John Zavacki writes (18-July)
>It is association than makes learning organizations grow, not the
>random, personal hermeneutic, but a schema based on the generative,
>transformational mind.
Peter Hornsby (26-July)
>Finally, given the value-add of a users' personal filter, should an
>organisation with a high personnel turnover try to capture users' filters?
>It is these, after all, which make the difference between data and
>knowledge!
The concepts of "association" and/or "filters" is perhaps what
distinguishes a "data warehouse" from an "information" or even
"knowledge-base". The context for data/information and the associative
linkages which are created within the mind(s) of the individual(s)
reviewing the data/information lead to the creation of new knowledge.
Only when "meta-knowledge" is provided which permits effective navigation
and selective retrieval of such data/information/knowledge are meaningful
schema created.
Indeed, it is also possible that the concept of "shared associations"
represented by various websites are indeed "schema based upon the
generative (collective) mind" of individuals with access to the World Wide
Web.
John Zavacki continues (18-July)
>It may seem like chaos, but it has a purpose.
While the Web certainly does seem like chaos, perhaps the purpose is to
accelerate global learning...
David Howard adds (21-July)
>The very lack of underlying organisation coupled with the ease of moving
>from one information item to another with hypertext is what makes the web
>such a powerful creative learning tool. Organisation (warehousing?) of
>information encourages one to focus on a particular frame of reference -
>that of the information organiser. The nature of the web allows the
>open-minded reader to juxtapose widely different concepts and ideas from a
>multiplicity of disciplines thus facilitating the creation of new linkages
>and ideas.
As noted, with the capabilities of web-browsers, we have potential access
to these worldwide "schema" and are thus able to "associate" all sorts of
information and knowledge previously unavailable to us as individuals,
constrained by the limitations of time and space. IMHO, this greatly
accelerates the learning cycle and permits individuals (organizations?
societies?) to learn rapidly through the use of such technologies.
An absolutely phenomenal example of such a website has been created by one
of the contributors to Learn Org, Yogesh Malhotra. Check it out at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~malhotra/OrgLrng.htm
It's late...so I hope this makes sense without my current context ;-).
--James Ray --------------------------------------------- AT&T Solutions Voice: 202-414-3905 Organizational Learning Fax: 202-414-3949 Washington, D.C. jamesr@attsolhq.attmail.com
"No amount of sophistication is going to allay the fact that all your knowledge is about the past and all your decisions are about the future." -- Ian E. Wilson
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>