CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Default Null Subject Account for Blank Record

0403 -
0403 -    ..
0404 - Summary/Objective
0405 -
040501 - Follow up
040502 -
040503 -
040504 -
040505 -
040507 -  ..
0406 -
0407 -
0408 - Progress
0409 -
040901 - Gary sent a letter a few weeks ago citing analysis on the Internet of
040902 - tacit/implicit knolwedge, and indicated this related to SDS.
040904 -  ..
040905 - Sent a letter requesting correlation of presentations on tacit and
040906 - implicit knowledge with SDS.
040908 -  ..
040909 - On 090623, Gary submitted an explanation grounded in benefits of
040910 - collaboration and communication. ref SDS 2 QE5H
040912 -  ..
040913 - Sent a letter to Gary showing explanation in POIMS which defines SDS
040914 - capbailities and which explains support for tacit/implicit knowledge.
040915 - ref OF 5 2301  Gary was asked for feedback on this explanation
040916 - suggesting ways to help him and others respond to popular views that
040917 - writing is not an effective method of transforming loosly held
040918 - thoughts into intellectual capital, sometimes called explicit
040919 - knowledge.
040921 -  ..
040922 - Today, Gary's letter submits comments on this part of POIMS,
040923 - including spelling and grammar corrections.
040925 -  ..
040926 - This afternoon applied corrections to spelling and grammar.
040928 -  ..
040929 - Gary quotes POIMS saying in part...
040930 -
040931 -        Managing knowledge quickly and accurately helps people discover
040932 -        trails, links, and associations that connect cause and effect
040933 -        without expense and painful experience of trial and error.
040934 -        Adding energy to construct connections yields the power of
040935 -        knowledge that controls the future (see good management,citing
040936 -        the "locality principle").  Explicit knowledge therefore lives
040937 -        and grows, beyond individual life to improve work, avoid
040938 -        problems, and advance civilization across generations. (see
040939 -        chronology, context, connection) ref OF 5 IF6M
040940 -  ..
040941 - Gary says in part...
040942 -
040943 -            I think we could point out here that SDS addresses areas
040944 -            that are more readily represented by explicit knowledge
040945 -            than fully general human activity.  We are interested in
040946 -            what was said, what was agreed or disputed, what actions
040947 -            were taken, what decisions were made, and what plans we
040948 -            developed.  Then we are interested in finding and
040949 -            connecting that material.
040951 -  ..
040952 - Agree with this explanation.  Don't grasp how writing down what people
040953 - say and do is different from reporting "fully general human activity"?
040955 -  ..
040956 - Possibly Gary can list 2 or 3 examples of "fully generaly human
040957 - activity that would not be reported in an SDS record.
040959 -  ..
040960 - Gary's analysis continues...
040961 -
040962 -            I use paragraphs more heavily than you do, but I am not
040963 -            going to push that here.
040965 -  ..
040966 - Need an example of using paragraphs more heavily.
040968 -  ..
040969 - Gary's analysis continues...
040970 -
040971 -            I think that the transistion from the nature of tacit
040972 -            knowledge to characteristics of explicit knowledge that
040973 -            make it valuable is a good one and think that short, puchy
040974 -            paragraphs might make the points of the argument clearer.
040976 -  ..
040977 - Provide 1 or 2 examples.
040979 -  ..
040980 - Gary quotes POIMS saying in part...
040981 -
040982 -        Some implicit knowledge is hard to transform into explicit
040983 -        writings.  It is a lot easier learning to tie your shoes, drive
040984 -        a bus, or hammer a nail by watching someone, and getting help
040985 -        rather than follow written explanation.  Same is true for
040986 -        frying an egg.  Try writing up how to flip an egg "over easy"
040987 -        in a frying pan.  Some people feel that, since not everything
040988 -        can be reduced to writing, knowledge management seems beyond
040989 -        reach, leading to calls for sole reliance on mentoring and
040990 -        conversation.  On the other hand, baking a cake, frying eggs
040991 -        with peppers, cheese, onions, and sausage to make an omelet
040992 -        usually yields better results following a cookbook.  Similarly,
040993 -        hammering a nail is hard to convey in writing, and is easy to
040994 -        learn with the aid of a mentor or teacher; however, building a
040995 -        house, bridge, or a factory is faster, easier, cheaper, and
040996 -        turns out better with written plans and specifications, rather
040997 -        than merely having a mentor or teacher explain everything.
