MACTattack

A conversation about podcasting about podcasting ... and outtakes. Enjoy.

Hello, and welcome back to MACTattack, a short series of podcasts about podcasting, and whether it has a future for knowledge management. Your MACTattack hosts are Jennifer Flynn, Nikki Van Dusen, and Wayne Williams. Visit us at http://mactattack.podbean.com. In episode two, we're looking at the theory and practice of podcasting for knowledge management. In theory, this should work ... For organizations examining podcasting for knowledge management, there are strong theoretical underpinnings pointing towards successful application of the medium. These theories speak to both the medium and the management of certain kinds of knowledge. First, the media richness theory can be used to frame a communications medium by describing its ability to reproduce the information sent over it. More specifically, media richness theory states that the more ambiguous and uncertain a task is, the richer the format of media suitable to it ("Media Richness Theory"). As an audio format, podcasting is a moderately rich medium, able to reproduce spoken word. Enhanced podcasts are even richer, and vodcasting richer still. Because of this relative richness, podcasting could have success in capturing more ambiguous knowledge. In their 2008 article “Podcasting: A new way to create, capture and disseminate intellectual capital,” Helen Clegg and Susan Montgomery discuss the knowledge management strategy for the global management consulting company, A.T. Kearney Inc. Clegg and Montgomery acknowledge that trying to collect and codify project documents in order to capture explicit knowledge often fails to tap into much of the tacit knowledge in people’s heads which, they note, can be even more valuable. They have found that podcasts facilitate capturing this tacit knowledge and providing useful context in a way that other forms (such as word processing documents and slide shows) simply cannot. University of Alberta McCalla Research Professor Marco Adria is researching the use of podcasts in the classroom. In an interview with MACTAttack, he explained that podcasts tap into what Marshall McLuhan called an acoustic space. "The acoustic space is the one in which we respond in a very reactive way to sounds all around us. It's much more intuitive—it's not as focused as the visual space of the alphabet. It's more tribal. Radio is something that McLuhan suggested opened up those tribal drums again for us in a way that we would respond to in a very intuitive way." He also shared his reflections on whether podcasting would work for knowledge management, and what type of knowledge would best captured by podcasts. "People respond to the human voice in a very different way than they might to something that's written, and most of our use of the online, virtual space is, in fact, text-based. We're reading text online, and we're responding online. There are visual images that are used but those are processed in a different way, and often the video image is accompanied by sound; but, what you have with podcasts is this very direct link to the writer-speaker—someone who is speaking into the technology and providing this recorded voice, but who also has in some sense planned and written out this presentation for the listener. When we're talking about knowledge management, we can consider what kind of knowledge we're considering, and the big challenge with knowledge management is, in fact, how to think about the tacit knowledge—the kind of knowledge that we find difficult to write down. Podcasts have the potential for us to use, for example, stories—narratives—to tap into what it is that we really know about something. People interested in knowledge management continually come back to this problem of tacit knowledge, and I think the human voice, the recorded voice, is one way to get at a little bit of that intuitive practice in action that is so much tied in with our knowledge of how to do things." Richard Berry, in his 2006 article “Will the iPod Kill the Radio Star?”, examines the portability, intimacy, and accessibility restored as audiences rediscover their voices through podcasting. According to Berry (2006), podcasting is at once a converged medium—bringing together audio, the web, and portable devices—yet one that is also revolutionary and disruptive, particularly in its ability to distribute content automatically through software applications. Podcasting operates on a flat, non-hierarchical plane where, as Berry notes, “the means to create are as accessible as the means to consume” (p. 146). It is these characteristics that make podcasting a natural fit for knowledge management. David Snowden, an acknowledged expert in the management of tacit knowledge, highlights the move towards a new generation of knowledge management. In his 2002 article "Complex acts of knowing", Snowden identifies three heuristics that reveal the change of thinking needed to manage knowledge: knowledge can only be volunteered, we always know more than we can tell, and we will always tell more than we can write down, and we only know what we know when we need to know it. Let's take a closer look at each of these. Knowledge can only be volunteered. From a KM perspective, podcasting represents a way of volunteering knowledge. You cannot make people surrender their knowledge; they must share it willingly. Because knowledge-sharing must be voluntary, there need to be as few barriers as possible. Fortunately, from a knowledge-sharing viewpoint, podcasting is easy to use—as both a consumer and a producer. Unlike traditional broadcasters, podcasters do not need the same licenses, studios, or transmitters; all they need is a microphone, and a Macintosh or personal computer. Know more than we can tell, tell more than we can write. Podcasting, from