There is a great deal of implicit knowledge and expertise across government. Using a MOOC to create, or expand a PLE for government employees, would allow us to better leverage that knowledge existing in the heads of employees. Org charts and job descriptions, just don’t cut it. A PLE may have an impact on the way civil servants think about collaboration, in a postive way. I think of it as deep networking. Networking is great, but when we start to work together on a problem as in a PLE, a deeper and more solid network and understanding can be created. More understanding between departments could be fostered, allowing for increased sharing and cooperation.

Already, in my short time participating in PLENK2010, I have engaged with several very smart people who have caused me to expand my thinking on learning and social networks. I would like to develop a topic for MOOC for government. Social media may be a decent topic to begin. Your thoughts?

So it struck me immediately that PLE/N’s are an excellent tool to keep us honest and more accurate in our work and interpretation of knowledge. I am thinking of #PLENK2010 for example, as a network of peers (a favorable statement on my part) that I can leverage to check my facts and understanding on topics that I stray into that I may have less knowledge about than others. Not that this is necessarily the intent of my experience with #PLENK2010, but rather it is a natural outcome of the experience of discovery and debate (ala Socratic Method). So here we have a process resulting from a PLE that mimics in some ways, a personal peer review network.

I’m interested to hear what other think of this view of PLE’s

What is a Persoanl Learning Environment, you might ask? As I understand it (and please fellow PLENK2010 people, comment on my ignoirance here), a PLE is taking new technology and new ways of accessing and sharing information and creating networks of people relevant to your personal and professional interests and learning goals and consuming that information and knowledge and giving back to the community (if you want). The PLE is created by the learner based in their preferences, networks and access to technology in order to support their lifetime learning goals.

I also see the PLE, particularly as I see it through PLENK2010, as a guided approach to learning, with unlimited opportunities to customize the learning experience to the learners particularly interes and needs.

Because PLE’s also connect people of varying expertise and depth of knowedgel, we all have an opportunity to develop life long collaborative realtionships. I am very interested to see how this approach to learning can impact government and help government employees develop new knowledge and wisdom from that knowedge.

#plenk2010

Let’s get back to the paradigm shift for software. FOSS has gradually been gaining in market share in several environments. For some time Apache has had the majority market share in web servers, almost 50% more than that of Microsofts IIS. Today, Google’s Android OS is rapidly gaining in the smartphone market on iOS and BlackBerry and the Linux OS and OpenOffice are recognized as legitimate alternatives for desktops/laptops.

Now in addition to all of this, there is an fledgling movement and awareness for public organizations to collaborate and share and be more open. I am seeing this on several fronts and in places like GovLoop.com, conferences like Gov 2.0 and many others. One such concrete example of this is the Kuali Foundation .

Kuali is a growing community of universities, colleges, businesses, and other organizations that have partnered to build and sustain open-source software for higher education, by higher education. Kuali software is designed to meet the needs of all sizes of institutions, from land-grant research universities to community colleges. The members of the Kuali Community share a common vision of open, modular, and distributed systems for their software requirements. Kuali software is released under the Educational Community License.

Some believe that the Kuali model would be appropriate for government as well. I tend to agree with this notion, that government departments and agencies have very similar needs for technology and software solutions and sharing best practices and software would be beneficial for all involved. Why wouldn’t government work together on common problems and challenges… after all, they are the experts.
Another sharing, clearinghouse type, initiative is the Civic Commons . The Civic Commons seeks to bring together software solutions to share among organizations.

About Civic Commons: For the most part, each city, county, state, agency and office builds or buys their technology solutions independently, creating huge redundancies in civic software and wasting millions of tax-payer dollars. They should be able to work together. An independent non-profit organization, Civic Commons will help these institutions share code and best practices, reform procurement practices, and learn to function not only as a provider of services but as a platform to which an ecosystem of industry can add value for government and its citizens.

More and more, we are seeing organizations emerge to make software open and available to whomever needs it. Some other similar initiatives include; Code for America, Open Plans and Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTA) in Washington DC.

