I don’t really know whose job it is to update document templates – but it’s something I’m well able to do and if someone is good enough to point out that one needs updating I don’t mind doing it if it’s quicker than briefing someone else. As knowledge manager you just as likely to be asked to do this as research and summarise an emerging branch of science, convene a conference or anything in between. And everything in between.
So I’m making a quick change to a PowerPoint Presentation template just to be helpful. And I could leave it at that. But over the years I have found that the ability to, and being trusted to, do all sorts of things with IT and content provides, yes, an endless source of help requests, but also, more positively perhaps, opportunity. It’s the opportunity that having both the means and the trust provides – and it’s an opportunity that can be used to serve a motive. A KM motive.
I’m very keen on embedding KM rather than having it as an add-on. So here was an opportunity to embed some knowledge – in the sense of ‘guidance learned from experience’ to help improve performance in the moment, because it will be seen precisely at the right time – – when the user accesses the template.
First, I know that users of this template are often unaware of various resources and services available to help them create presentations. I know this because they ask me and I tell them, many times. So I take the chance to include a discardable slide that tells them in really direct form what these are. Now I can always tell them, every time they start.
Second, I know that people are unaware or have a low awareness of just how easy it is and yet how helpful for future retrieval, or retrieval by others, to make sure a document has a title and a tag or two. They don’t know about properties but now I’ve added a bullet on that as well they will find out and maybe we’ll get better quality content as a result, and everyone will benefit.
AI4KM - Robert Taylor 