a knowledge sharing perspective, has an advantage over written forms (e.g., blogs), because we will always tell more than we can write. Podcasting, in its oral form, is the perfect medium for stories. This enables the communication not just of explicit knowledge (which is easily transferred through other media), but tacit knowledge (which is more challenging to communicate). Stephen Denning’s The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling is premised on the fact that knowledge builds through storytelling. Similarly, Brown and Duguid (1991) note that storytelling is the starting point for community building and knowledge sharing. What better medium for storytelling today than podcasting? We only know what we know when we need to know it. Knowledge is contextual and triggered by circumstance. Unfortunately, the moment at which I need an answer may not be the same moment at which your knowledge is at the forefront of your mind. For this reason, it is valuable to be able to capture knowledge (to the extent that is possible) at the point in time it is known. Unlike traditional oral stories, podcasts can be stored, retrieved, and distributed when necessary. According to Ractham and Zhang, in their 2006 article on “Podcasting in Academia,” podcasts represent useful knowledge management artifacts that enable the easy distribution, storage, and sharing of knowledge among academic parties. Podcasting is on-demand. The audience can listen when it wants to. If users avail themselves of podcasts’ syndication features, this technology demands minimal searching effort and is less likely to result in overwhelming “irrelevance” knowledge (Ractham & Zhang, p. 315). Podcasting capitalizes on the way people learn – through storytelling and listening; it makes use of Web 2.0 technologies and a novel way to present knowledge and ideas. It is portable, convenient, sustainable, reusable—overall, an efficient use of resources. Considerations for using podcasts for KM Considering podcasting for knowledge management in organizations is a lot like knowledge management initiatives: there are no hard and fast rules. If you've taken a good look at the organization's mission and goals and decided that podcasting has a place in helping you reach them, here are some additional considerations to keep in mind. What sort of knowledge can we manage? Although good for sharing various types of knowledge, podcasting's strength may be in sharing tacit knowledge. Many media exist for sharing explicit knowledge, but there are few that are useful for sharing tacit knowledge. According to Wright (2001), "[t]acit knowledge is difficult share without face-to-face interaction and dialogue" (p. 2). Podcasting, while not quite either, does encourage the kind of storytelling that would support the dissemination of more complex and value-laden ideas (Clegg & Montgomery, 2008). By providing the context for development and application of knowledge, storytelling can make tacit knowledge much more explicit (Ives, 2004). Storytelling delivered via podcast cannot in and of itself provide a solution for knowledge management—it must be part of an integrated strategy that includes the affordances provided by interactions, documents, records and practices. Because podcasting has a more intimate feel to it, it is particularly effective for sharing encultured knowledge. Hearing the voice of a president or CEO, often in a more intimate and conversational tone, would be likely to humanize the person in that role. This could help to build trust and to have an emotional influence that would positively impact employee engagement (D'Aprix, 2004). Even though podcasting is a relatively rich medium, it is disseminative, not communicative, because it is one-way. When deciding whether to share knowledge via a podcast, consider the needs of the audience carefully (Gillis, 2006, p. 261). According to Welch and Jackson (2007), internal corporate communication should “be underpinned with two-way, symmetrical communication to provide opportunities for dialogue” (p. 187). If, like Marriott International, an organization wishes to share encultured knoweldge, podcasting cannot be the only way it is done. Even Bill Marriott visits his hotels, holds regular teleconferences, and sends e-mail to all his associates. What are the technological considerations? First, podcast production is time consuming. Scripts must be written, edited, then recorded, which could take multiple takes. It is really easy to make a poor podcast, and in the same way that people are inclined to tune out an unpleasant voice, people will likely turn off a poorly produced podcast, especially if the sound quality is annoying or human thinking noises—such as pauses, ums and ahs—are excessive. To offset this, invest in a good microphone, use speaking notes or a full script, and record in a quiet location. Beginner podcasts will take longer. Ignore how much you hate the sound of your own voice. As recording skills increase, there is a reduction in takes, speeding up the production. Podcasts are difficult to search or browse. Listeners must work their way from beginning to end in real time. Pairing a podcast with an on-line forum like a blog makes the medium even richer. Allowing listeners to comment on the on-line forum creates two-way communication. Scripts for podcasts easily become transcripts, which can then be quickly uploaded to an online forum such as a blog, turning an audio format into a searchable transcript. The ease of dissemination or distribution of podcasts is one of the main reasons for their popularity. RSS technology combined with podcast aggregator software such as iTunes enable users to automatically download new podcasts through subscription services. Unfortunately, organizations that wish to use podcasts for knowledge