In response to Michael, Tobin wrotex
>I have another possible focus for this thread which came to me as a
>result of an unfortunate circumstance I have been dealing with recently.
>Thesituation has required the assistance of a lawyer (or two), and as I
>watched the process of their work, the relevance of the legal field to
>"corporate memory" was sparked. Isn't the entire western legal tradition
>a sort of "cultural/societal memory?" Lawyers and judges consult the
>cases which have been argued before, compare them to the circumstances
>at hand, and look for precedence which is "on point". So we don't just have
>a system of LAW, we have a system of LAW as interpreted and applied in
>interaction with specific contexts, conditions, and experiences.
I wonder if this is a "cultural/societal memory"? There are certain
standards in law (statutes, regulations, etc) that the courts (judges)
interpret) from whatever paradigms 'they' bring to the bench.
I wonder, however, how an organization would collect all the 'tidbits' of
information that create the organization's culture. How people act, the
things people say, what's modeled and rewarded... How do we fit these into
the corporate learning? Or do we?
Tobin went on to write later
>Once we accept that the people who "know where to look" are becoming
>an endangered species, it becomes essential to capture _less and less_
>so that those who do decide to search for relevant information can do so
>with some hope of success.
I need some help here understanding why when " people who "know where to
look" are becoming >an endangered species" does it mean capturing less
knowledge is essential?
I know that Tobin wrote that once this happens ....
> requires us, of course, to make sure as much as possible that the
>information we do capture is that which is rich enough to stimulate our
>thinking and offer us some guidance. In this respect, I wonder if the
>legal profession's model of case law could be of value.
Who sets the 'paradigm' the 'information archivist' uses to determine what
information if 'rich' enough to be captured?
I wonder if an organization should try to capture what each employee (as
an individual) believes is an important 'golden nugget(or nuggets)' of all
the information s/he has and ackowledges as something to be preserved by
the organization and passed on.....
-- Joe DiVincenzo NEA/NY @aol.com NEANY@aol.com