Collablogging

Today, I am much more motivated to write! Perhaps because I've just had a very interesting conversation with my brother about blogs, collaboration and knowledge sharing. In fact, he also has his own blog, which I recommend: Engenho - Cafe moido a brasileira. He is a great software engineer! So, for those interested in Java programming, it's definetely worth taking a look at it. Only one thing: it's in Portuguese... oh well, nothing is perfect! : )

Anyway, I was telling him how much fun I've been having so far with Collablogging. I am not sure if you realized this yet but, for me, this is much more than a way to share knowledge. It is actually a real experiment for someone who defines herself as a Knowledge Management researcher: myself! : )). Anyway, by sharing my thoughts with you all, I'd like to get a feeling of what can or cannot be achieved by using blogs for KM purposes. Here is what I found so far:

• blogging is a great way to externalize your own knowledge, turning it from tacit to explicit. Who hasn't heard that saying that 'when you teach, you learn much more than your students'. The principle is simple: explicitating knowledge makes you think what is the best way to make it clear for others. In this process, you learn a lot about: what you know, what you do not know, how to express yourself, etc;
• blogging lets you to record the knowledge you have now for your own future reference. In other words, if you forget some needed information, you can always refer back to your blog to find it. Here, I have to say that the blogging technology needs to be much enhanced (with searching, filtering, among other functionalities) to make this reference process more efficient;
• blogging allows others to provide feedback on your thoughts, which in turn generates for you new knowledge about that specific topic -- this is actually the principle of collablogation!!!! : ))
• blogging works as some kind of informal copyright, because it is a dated record of what you think or say;
• blogging may give you more confidence on expressing your own ideas.

Well, this is what I have to say about collablogging so far... and these thoughts have been also a result of another kind of collaboration: a debate with my brother (Vitor) using MSN Messenger. I just love the Internet!!! How in the world this kind of interaction would be possible between me (in the Netherlands) and Vitor (in Brazil) without the big Net? That's why I strongly support the use of technology in KM and learning processes.