management can only take advantage of free services like iTunes if their content is non-proprietary as there is no way to password protect podcasts, and all podcasts that are syndicated through RSS are in the public domain. This means that any organization that wishes to use podcasts as part of a knowledge management strategy would have to secure and host them somehow. Uploading the podcasts to a secure server or intranet can only protect them from the public as long as they stay there. Once downloaded, they can be shared with anyone. This may be a significant barrier for the adoption of podcasting as a tool for KM in many organizations. What are the considerations for implementation? If you're set on podcasting, here are some further considerations for implementation. Introducing podcasting to an organization reflects a change that—like any change—must be properly managed. To improve the odds of implementation, management should recognize the uncertainty that technology brings with it, cultivate a sense of need for the implementation, and take steps to overcome resistance (Daft, 2007, p. 428). This should be done by educating employees about podcasting and its knowledge management benefits, by ensuring leaders within the organization demonstrate commitment to the use of the technology, and by finding podcast "champions" within the organization. Part of the process will involve giving the intended audience the information and tools they need to subscribe to a podcast, and giving the intended podcasters the information and tools they need to create one. Detailed instructions on how to make and subscribe to podcasts are in the transcripts. Although podcasting is inexpensive, successful implementation will require some resources, including technical knowledge resources or technical support so that those using the technology will be at ease with it. Finally, the organization needs to assess and monitor the use and implications of podcasting; this allows problems and resistance to be addressed early on, and for success stories to spread more easily. That's it for episode two. More detailed information on how-tos associated with podcasts are included in the podcast's transcripts. We hope you've enjoyed this series of podcasts looking at knowledge management. Full transcripts, links, and all citations and references are available at http://mactattack.podbean.com/.

Hello, and welcome to MACTattack, a short series of podcasts about podcasting, and whether it has a future for knowledge management. Your MACTattack hosts are Jennifer Flynn, Nikki Van Dusen, and Wayne Williams. Visit us at http://mactattack.podbean.com. In episode one, we introduce our topic, explain what a podcast is, and look at some organizations that are using podcasting for knowledge management. Introduction Knowledge management is a set of techniques and practices that facilitate the flow of knowledge into and within an organization. Early knowledge management initiatives focused a great deal on technological solutions. In many cases, the resultant information management systems were at worst counter-productive, and at best, simply expensive. As knowledge management efforts progress, organizations have been examining the people and culture and how the work is organized and structured, not just technological solutions. Web 2.0 technologies are enticing for knowledge management on both fronts: they provide powerful alternatives to expensive, proprietary software, and they enhance creativity, information sharing, collaboration and functionality. One of these new technologies is podcasting. Does podcasting have a place in an organization's knowledge management strategy? If so, how can it be of support? In this podcast series, we will look at podcasting to support knowledge management in organizations. In our first podcast, we start by explaining what a podcast is (and what it isn't), then we provide some case examples of how organizations are using podcasting for knowledge management. Then, in our second episode, we build a theoretical background for why podcasting might have a future in knowledge management, and we'll share some considerations about successfully integrating KM podcasting into an organization. What is a podcast? The word "podcast" is a portmanteau of the words “iPod” and “broadcast.” It refers to a series of audio or video digital-media files distributed online by syndicated download to portable media players and personal computers (“Podcast,” 2008). This is what differentiates podcasts from other audio and video media. For example, a podcast differs from a webcast in that the latter streams from the Internet, which requires the user to be connected while playing, and the former has a persistent site that can synchronize to a portable multimedia device, such as an MP3 player (Shim, Shropshire, Park, Harris, & Campbell, 2007). Also, a podcast differs from other MP3 files through the distribution method. Podcasts can be distributed to subscribers through an XML-based format known as RSS, or “really simple syndication.” Users subscribe to their desired media feeds through media aggregator software such as iTunes. When updates appear on subscribed sites, the “podcatcher” software automatically downloads the relevant content in the prescribed media form (Ractham & Zhang, 2006, p. 315). Like other files for use on portable media devices, most podcasts are MP3s. An MP3 is a compressed audio format, making for relatively small file sizes. Apple iPods will also support enhanced podcasts, or MP4s, which have extra features such as pictures and chapters with browsable titles. A third format, which is arguably its own medium, is a video podcast, or "vodcast." This is an M4V file, also playable on an iPod, and, like regular video, captures moving images and sound for playback. People and