040998 -        ref OF 5 B46K
040999 -
041000 -
041002 -  ..
041003 - Gary's analysis continues...
041004 -
041005 -            Business and personal activities that fit well into the
041006 -            plan, perform, report model fit well with SDS, and that is
041007 -            all explicit knowledge.
041008 -
041009 -            I would like to see the point made somewhere that we
041010 -            convert tacit knowledge to explicit all the time - We learn
041011 -            to make a meat loaf, experiment with it until we get one
041012 -            that we really like, and convert it to a recipe.  The
041013 -            recipe is explicit knowledge that makes sense only to one
041014 -            who has the tacit knowledge of how to cook.
041016 -  ..
041017 - The paragraph in POIMS which is the subject of this comment strives to
041018 - show interconnected roles of implicit and explicit knowledge, citing
041019 - specifically benefits of a cookbook. ref SDS 0 757I
041021 -  ..
041022 - Gary's analysis continues...
041023 -
041024 -            Science, and indeed all human knowledge and culture
041025 -            advances by a continual process of converting tacit
041026 -            knowledge to explicit knowledge.  Example: (from "Blink" by
041027 -            Malcolm Gladwell) For most people, taste is totally tacit -
041028 -            we can tell what we like, and distinguish gross features.
041029 -            True taste experts have developed a "taste vocabulary" that
041030 -            organizes taste along 22 dimensions with as many as 15
041031 -            values per dimension.  While taste remains tacit, and the
041032 -            training of it remains tacit, much of the knowledge of what
041033 -            to look for and how to convey the information to others is
041034 -            now explicit. Examples are endless.
041036 -  ..
041037 - Gary quotes POIMS saying in part...
041038 -
041039 -        Since the human mind is wired to think through stories, writing
041040 -        a coherent story is a big part of analysis that makes history a
041041 -        powerful "intelligence" asset for creativity to solve problems
041042 -        and discover new ideas.  Written analysis aids memory of daily
041043 -        work in meetings, calls and documents so that people can draw
041044 -        correlations, implications and nuance from the context of
041045 -        objectives, requirements and commitments that give information
041046 -        meaning.  Distributing the story provides feedback that gets
041047 -        everybody on the same page, and checking the record empowers
041048 -        people to be prepared for productive communication and
041049 -        collaboration by aligning discussion in the next meeting with
041050 -        commitments, objectives, feasibility, scope, and requirements.
041051 -        These dynamics of explicit knowledge enrich understanding and
041052 -        build shared meaning beyond innate biological capacity of
041053 -        implicit (tacit) knowledge to remember only the gist of the
041054 -        story, about 5% - 10%.  Deliberative analysis under POIMS
041055 -        strengthens thinking through writing by leveraging personal and
041056 -        organizational memory. ref OF 5 B46F
041058 -  ..
041059 - Gary's analysis continues...
041060 -
041061 -            Perhaps not here, but there are 2 issues that need to be
041062 -            addressed in addition to storytelling: 1) precision use of
041063 -            language - meanings matter, and 2)structure and patterns in
041064 -            narrative - structure can clarify meaning and intent.
041066 -  ..
041067 - "Meaning" was explained as primarily a process of association or
041068 - linking, noted by Tom Landauer in his paper on LSA, reviewed on
041069 - 960321. ref SDS 1 2882
041071 -  ..
041072 - "Precision use of language" is a writing skill, which can aided with
041073 - tools that facilitate linking by finding examples in the record, and
041074 - constructing links quickly and easily for precision access to examples
041075 - of "meaning." Seems like this is addressed in the next para in POIMS
041076 - that says...
041077 -
041078 -        New computer functions for crafting, finding, connecting,
041079 -        organizing and summarizing information enable people to
041080 -        discover opportunities and mistakes in reasoning, and to
041081 -        recognize conflicts with objectives, requirements and
041082 -        commitments in time to take effective action, which otherwise
041083 -        are overlooked during discussion and personal thinking due to
041084 -        complexity that exceeds span of attention, often described as
041085 -        the fog of war.  As a result, the POIMS process of improving
041086 -        personal and organizational memory and management significantly
041087 -        augments intelligence by leveraging the ability to remember the
041088 -        gist of the story. ref OF 5 BV9G
041089 -
041090 -
041091 -
041092 -
041093 -
041094 -
041095 -
041096 -
041097 -
041098 -
041099 -
0411 -