While I will concede that there will always be niche markets for specialty software that will be proprietary, I believe we will see an increasing move to FOSS. The private sector will move toward a variety of support and value add services to organizations. The public sector has an opportunity to lead this shift and I believe it can.

Innovation has has gone through a hype phase of popularity and we are argueably on the tail end of the hype. Not that it will fade away or that it is less relevant, but many are tired of hearing about it and so don’t really know how to foster it within their organization. Innovation has always been with us and arguably always will. Having the discussion about innovation allows us to increase our understanding of it and to some degree, harness it.

The problem for many organizations is that innovation activity is not all that effective when shoved off to an isolated “innovation group” who may be disconnected from the rest of the organization and not given the tools and resources or permission to feedback into the organization. That’s where culture somes in and the word fostering (encouragement; aiding the development of something ) comes in. An organization truly must get behind the idea of innovation for it to thrive and provide any real return on innovation investment (ROII).

So innovation can be (and should be) fostered throughout an organization and even pushed a little. You might consider identifying people, or teams to have a defined role to push the innovation agenda forward (let’s call them innovation teams for now). you might allocate time for these teams to work on an innovation agenda; brainstorming, research, idea sponsoring, problem solving, opportunity identification. Now that you have primed the pump of innovation by giving some people the permission (and mandate) of innovation, give them the tools to do it.

Can your innovation team be innovative? Let’s assume that the people on your innovation team want to be there and have bought into the concept… are they ready… do they have the skills? They may be ready, but likely they will benefit from support, as in training or learning. This is currently an area of interest for me. How might we train people in innovation or to be more innovative. There are numerous brainstorming and ideation excercises out there, but I’m thinking that we also need to help our “inovators” develop the skills in design and creative thinking. Creativity is the foundation for innovation. It will allow us to see things differently, to explore how the other side of our brain might solve the problem or exploit an opportunity. The excercises and brainstorming sessions are the tools to use to move forward, while creative, design thinking are the hands that will manipulate and guide the tools.

Now that there is a group in your organization with the premission for innovation and they have the tools and skills for creative problem solving (and more), make sure they have the infrastructure to make it effective. Innovation will require a governance structure appropriate for your organization, the support from the top, it will also require tools for collaboration, communication, sharing and knowledge management.

To recap, the three legs of the stool to foster innovation in any organization, are; 1. identify innovation as a role in your organization and give people the permision and mandate to carry it out, 2. provide the tools and skills for creative thinking and problems solving and 3. give them the infrastructure to make it all useful.

There are many buzzwords that skirt the topic of collaboration tools. Some of these include; Social Media, Online Communities, Wiki’s, Groups, and more. At the end of the day, collaboration is about working together, sharing ideas and creating something more as a result of the synergy of working together. Outside of work, many of us are participating in professional online communities. For example, some of mine include; ResearchGATE, Twitter, govloop and LinkedIn in. Each of these communities allows me to expand my horizon of subject matter experts and gather new knowledge.

Internally, however, we must learn to collaborate. It’s not a given that the process will happen on its own, it must be fostered and supported to work. We have to be given the tools, the permission and the encouragement to work together more effectively. Workgroups, wiki’s, blogs, discussion forums, all allow us to do this. And we have to make an effort… set aside 5 minutes to contribute to something where you may have something to add. Comment on this blog, add to one of the wiki’s on here, start your own blog or wiki on a work topic that you could use help with and ask others to contribute to your thinking… you almost certainly can benefit from hearing another perspective than your own, or your close circle of colleagues.

At Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)

“[A]lmost half of the departments 6,200 employees have contributed content (emphasis added) to the NRCan wiki. Proudly boasting over 200,000 page views per week, Marj Akerly, chief information officer at NRCan, says almost every employee uses the wiki in some form. We’ve really worked hard over the last 2 years to see how this (wiki)_ can be used not only as a way to get information bust also as a valuable work tool.”

“Although these tools were initially implemented to create a better integrated knowledge base, Ms. Akerly says the adoption of social media within the department allows NRCan to become an employee of choice for next-generation workers.”

