KM Meets Pirsig

KM Meets Pirsig – I was impressed by David Snowden’s contribution to the European Knowledge Management conference as reported by Ton. Well I see David’s presentation at the launch of the London Knowledge Network includes a quote from Pirsig as his second slide.

[Quote] Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best 20-20 hindsight. It’s good for seeing where you’ve been. It’s good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can’t tell you where you ought to go. [Unquote] Pisrig ZMM

David Snowden is head of IBM’s consultancy Cynefin Centre.

How mainstream can Pirsig get ?

[Post Note : My basic take on this has always been that objective “scientific” rationale tends to be a post-rationalisation, justification, apportioning (or deflecting) blame, showing just-cause, attributing success, etc but has little use in “decision making” about what you should do next.]

Talking of which … On slide 6 (with build) he uses “Edge of Chaos” to denote that transition from ordered to chaotic, just as does Mark Maxwell in his “Sweet Spot” essay on MoQ.

Paul, Seb, Ton, take a look also at slide 7 in our discussion about ontologies – this is my point …. we need “emergent ontologies”, where the data preceeds the fixed framework. I particularly love to see this presented as an anitidote to that old consultancy cliche the Boston Consulting Group’s 2×2 grid ! Although David goes on to use what look like 2×2 grids in caricature, it is significant that the distortion involves non-clear-cut dividing lines and oddly shaped grey-areas or no-man’s-lands.

Also liked the Tom Peters “Ready, Fire, Aim” allusion on slide 8, where the complex and chaotic dynamic patterns involve action before sensing and responding. The “guided missile” response as I like to think of it.

Blogging Categorisation / Taxonomies

Blogging Categorisation / Taxonomies – Been corresponding with Paul Kelly on this subject. I remember starting a similar thread with Seb at least a year ago, and notice [via Paul] that Tim Bray [ongoing] is well on top of this subject. (By the way guys, when we have the tools I have some good sources of very generic taxonomy frameworks, rather than fixed taxonomies – being based on the nature of the relationships rather than intrinsic classification of the nodes.)

Where is Jorn Barger ?

Where is Jorn Barger ? I queried this a couple of weeks ago on the WebSeitz Wiki, and it seems the grandaddy of blogging is truly AWOL. Eric Wagoner has created a Jorn search page too. Keep ’em peeled.

Last time he went AWOL in July, it created a lot of chatter about his personal traits and politics. Personally, as someone who finds him a pain communication-wise , having been on the wrong side of his kill-file from the outset, I find that although his views are extreme, idiosynchratic, arrogant and obsessive by any standards, I think he’s close to genius – it’s a fine line anyway. Less of a fine line is the distinction between anti-Israeli-politics and ant-semitism, but some people just cannot see past this taboo subject.

The web is a poorer place without this pain in the a*se.

McLuhan’s Next

McLuhan’s Next – Noticed earlier that Paul Kelly had many references to McLuhan, and others who refer to him, Levinson and Postman for example. Recently I’ve been intrigued by the level to which McLuhan’s aphorisms turn up in day-to-day day-job contexts, not least in a recent white-paper by a Canadian day-job colleague. What is it with Canada and knowledge management / blogging generally, a hotbed I think I remarked previously ?

Anyway, well into Rorty now, so preparing for my next foray, into McLuhan I expect.
This McLuhan web-site has a good timeline, biography and bibliography, so it looks like a good place to start. Must also ask Paul where he would advise diving in to McLuhan.
[See also Manitoba Author Index][And also Toronto University]

And also a Toronto University Blogger-based blog with exactly the same template as my original KM Blog Spooky ! or was this a blogger template ? A lot of overlapping links in the blogosphere too. Presumably “Mark” is Mark Federman, McLuhan Toronto course tutor and co-author of “McLuhan for Managers”]

I was ignorant of the Cambridge connection (Trinity 1936/39) until I read the above – must have crossed with C S Lewis judging by the timing ? What was it he said about the Global Village ? You’ll be telling me his regular was the Pickerell next ?

Another common theme in this space is late conversion to religion, Catholicism and a pontifical appointment in McLuhan’s case.

[Spooky coincidence no 347 in a series of thousands … the Genesis / Peter Gabriel song I quote in the footnote, includes a memorable McLuhan line too.]

Life’s a Bitch

Reminded by Dave Pollard’s reaction in the previous post, to an ongoing difference of opinion with a colleague, which I guess is a variation of the cup-half-full / cup-half-empty syndrome.

Life’s a bitch, …. and then you die ? or
Life’s a bitch, …. unless you change it.
Which are you ?

Dave’s “How to save the world” blog wears its colours on its sleeve.