1. Seek. We have terrible communications practices at our institution, and there are lots of resources that staff don’t engage with because there is just too much info spread across too many places, and too little time to look. This is probably really boring, but I feel that I could make a meaningful difference to colleagues in my department if I scrolled through some of these resources — a specific subset related to the most relevant topics — in order to search for the wheat amongst the chaff.
2. Sense. I could then think interpret that information through the lens of what my department is doing or needs/wants to do — in other words, I could think about how, exactly, it is relevant to us. For example, we get a regular newsletter called ‘EduExe’, which is a digest about various teaching innovations, opportunities, and practices. Some of these may not be useful in our particular context, but others might align to our initiatives and strategies, for example by highlighting colleagues we might want to connect with in other departments, or offering an opportunity to learn about new research or techniques that are related to our courses.
3. Share. Armed with the above knowledge — a shortlist of the most relevant and actionable items, linked to specific existing goals — I could then provide an update to colleagues through relevant channels. In some cases this might be a direct email to a specific person, an agenda item at a review & development meeting, or even a bespoke meeting at which to discuss the info in more depth.
This probably sounds incredibly bland and basic, but I think it could have some genuine impact. Many people in our department feel cut off from the rest of the university, and one reason is that they do not know about or engage with these various institution-wide comms channels. All it takes is one person willing to make the connection, and suddenly there can be a greater sense of the broader community…
“Dark forests like newsletters and podcasts are growing areas of activity. As are other dark forests, like Slack channels, private Instagrams, invite-only message boards, text groups, Snapchat, WeChat, and on and on. This is where Facebook is pivoting with Groups (and trying to redefine what the word “privacy” means in the process).
These are all spaces where depressurized conversation is possible because of their non-indexed, non-optimized, and non-gamified environments. The cultures of those spaces have more in common with the physical world than the internet.”
I think more and more people are moving away from social networks for PKM.
1. Seek. We have terrible communications practices at our institution, and there are lots of resources that staff don’t engage with because there is just too much info spread across too many places, and too little time to look. This is probably really boring, but I feel that I could make a meaningful difference to colleagues in my department if I scrolled through some of these resources — a specific subset related to the most relevant topics — in order to search for the wheat amongst the chaff.
2. Sense. I could then think interpret that information through the lens of what my department is doing or needs/wants to do — in other words, I could think about how, exactly, it is relevant to us. For example, we get a regular newsletter called ‘EduExe’, which is a digest about various teaching innovations, opportunities, and practices. Some of these may not be useful in our particular context, but others might align to our initiatives and strategies, for example by highlighting colleagues we might want to connect with in other departments, or offering an opportunity to learn about new research or techniques that are related to our courses.
3. Share. Armed with the above knowledge — a shortlist of the most relevant and actionable items, linked to specific existing goals — I could then provide an update to colleagues through relevant channels. In some cases this might be a direct email to a specific person, an agenda item at a review & development meeting, or even a bespoke meeting at which to discuss the info in more depth.
This probably sounds incredibly bland and basic, but I think it could have some genuine impact. Many people in our department feel cut off from the rest of the university, and one reason is that they do not know about or engage with these various institution-wide comms channels. All it takes is one person willing to make the connection, and suddenly there can be a greater sense of the broader community…
Your comment reminded me of a text that I have been obsessed with since its publication: The dark forest theory of the internet https://www.ystrickler.com/the-dark-forest-theory-of-the-internet/?ref=ystrickler.com.
“Dark forests like newsletters and podcasts are growing areas of activity. As are other dark forests, like Slack channels, private Instagrams, invite-only message boards, text groups, Snapchat, WeChat, and on and on. This is where Facebook is pivoting with Groups (and trying to redefine what the word “privacy” means in the process).
These are all spaces where depressurized conversation is possible because of their non-indexed, non-optimized, and non-gamified environments. The cultures of those spaces have more in common with the physical world than the internet.”
I think more and more people are moving away from social networks for PKM.
My coffee club is such a dark forest https://jarche.com/perpetual-beta-coffee-club/