Social media is not about technology, its about collaboration and a culture of cooperation. How to work together more effectively and be open to new ideas. It’s about a can-do attitude as opposed to a can-not attitude. Be positive, be proactive and be a part of the solution.

Today I started reading “The Art of Community” by Jona Bacon. Jona is a manager of a large volunteer community for Ubuntu Linux. His success in the Ubuntu community, a large community around an open source Linux distribution, has given him some insights into what works and what does not work for a community.

A few things stood out for me in the first chapter, the first being that community is about a sense of belonging. We describe communities as having common goals and common interests, but at the end of the day, no matter the purpose, we all have a need to belong. The next piece that strikes a cord with me, is how he introduces and describes how “Social Capital” is the velcro (my word) that keeps us attached to the group. Our ability to collaborate with the group and be considered a part of the group grows with our social capital. Jona writes:

Social capital is the collective family of positive interactions between two or more people

Belonging and social capital are important concepts for a community and certainly we must “believe” in the community. Jono talks about a Community Manager also. He describes his role as a community manager like this:

I help to enable a worldwide collection of volunteers to work together to do things that make a difference to them.

Subheading: “Theory Versus Action: Action Wins” nuff said! This to me really sums it up. Just do it… try it… make something happen, and if it doesn’t work, try it a different way, but don’t give up!

What I am taking from this video, is that we should create our own centre of learning… to pull what it is we want into this space. I must admit, I read a lot from many different places and I rarely collect it in one place. It might be of use to bring all the subscriptions I have into one place. Stephen also talks about summarizing and commenting on what we read and learn. I have to agree with this. I know that in my experience when I teach something or paraphrase it, I have to think more deeply about it.

One important learning piece that Stephen speaks to is the use of unofficial sources. I have been doing this for a while now. I don’t even have television at home. I do access most of my news from unifficial sources and I believe I am better informed than many of my friends, family and colleagues. By “better informed” I mean with a more balanced view, as much as I do correct and detailed information approach.

So there we have it. The video is done and it was a worthwhile viewing. It will take some discipline, but I will work to take some of Stephen’s advice. I have placed the link in the text above, but you can find the video at www.downes.ca.

Happy learning!

Our community, local and regional, faces many challenges, including pollution, traffic congestion, obesity and poor health as a result of a sedentary lifestyle. As a community, we have identified these issues as important. We put money time and resources toward their elimination and/or solution. And then when an obvious solution lands in our lap… we arrest the provider and throw them in jail… amazing. Longboards, like bicycles, rollerblades, scooters (human powered) and our walking legs, provide solutions to the above mentioned challenges. Clearly our community leaders and administrators do not currently posses the ability to think creatively enough to recognize solutions when they present themselves.

Thanks to the skateboarder who has stepped up to the challenge to shine some awareness on our current transportation shortcomings. Our community leaders/administrators must think differently in order to truly create a healthy and sustainable city. We must all be interested and open to new ideas. It is natural for our “older” city leaders and administrators to have their limited perspective. It comes as no surprise that creative and innovative solutions will come to the forefront from our younger citizens. It is time for our “older” community members to learn from our “younger” citizens.

So here is to longboards as a mode of transportation being just the beginning of a long list of paradigm changes in transportation that we need to get started on. Our transportation system should gradually phase automobiles out as the dominant vehicle. Long term community planning can make this a reality.

See Wiktionary:

Showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement; humane, reasonable, ethical.

So if we can agree that civilized refers to social development more than it does technological development, I think we are on the right path. To the crux of the matter then… would a civilized society allow people to die on its streets when, in most cases, it could be prevented? For those who are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, you will understand that before you take care of the self actualizing needs, a la theatre improvements, or monuments on the green, you take care of basics like food and shelter.

Simply put, we need the political will to want to help those in our society who are less fortunate for one reason or another. And hey, wouldn’t you say that a human life is more important than mowing our lawns?! There are literally thousands of items Fredericton spends its budget on… among the most obvious would be to ensure that those who live here don’t go hungry and/or without shelter.

Oh… and don’t dismiss it by saying it’s another level of governments problem… morally, it’s not. We are a community… period.