel for advice on publishing information about payments to suppliers greater than £500 in value.
Welcome to the Local e-Government Standards Body – The Local e-Government Standards Body (LeGSB) was re-launched at the NWeGG Annual Conference on 7 November 2006. Established to support the needs of Local Authorities and the Transformational Government agenda, LeGSB is embarking on a journey to facilitate the take up of standards, which can then be mapped onto a Local Government standards architecture reference model and developed with the local government community.
Home – Common Tag – Common Tag is an open tagging format developed to make content more connected, discoverable and engaging. Unlike free-text tags, Common Tags are references to unique, well-defined concepts, complete with metadata and their own URLs. With Common Tag, site owners can more easily create topic hubs, cross-promote their content, and enrich their pages with free data, images and widgets.
Welcome to Kulu Valley Ltd – Kulu Valley provide smart and cost effective solutions to organisations to advance their communications using technology.<br />
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We combine our Guru™ product suite and carefully selected 3rd party products with a fully managed service that gives organisations the storytelling tools they need to capture visual & textual content and associated supporting material that can be made available to both internal and external audiences. The ability to self publish in minutes, keeps people connected and informed in an immediate, consistent and cost effective way.
Enterprise Mashup Software – JackBe® delivers enterprise mashup software that empowers organizations with the right information at the right time for the right situation. Our innovative enterprise mashup platform, Presto®, creates new insights and understanding by rapidly and securely combining previously unconnected information in new ways without the complexities, costs and risks of traditional information integration projects.
Facebook Finally Calls Meeting on Privacy Strategy « Black Web 2.0 – I guess when you have over 400 million users you can afford to be arrogant – as Facebook is clearly demonstrating. Yes, there has been a flurry of news about people closing their accounts, but this represents a fraction of a percent of the total user base. I think the whole privacy thing is lost on the majority of users, not helped by the unnecessarily complex settings on Facebook. However, continued bad press like this – warranted or not – is not doing the company any good. That other company that 'does no evil' must be loving every minute of this!
Social Media Classroom – Welcome to the Social Media Classroom and Collaboratory. It’s all free, as in both “freedom of speech” and “almost totally free beer.” We invite you to build on what we’ve started to create more free value. The Social Media Classroom (we’ll call it SMC) includes a free and open-source (Drupal-based) web service that provides teachers and learners with an integrated set of social media that each course can use for its own purposes—integrated forum, blog, comment, wiki, chat, social bookmarking, RSS, microblogging, widgets , and video commenting are the first set of tools.
Lovd By Less — Open Source Social Network — Who loves you, baby? – New social networks launch everyday, most start with the same basic features. Bloggers have wordpress, mephisto and other open source solutions. Lovd offers a free open source social network platform.
CoTweet Guide Twitter Business | The Social Media Guide – CoTweet is a powerful Twitter client that takes Twitter management to a whole new level. CoTweet focuses on businesses who use Twitter as well as power users with multiple accounts.
