The new actKM

The actKM discussion group has been resurected. From an email from the convenor, Mark Schenk:

You may be aware that the actKM discussion group hosted on Yahoo! Groups disappeared without warning on 15 January 2006. We have not been able to extract any explanation or assistance from Yahoo, and have decided to proceed on the assumption that the original actkm yahoo group will not be recovered. Since then, we have been working to bring actKM’s new website (www.actkm.org) into production, and to add to it a discussion list capability to replace that provided by Yahoo! Groups. This has now been completed.

I hear that act-km was not the only group that has disappeared recently. Whatever’s been going wrong at Yahoo! has damaged their reputation amongst a very influential group of KM leaders around the world.

Come along and join the new actKM.

Have you downloaded your user list from Yahoo! Groups lately? I have.

Update: Mark Schenk, Convenor of actKM, describes the experience.

Filed under: km, leadership

Email into RSS

A few days ago I asked if there was a service that could turn my email into an RSS feed. The answer is “yes”.

From basement.org [via Micro Persuasion]:

Keep Up With Specific Emails Via RSS. Mailbucket will pump any emails into a feed that you forward to slurp@mailbucket.org. Just create an Outlook rule against whatever (e.g. emails from particular senders) and get the sent out to a feed once they come in. Just keep in mind that such feeds are unencrypted and can be consumed by others.

I have not had the chance to look at this yet. Will report back later.

Filed under: blogging, km, push vs pull, rss

What’s happened to the ActKM forums?

One of my favourite KM online forums — act-km on Yahoo! Groups — has disappeared.
Act-KM where are you?

Filed under: km

Is there a service that can turn my email into RSS?

Steve Rubel asks “Will RSS Revolutionize Email Newsletters?” and points to a new service called squeet that will turn RSS into email.

As I commented on Steve’s blog.

As an email newsletter consumer, I want my newsletters turned into RSS feeds so that I can read them in the same way I read my blogs. The nature of the content is often the same — a collection of interesting but rarely urgent items — that I want to read once a day during
my “reading time”. Personally addressed email is often different — requiring timely attention and response.

Is there a service that can turn my email into RSS?

Filed under: blogging, km, push vs pull, rss

Social software inside the firewall (Melbourne lunch)

Our lunch went off very well with Matt Moore, James Farmer, Michael Spect, and Shawn Callahan and Andrew Rixon attending while Cameron Reily could not make it.

It’s always great to meet interesting people – some of them for the first time. As usual there were multiple conversations going on. Here’s some of what I remember (in no particular order):

• The NSW KM Forum will have Karl-Erik Sveiby and Ewen Semple at an event on 7th March. Not to be missed!
• James pointed me towards some interesting research on the use of discussion boards compared to blogs in an educational context. Blogs win, hands down.
• Some interesting discussion of what is / is not “social software”. I think we agreed that a primary differentiator is the conversational nature. Is Writely “social software”? Yes.
• Some unhappiness with tagging. Too limited when trying to find specific content. (But that’s not the point of tagging, is it?)
• There seems to be a derth of people doing anything meaningful with social software inside organisations. Lots of experimentation but nothing substantial. Speculation that the tools are too counter-culture. Shawn: Can you imagine setting up a prediction market and the first bet is on when the CEO will be sacked?
• Scoble posts too much. James says he reads the people who read Scoble. The blogsphere is full of people who add value by filtering what they read. I’m sure this is a meme that I’ve picked up on many times.
• Someone (sorry, can’t recall who) mentioned the odd feelings generated when meeting someone who already knows you through your blog, but you don’t know them at all. [Obviously this was someone with a more popular blog than mine!]

Most exciting outcome is shared a desire to organise a social software (un-)conference in Melbourne. We’d like to get 50 or 60 people together.

Is there enough interest? What would you like to see in such an event?

Filed under: blogging, km, participation, rss, smif

Blog usabilty (top 10 mistakes) Jacob Neilson

Interesting item from Jacob Neilson.
What mistakes have you made? What mistakes am I making right now?

Filed under: blogging, rss

Melbourne, 16th January, informal lunch on “Social Software inside the Firewall”

Following on from a recent get together in Sydney, we’ve decided to have a similar event in Melbourne.

So, if anyone is interested in the use of social software (blogs, tagging, rss, podcasts, etc) inside an organisation then come along and meet like minded people for an informal chat over lunch.

Venue yet to be decided.

Contact me via email: amitchell AT urbisjhd DOT com

If you want to come along, the venue is Regina Pizzeria in the QV Precinct. Booking under the name of Matt Moore and Andrew Mitchell. Contact me on 0419 599 744 if needed.

Filed under: blogging, rss, smif

How to get response in online forums

Jack Vinson post that information acquisition needs context.

This reminds me about some simple rules I throught about some years ago to get the most out of participation in online forums. This was a time before blogs.  And most of the online forums I participated in were for resolution of technical problems:

1. Be polite. Most people appreciate a “please” and “thank you”.
2. Be concise. Get to the point, don’t waffle.
3. Be thorough. State all relevant information such as the steps you’ve taken to resolve your problem.
4. Respond.

What other guidelines would you adopt?

Filed under: participation