You’ll not have luck with the actKM list. After a long time of silence it recently went offline. Also the whole actKM website, which you can still access via the wayback machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20180325070502/http://actkm.org/) Interestingly actKM is still listed as one of the communities comprising AusKM, in fact it was replaced by AusKM in 2015 (http://www.auskm.org)

AusKM has a linkedin group. (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/89606) Maybe you’ll try your luck there, but you should note that Linkedin groups in general are for a long time no more a place to discuss and ask for support.

Thanks for the extra background and further links, Boris. I will definitely be leveraging networks like the ACTKM list and other similar sources for the experiences of practitioners, and sourcing introductions to CKOs for one-to-one conversations. I guess now that I’ve made myself accountable, I better get onto producing something! 😉

In KNOWledge SUCCESSion I explore Capabilities from three aspects: Knowing (Knowledge and Experiences), Doing (Skills and Talents) and being (Behaviours and Attitudes). The extension of this is the journey we are on, which is “Becoming”. We are all on an ongoing journey which generally gains in each of these areas to build more capabilities. In my own professional career (which has included over 20 years in “KM” in industry, and ten years actually facilitating KM learning at postgraduate level in formal education programs), I believe I have developed more “knowledge capability” for DOIING KM than I have from formal learning about it. I believe it is important to recognise both paths towards becoming a knowledge professional and will discuss that in an article in this magazine in the near future.

Bruce & April,

you may find the follwing Linkedin pro-education discussion on “Can anyone do Knowledge Management?” from 2012 useful. It was re-posted just recently by Elmi Bester (see “Comment”)

https://kmeducationhub.de/can-anyone-do-knowledge-management/

An other one is a 2015 survery by David Griffiths where he states and asks “62% of Knowledge Managers don’t hold a KM qualification – problem?”

https://kmeducationhub.de/hold-specialist-knowledge-management-qualification-survey-findings/

Also in 2015 myself discovered Linkedin to find out that “12K+ LinkedIn members studied [Knowledge Management]”

https://kmeducationhub.de/knowledge-management-12k-linkedin-members-studied-this/

Rather that twitter, Linkedin or any other business network may be a more appropriate source to do research on this issue, April. You should also not discover “thought leaders” but “real practitioners” like CKOs, on-the job knowledge managers, and the like. (Btw. I’m also on this twitter list. Twice! No formal KM education ;-))

Anyway, it is not useful to ask which is more important, Bruce. This does not help anybody. You can argue for and against both. At the end of the day it is what you make out of your KM education and/or skills and experience. The fact that at the moment skills and experiences come before formal KM education reflects the current sate of the discipline. We’ll see if the Chartered Knowledge Manager can become a real educational option or just a training from a local society of library and information professionals.

April, if you need any help on your independent research don’t hesitate to contact me.

Boris – initiator of the KMedu Hub, https://kmeducationhub.de

Many thanks Aprill for a great comment – I think your proposed research would be most valuable.

I’m also one of those with experience rather than KM education, with that experience gained in the context of bringing together and integrating diverse sources of knowledge in environmental decision-making.

I’d love to gain some KM qualifications, but the single biggest obstacle is the cost, primarily in regard to lost income during the period of study. I was given a PhD offer in 2014, but sadly was unable to take it up because even though I was successful in obtaining a scholarship and a small top-up it wasn’t enough for me to survive on for three years, particularly with the scholarship requirements ruling out any consulting or part-time work in that three years.

I know of others who have been in similar situations. To address this, I think we need to look not just at what we teach in KM education, but also how KM courses are financed and structured. For example, could business and industry be more actively involved in KM education partnerships?

I’m one of those people with experience, rather than education, though I have half a B.Arts (knowledge & learning minor) and am a certified Knowledge Centered Service Trainer, which is a professional development qual.

I think KM has a strong experience component, simply because it’s often developed with contextual relevance, so an architect may become a KMer for the AEC industry, simply through their own frustration and self-guided learning, like that exemplified by Chris Parsons of Knowledge Architecture.