Network Key Skill - More than Knowledge-able
I watched a great video lecture by Michael Wesch - Kansas State University who most people know from the various YouTube videos including Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us.
At the very end of the video Wesch ends with the thought that students needed to go from:
Knowledgeable
to
Knowledge-able
At first, I thought - that’s great. A really good turn of phrase that captures the essence of the what this transition is all about. However, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that it may be a little misleading.
I agree that what’s in your head is far less important given the ubiquity of information look-up. Your ability to do something with that information is far more important.
However, when I think about key skills gaps that exist and the biggest changes in knowledge work, it’s more about People, Expertise Finding, Networking, Collaboration, Virtual Teams, etc. If you look at the poll results on work skills opportunities - the top areas of need are (in order as of July 1, 2008):
- Find - Includes Search, Evaluate, Narrow / Adjust 5% (13 votes)
So, while information is much more readily accessible and that changes some aspects of knowledge work, the bigger change is the ready access to more people and more of what they know. The key question is often “Who?” and not “What?” - yet most knowledge workers are not familiar with asking this question and finding ways to leverage collective wisdom.
So, while enabling people to become more Knowledge-able - I think the greater opportunities is to make them Network-able, Collaborate-Able, etc. And most people who think about Knowledge-able - don’t think Who - they think what.
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July 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 am
I saw Michael’s video and thought it was really interesting–as always he seems to be capturing some key realities here.
What’s interesting, Tony, about the poll results to me is that no clear consensus is emerging about key skills. The top vote-getter (networking) is still only getting 14% of the vote. I wonder if this is a reflection of the group taking the poll. Are we dealing primarily with early adopters who are largely self-taught and may feel more comfortable with having developed these skills?
I think you’re right that it’s about what we do with knowledge, not the knowledge itself. Maybe that’s another reason for us to be seeking another title for knowledge workers.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 am
Michele,
The percentages in the poll are a bit misleading. If you vote for 3 items, each gets 33%. (It treats each choice as a vote.) So, 14% indicates that a fairly high percentage of people chose that response.
I do think the audience here is skewed, but I’m not surprised by the vote given other surveys that I’ve done.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
OK–that makes more sense. It gives us an idea of where people are at, although I wonder if this is what we’d find with people who are less experienced with social media. I wonder if the results might not actually be reversed. And if they were, what does that indicate? Is it that they need to resolve issues in areas like time and task management before being able to move onto things like networking and collaborating? Or is it that they’re putting a higher priority on time/task management than on network, collaborating and learning? A lot of questions there, of course. . .
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:04 am
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July 5th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
What I find interesting about this list is how different it is from a list developed for an innovative school in our area. It seems as if these are very discreet skills rather than skill sets. You can see a list of their skills on my blog .
July 7th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I found it interesting the difference between this list and the list given by Tech Valley High, an innovative high school in our area developed to prepare students for the needs of the 21st century. (Their list can be seen on my blog).
August 4th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
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August 5th, 2008 at 1:29 am
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August 10th, 2008 at 4:45 am
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September 6th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
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