One would truly have to be living the life of a hermit without any means of contact with the outside world to not know that something was quite significantly wrong with the world. Of course, I'm talking about Coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19. Pandemics happen regularly but the strength of this one is that it is well,......... strong.

There seem to be two key elements of anxiety - one about health and the other about finances, both at the personal level and indeed the macroeconomic level.

As the video illustrated highlights our modern sophisticated methods of payment, it also reminds us that it all started out with barter. Looking at one of the characters in this video animation of a boy exchanging cards brings back memories of me trading football cards during a World Cup.

Underpinning the bartering process is knowledge of what you have to offer and what you know the other person has to offer, so that you can negotiate a mutually-agreed exchange. Essentially, it is market knowledge in its basic form. Historically - and now, information and knowledge is the lifeblood.

One of the absolute basics of survival is food. Taking this as an example, possibly on account of people stockpiling food, I  can foresee that other people who are experiencing difficulty in accessing food from food banks may revert to the barter system: What can I offer the marketplace in terms of my knowledge, skills and experience? For example,  decorate a room in exchange for a week's food;  the application of one's transferable skills in the marketplace.
​

​It all started out with barter. Perhaps we will end up reinventing the wheel, to some degree at least.
​

It is so easy to assume, particularly in the context of knowledge management, that information should come via the ICT route. However, the power of the face-to-face conversation should not be overlooked as a means of acquiring organisational information, information which perhaps may only exist in people's heads.
​
This was the subject of a previous blog post, the key points about which have been highlighted in the video below.

A film producer is the person who oversees the production of a film from beginning to end. It is he or she who may have had the idea for the film in the first place (self-starter). Alternatively, he will be responsible for commissioning and approving any script or assessing a script received on a speculative basis; with edits as required.

Once a script is completed, the producer will be the key person involved in securing the financial backing, without which the production wouldn’t go ahead. Thereafter, he appoints key people such as the Director of Photography, the Production Designer, the Editor and the Director and actors.

The producer will plan the production shooting schedule and importantly, the budget. Planning is a key point of the role. Throughout, the producer will be in constant contact with the key creative team members. For example, in post-production, the producer will work closely with the Editor.

Once the film is released, based on prior agreed contracts, the producer will oversee the sales, marketing and distribution rights of the film.
​
Finally, he will archive the film for future marketing, adapting to whatever formats have yet to emerge.

One of the producers featured in the videos above said: “Get a group of people that have the amount of passion that you have.” I’m very pleased to say that I have that passion for INFORMATION and ITS ORGANISATION. 
​

​Journalists know, or should know, how to write in a style that is appropriate to their target reader/publication. Just as a public speaker would cite examples (of whatever) to make their material relevant to their audience, the same is true of the journalistic written word. For those words to “reach” their audience, the likelihood of “hitting home” is greatly enhanced if the material is carefully selected for its relevance or appropriateness.
​

​Journalists must have the ability to absorb information quickly; and discern what information is important and what is incidental. This capacity is directly related to satisfying a deadline. Although, knowledge managers may not have to “go to press” or “report live”, they nevertheless have information users whom they have to satisfy in terms of delivering the required information in an agreed format and by the required time. Therefore, for both professional groups, time management is a key consideration.
​

​All of the above-mentioned journalistic skills are relevant to the work of a practicing Knowledge professional. Indeed, I would argue that one of the most important skills for an information professional to have is the skill of journalism. 

​Publications

In a past blog post, I looked at reasonable factors to take into account when implementing a KM project. In the video below, I have reprised the same points I made earlier but in a very concise format:

Having had something of a hiatus in posting on this blog, I thought that it would be an opportune moment to pose the question: What is Knowledge Management?

In answer to that question, I've chosen to highlight the video presented by Chris Collison. In the late '90's, Chris worked as part of BP's acclaimed knowledge management team, a team was accredited with generating over $200m of value through knowledge management. He is now an established knowledge management consultant.

​The purpose of conducting interviews is to draw out from their memory their knowledge and experience of working in the organisation. Of course, a certain degree of knowledge may be documented in the organisational systems, whether physical or electronic – but not all. Conducting interviews at this time whilst the employees are still active in the company maximises the likelihood of them accurately recalling information. On the other hand, if this exercise were to be left until after the employees had retired then it is quite likely that their recall may not be as accurate, nor as complete, as with every week that passes, memories of work could well fade into history. 

​Related Blog Posts
Shut Up and Listen 
Is that One Question or Two?

I’m sure you’ve heard of the expression Hedge your Bets; in other words, spread your risk. In the context of researching on the web that could be interpreted as using more than one search engine. Of course, use Google. However, there are other search engines out there and as no one search engine can cover the entire web, you will find that, although there may well be common ground between different engines, equally, you are likely to have different results using different sources. 

In this post, I’m going to take a look at a search engine named DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo started in 2008 and asserts that they do NOT collect or share any of your personal information. They do not track your searches. 

In the settings, you can specify a range of options:

• Opening results in new windows/tabs. This means that your original page of results stays intact and you don't have to click back to retrieve the page of results.
• Limit your results to come from a particular country. This can be useful if you’re focusing your search on a particular part of the world.
• Change the background colour across the entire site. Applying the psychology of colour, some people may wish to actively influence their thinking in a particular way.
• Specify preference in units of measurement - Metric (Kilograms, Metres, Celsius) and Traditional (Pounds, Feet, Fahrenheit).
• Video Playback – If you’re wary of clicking on a video uncertain as to where it will take you, you have three options: Prompt me, Open on third-party site and Always play on DuckDuckGo.

Today, I am going to talk about transcripts. It is easy to think of the media, particularly radio and TV, as being “of the moment” in which they’re broadcast. However, when conducting research, transcripts of past programmes can be a useful source of information.

Broadcast transcript sources can be useful in locating people who have appeared on television and radio programmes. These people may be experts or authorities in their field, which is just why they may have been sought by the programmes’ producers. 

If you are looking for a person who has written a book, if they have been publicising their work, it is very likely that they will have been interviewed by the media and a transcript would be available.

If an individual is acting as a spokesperson for a company or organisation, it signals the status of that person within the organisation; not necessarily a director or publicist. The person being interviewed may be a subject specialist and not a professional communicator. Nevertheless, information gathered via transcripts may provide evidential support in court proceedings.

Transcripts can be used for reputation management monitoring – what has been said about someone. Examining multiple sources can help identify consistencies and/or inconsistencies in what any one person/organisation is saying. This comment has particular relevance to politically-sensitive issues.

Using transcripts can make research more time-efficient. In the first instance, you may listen to a radio broadcast and mentally note the key points of interest. Then, you can quickly scan the transcript of the programme, without the necessity of writing notes at the time of listening, presuming that you’ve verified beforehand that the transcript was going to be available. 

​An interview in a printed publication will have gone through the filtering process of writing and editing, whereas a distinctive quality about broadcasts is that they can often be "live" and unrehearsed, sometimes providing additional insight into a subject.

Broadcasters may not always have transcripts for every programme broadcast.