organizations are podcasting about virtually every topic. Whatever your interest, you only need to browse iTunes to get a taste of the literally millions of podcasts available for downloading and consuming at your convenience. According to a recent Edison Research study, podcasting is on the rise, with podcasts now reaching 18 per cent of the US population ("Podcast Consumer Revealed 2008"). Based on data on sales of portable digital music players and high-speed Internet penetration, researchers predicted that the US podcast audience would climb from 840,000 in 2005 to 56,000,000 by 2010 (Gilbert, 2005). However, more than one business initiative has failed when the only reason was "everyone is doing it." Podcasting for knowledge management is a much narrower application. KM podcasting in practice In order for knowledge management to be effective, the techniques and practices must support overall strategic outcomes (Wright, 2004). According to Wright (2004), "there is no inherent benefit of facilitating a flow of knowledge unless this flow serves the mission and goals of an organization" (p. 4). Several organizations are successfully using podcasts to capture knowledge, whether embrained, encoded, embodied, embedded or encultured (Wright, 2001, after Collins, 1993; Lam, 2000; and Blackler, 1995), in ways that directly serve their mission and goals. IBM: embrained knowledge For example, IBM posted its first podcast in the summer of 2005 with a series aimed at sharing its researchers' views about the evolution of technology (Cowley, 2005). IBM's corporate podcast team also began publishing podcasts internally in an attempt to educate their employees about podcasting specifically, and to encourage them to adopt podcasting for internal communication. Today, IBM has seven available podcast feeds to which a user can subscribe. IBM's KM strategy has focused on management of knowledge assets, expertise location, collaboration, and on-demand learning (Powers, 2006). As Luis Suarez, Social Computing Evangelist at IBM, notes, IBM's KM programs had been focused on the exchange of explicit knowledge, as opposed to a more balanced approach between explicit and tacit knowledge. IBM's use of Web 2.0 technologies, however, encourages people to share information and knowledge—more often and with more people than before (Suarez, 2006). IBM's podcasts are used to disseminate embrained knowledge on topics of specific technology, but also to communicate and reinforce IBM's stated values of trust and innovation. WHO: encoded knowledge Another organization using podcasting for knowledge management is the World Health Organization. Its KM strategy is intended to address the organization's strategic goals in “achieving a sustainable reduction in the health, social and economic burden of communicable diseases“ (WHO strategic plan 2008). The World Health Organization has been producing podcasts since November 2006, delivering speeches by the Director-General that provide health information and health-related news. The KM strategy focuses on national policy makers, WHO programs, and health professionals. The objectives of the strategy lie in three main areas: strengthening country health systems through better knowledge management establishing knowledge management and public health enabling the WHO to become a better learning organization by, among other things, sharing and applying experiential knowledge. [WHO podcasts] WHO's mission is to help bridge the gap between "knowing" and "doing" in global health by "fostering an environment that encourages the creation, sharing, and effective application of knowledge to improve health” (WHO, 2005). Marriott International: encultured knowledge Next, at Marriott International, various types of Web 2.0 media are used to build the brand and promote the corporate culture to all employees, called "associates." Chairman and CEO Bill Marriott, Jr. started "Marriott on the Move," a blog with audio and written entries, to create more transparency within the organization. The knowledge being captured in "Marriott on the Move" is what Blackler (1995) called encultured knowledge—that is, knowledge that deals with relationships and shared understandings. At the IABC 2008 international conference, Marriott explained that he started "Marriott on the Move" to give customers and employees a forum to interact with top leadership. Additionally, Marriott International has a weekly vodcast, called "Marriott Minute," available to all associates. Both the blog and the vodcast, along with a public YouTube channel and other interactive web-based initiatives, reflect the organization's culture and values of caring, openness and innovation (Nicholson, 2008 September-October, p. 18; Marriott International, 2008). University of Alberta International: embodied and embedded knowledge Finally, at the University of Alberta, one of the four commitments in the academic plan is to "build the transformative organization," including improving business processes and employee productivity. One of its departments is helping its employees to do this is by making use of an existing podcast to boost productivity: "The Get-it-done-Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More." In its monthly staff electronic newsletter, University of Alberta International highlights tips from episodes and how they can apply to the unit's work. It encourages staff to listen to the podcasts. The knowledge being shared here is, for the most part, both embodied and embedded knowledge. Examples of productivity skills shared include tips for running more effective meetings, ways to manage employee expectations and tricks for keeping e-mail clutter to a minimum. That's all for this episode. Join us in episode two when we ponder the theory and practice of podcasting for knowledge management.