David Watson has posted a round-up of styles and templates that people have made available for Movable Type blogs.
Author Archives: David
How to Deflect an Asteroid on a Collision Course With Earth
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Could an asteroid be deflected? Short answer: yes.
The Click Path
Found via Column Two:
3-clicks to anywhere
People often ask me whether they should make sure all of their content is available within 3 clicks (“3 clicks from where” is usually my first question). I can’t remember where this ‘rule’ started (Nielsen?), but common-sense would tell you that it is sensible only on smallish sites.
What if those 3 clicks are into the unknown? A user can become lost in 3 clicks as easily as 5, 7 or more.
What is far more important is to get users following the right path. When they know that they are going in the right direction, they stop counting clicks and start getting engaged with the content.
This is a good reminder to question the assumptions upon which you base your rules of thumb. Lots of good links her full entry and comments. Go check it out.
Good Luck blogs.salon.com
blogs.salon.com launched tonight. Salon continues to experiment with online community and the cluetrain philosophy. Good luck!
NPR Linking Policy Update
NPR has updated their linking policy:
NPR : The Ombudsman at National Public Radio
Okay, I think we understand now that NPR policy needed some revision.
I spotted this via rc3.org.
The policy still says they reserve the right to withdraw permission to link to their site. The only problem is that it still isn’t theirs to give or take. Oh well, better than nothing. The wording about welcoming and encouraging linking in general is in the right spirit at least.
More on Klog Implementation Challenges
www.davidwatson.org wrote a piece back in June about the difficulties a klog implementation could face. Training and organizational culture again. This is worth checking out as another addition to a balanced view on klogging.
KM: Think Small?
The Downside of Knowledge Management found via Blunt Force Trauma.
This article provides a nice counter-point to the low-cost klog network. The article concludes that:
Here’s the bottom line:
– for specialist communication between specialist groups, KM is a great idea
– for broader, much more useful communication across an entire enterprise, KM will not work very efficiently unless you implement a major awareness program…
Wait a minute. This is beginning to sound expensive. I thought you could implement KM for $40 a desk.
Sorry.
This is a great piece to read if you are susceptable to being dazzled by the possiblities of technology (which certainly happens to me quite often).
The conclusion that the deployment of KM with cheap or free tools is still expensive is based on the requirements of senior level buy-in and staff training needed in order to deploy KM tools across the enterprise. These are items that a grass-roots implementation most likely lack.
I think there is an assumption at the base of that idea, however. The assumption is that KM solutions must be applied consistently across the entire organization in order to be doing KM well. Why? Can’t a solution or tool be used by a small group within the enterprise and derive value and benefit from it? Does the entire company have to be wired into a KM network in order to consider a KM initiative a success?
Perhaps KM can only happen among small, informal groups within the organization. There have not been many success stories from enterprise-level deployments of KM systems. Maybe truly valuable knowledge sharing only happens with informal swarming connections and rapid permutations thereof.
I’m just thinking out loud here. I do believe that training is very important but probably less so than having an organizational culture that at a minimum does not actively discourage the sharing of information and knowledge.
I’m very interested in hearing some other opinions on micro vs. macro KM.
davidwatson.org review of amazon web services
www.davidwatson.org has posted a good overview of the Amazon’s new web services API. He even provides a sample script that he integrated with his weblog.
TrackBack Code for Radio
Ron Lusk has posted the code he has developed to configure Radio to ping entries to KMpings. This code could be modified to ping any TrackBack-enabled site. Way to go!
KMPings Trackback Code
KMPings code is located at
http://home.netcom.com/~luskr/weblog/radio/code/pingKMPingsForPost.txt
Treat it gently, it’s young and naive. It is intended to ping only for posts in the “K-Log” category, and is set to use the test URL for now.
Low-cost Klog Network
The level of investment required for really excellent km tools, such as weblogs, has gotten so low that it is much easier for a relatively low level employee to start a grass-roots movement within the staff if they are motivated. Given the failure of enterprise level KM initiatives and the burst .com bubble, this could be the perfect time to stealth in some web-based knowledge sharing tools.
In this article I will discuss how you can create a low-cost knowledge weblog (klog) network using free and/or donor supported software. This method is well suited to the stealthy introduction of weblogging as a knowledge management tool. All you need is one server to host the klogs and you can be off and running before senior management has a chance to quash your initiative. Or take credit for it. :).
C. David Gammel, CAE 