Ligi Kodiyat

Prof. Back first gave a short introduction about what we will be doing today. She also showed us the databank where we could find all the information (documents, slides, assignments, etc.) that we need for this course. I was a bit astounded that we were going to use a LOTUS Databank since I have been using only the Studynet since I started studying in our university. But its actually quite similar to the Studynet and easy to handle.

Florian Heidecke then took over. We will be concentrating on Weblogs and Wikis today. The knowledge worker has to collect, combine and share the knowledge that he comes across in his daily work. The information- and communication- technologies can help him in these tasks and therby help him to increase his productivity.


Weblogs
A weblog is a web-based publication consisting primarily of individual periodic articles as in a diary. A blog often focuses on a particular subject, such as hobbies or politics. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. It give me the opportunity to share my views with others on a common internet platform and to get their feedback and opinions. So weblogs help a knowledge worker to link and share their knowledge.

In class we all got the chance to start our own blogs. I have never worked with blogs and was very excited actually. Welcome to Ligi’s world… It’s actually not so difficult even though I did have starting trouble. There are so many options as in I can write messages, put in pictures, change the skins and so forth and it’s all free.

And all my ther colleagues have their blogs on Prof. Back’s blog

Wikis
The Wiki Wiki Express In Hawaii gave the Wikis their exotic name. Wiki means quick or fast in Hawaiian. Tiill now I have only used the Wikipedia, but only to collect information. So once again it was a totally new experience.
Wikis can be a structural framework to collect, combine and share knowledge with in a specific team or for individual project. I have to try and use it for my bachelor thesis.

We developed our Wikis about different topics we will be looking at in the knowledge management lectures. I worked on Wikis in companies and actually did not find much on the web in the beginning. And even after I found something I was quite sceptical as to if it would be a good and useful link. This is the most astonishing factor of the Wikis for me. Anybody and everybody can write articles and CHANGE the contributions of others in the WIKIS. This can lead to manipulation BUT this is also the crucial strength of the WIKI. Compared to a traditional dictionary the Wikipedia for e.g. contains enormous information and there are also very individualistic contributions.

What I learnt today is that Weblogs and Wikis are ideal tools to not only collect, interlink and share knowledge. It's also an excellent tool to motivate and provide ideas to create new knowledge.