Work Literacy Gap?
In talking with various experts in the worlds of Information Literacy, Information Seeking, Personal Information Management (PIM), Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), Personal Learning and others, it seemed that there’s a fairly consistent opinion that once you drill down with most knowledge workers, there’s a gap between how they do their work today and how they might be able to do their work if they took advantage of new(ish) methods, tools, information/expertise sources, collaboration techniques, etc.
Dave Ferguson has asked us to host the Working/Learning blog carnival this month. This is similar to the Big Question on the Learning Circuit’s Blog . Basically, we are soliciting input on this topic in order to gather a variety of perspectives. We will close the question at the end of June.
Thus, we would like to ask for your perspective on:
- Does a knowledge work skills gap exist?
- If so, what are some examples of where you believe there is opportunity to help individual knowledge workers?
- Is this receiving appropriate attention?
Obviously, we wouldn’t have started Work Literacy if we didn’t believe that this gap exists and that it’s not receiving the attention it deserves, but it’s also been somewhat surprising that there’s not more attention and pressure around the topic if it’s as big a problem as it seems. So, we must be missing something, right?
There are several ways to respond:
Option 1 - Simply put your thoughts in a comment below.
Option 2 - Post in your blog (please link to this post) and then put a comment in this blog with an HTML ready link that we can copy and paste (an HTML anchor tag). We will update this post with links.
Responses so far:
- Harold Jarche - The work literacy gap
- Virginia Yonkers - Literacy Gap
- Joan Vinall-Cox - Email Survival and Work Literacy
- Shaun Bala - Gap? More like a Gorge (Communication Skills)
- Dave Ferguson: Knowledge work: better, faster, cheaper, more
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June 16th, 2008 at 7:52 am
[...] on your own blog and sending Tony a link, or by sharing your thoughts as comments to the “host post” (where you can see more of the thinking behind this [...]
June 16th, 2008 at 9:19 am
[...] Yes, there is a work literacy gap. [...]
June 16th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I have written my thoughts on where the true gap is on my blog . One thing I did forget to mention is that I think there needs to be pressure from the workplace on changing our educational system to fit the true needs of businesses. However, I think it will be slower than instituting new workplace training programs. Changing the educational system will take generations.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Once again, I find Virgina’s observations insightful. The educational system is very resistant to paying attention to the communication world we now live in.
My blog, WebTools for Learners, is aimed at helping reduce the knowledge work skills gap, and this post on email is looking at one of the first experiences many people have with using the web as part of their work; how to manage their email.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I find far too many brilliant minds that can’t properly convey ideas. In an increasingly collaborative environment good communication skills are so important.
http://shaunbala.blogspot.com/2008/06/gap-more-like-gorge.html
June 18th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Shaun - like the title. And, you are right that communication is a big part of gap / gorge. In fact, as I’m writing, I’m wondering if there’s the classic chasm that Christensen talks about. Is that the gorge?
June 19th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
[...] month’s Working/Learning blog carnival is hosted by Tony Karrer at WorkLiteracy. The questions he [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Here’s mine:
Dave Ferguson: Knowledge work: better, faster, cheaper, more
(And, yes, you do have frequently illegible captcha words.)
June 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
[...] the techniques and technologies of video games playing an increasing role in helping to close the work literacy gap. This is especially true as games and systems become increasingly “network ready” and [...]
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 am
[...] gap between these patterns for using SharePoint and the idea of helping concept workers address the Knowledge Worker Skill Gap and begin to be able to work and learner better. A lot of what eLearning 2.0 is about is helping [...]