Now read on…

If you’re not familiar with the latter two concepts here’s a little background: the idea of the strength of weak ties is a theory from sociology; according to its originator Mark Granovetter

the argument asserts that our acquaintances (weak ties) are less likely to be socially involved with one another than are our close friends (strong ties). Thus the set of people made up of any individual and his or her acquaintances comprises a low-density network (one in which many of the possible relational lines are absent) whereas the set consisting of the same individual and his or her close friends will be densely knit (many of the possible lines are present).

It follows, then, that individuals with few weak ties will be deprived of information from distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of their close friends. This deprivation will [...] insulate them from the latest ideas.

(1983, pp.201-202)

The concept of the long tail is something both Jay Cross and Tony Karrer have recently discussed and is example of how the Web (and particularly Web 2.0 technology) changes the way assets – whether physical artifacts like books, or knowledge and informational assets persist for an extended period beyond their supposed “sell-by” date:

Long tails for the enterprise occur when the power to create and publish is widely held, the content can be distributed at near-zero cost and a market exists that connects knowledge workers with a nearly infinite number of content creators.

(Kilian, D. 2007)

Here’s a pertinent example of how these ideas manifest themselves in the workplace: last week, I suffered from a niggly problem with my Outlook e-mail client – it wouldn’t poll the Exchange server and update itself every 20 minutes as it was supposed to do. So I logged a snag on the corporate Bugzilla implementation about the issue. The IT person, who I would describe as being a a journeyman level of competence (has passed their certification exams and is no longer a novice, but is not yet an expert) wen though all the things your supposed to do to resolve such issues

• ran ScanPST.exe
• checked my e-mail profile
• consulted MSDN
• looked at forums for similar issues based on the Error ID

… as well as some “beyond the call of duty” activities (a time-consuming MS Office reinstall).

All to no avail.

So I got my laptop back and had resolved myself to living with this seemingly intractable minor inconvenience, when a third contributor (a more knowledgeable IT support person), working from home, happened to encounter the issue when scanning through Bugzilla, entered the discussion with a simple “I know what this is.”

So, by accessing my laptop via a PC-sharing application, the issue was resolved in about 20 minutes, after 5 days of dead ends and frustration.

The moral of the story is: by developing a corporate culture that encourages wide-ranging participation, and by providing a corporate knowledge-sharing environment (Bugzilla in this case), you increase the chances that somebody you’re associated with, no matter how loosely, will have the appropriate knowledge and expertise to find a solution to an issue. The added learning benefit from the journeyman contributors perspective, is that they have added to their knowledge experientially, by interacting with the More Knowledgeable Other. I would suggest that the knowledge asset acquired by being involved in this problem-solving activity has been aggregated into their personal experience schema, enabling them to grow a little more knowledgeable (or even wiser).

Oh yes… the solution to the Outlook issue?

Delete and recreate your profile in Outlook.

_______________

References:

Cross, J. (2008) Strength of weak knowledge sources. [Internet] Available from: http://internettime.com/2008/04/21/strength-of-weak-knowledge-sources/ Accessed 1 July 2008

Granovetter, M. (1983) The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited. Sociological Theory, Volume 1, 201-233. State University of New York,
Stonybrook. [Internet] Available from: http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/SI110/readings/In_Out_and_Beyond/Granovetter.pdf Accessed 1 July 2008

Karrer, T. (2008) Corporate Learning Long Tail and Attention Crisis : eLearning Technology. [Internet] Available from: http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2008/02/corporate-learning-long-tail-and.html Accessed 1 July 2008

Kilian, D. (2007) The Learning Organization Meets the Long Tail (Part 2). [Internet] Available from:
http://www.clomedia.com/guest-editorial/2007/October/1949/index.php Accessed 1 July 2008

Now read on…

If you’re not familiar with the latter two concepts here’s a little background: the idea of the strength of weak ties is a theory from sociology; according to its originator Mark Granovetter

the argument asserts that our acquaintances (weak ties) are less likely to be socially involved with one another than are our close friends (strong ties). Thus the set of people made up of any individual and his or her acquaintances comprises a low-density network (one in which many of the possible relational lines are absent) whereas the set consisting of the same individual and his or her close friends will be densely knit (many of the possible lines are present).

It follows, then, that individuals with few weak ties will be deprived of information from distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of their close friends. This deprivation will [...] insulate them from the latest ideas.

(1983, pp.201-202)

The concept of the long tail is something both Jay Cross and Tony Karrer have recently discussed and is example of how the Web (and particularly Web 2.0 technology) changes the way assets – whether physical artifacts like books, or knowledge and informational assets persist for an extended period beyond their supposed “sell-by” date:

Long tails for the enterprise occur when the power to create and publish is widely held, the content can be distributed at near-zero cost and a market exists that connects knowledge workers with a nearly infinite number of content creators.

(Kilian, D. 2007)

Here’s a pertinent example of how these ideas manifest themselves in the workplace: last week, I suffered from a niggly problem with my Outlook e-mail client – it wouldn’t poll the Exchange server and update itself every 20 minutes as it was supposed to do. So I logged a snag on the corporate Bugzilla implementation about the issue. The IT person, who I would describe as being a a journeyman level of competence (has passed their certification exams and is no longer a novice, but is not yet an expert) wen though all the things your supposed to do to resolve such issues

• ran ScanPST.exe
• checked my e-mail profile
• consulted MSDN
• looked at forums for similar issues based on the Error ID

… as well as some “beyond the call of duty” activities (a time-consuming MS Office reinstall).

All to no avail.

So I got my laptop back and had resolved myself to living with this seemingly intractable minor inconvenience, when a third contributor (a more knowledgeable IT support person), working from home, happened to encounter the issue when scanning through Bugzilla, entered the discussion with a simple “I know what this is.”

So, by accessing my laptop via a PC-sharing application, the issue was resolved in about 20 minutes, after 5 days of dead ends and frustration.

The moral of the story is: by developing a corporate culture that encourages wide-ranging participation, and by providing a corporate knowledge-sharing environment (Bugzilla in this case), you increase the chances that somebody you’re associated with, no matter how loosely, will have the appropriate knowledge and expertise to find a solution to an issue. The added learning benefit from the journeyman contributors perspective, is that they have added to their knowledge experientially, by interacting with the More Knowledgeable Other. I would suggest that the knowledge asset acquired by being involved in this problem-solving activity has been aggregated into their personal experience schema, enabling them to grow a little more knowledgeable (or even wiser).

Oh yes… the solution?

Delte and recreate your profile in Outlook.

_______________

References:

Cross, J. (2008) Strength of weak knowledge sources. [Internet] Available from: http://internettime.com/2008/04/21/strength-of-weak-knowledge-sources/ Accessed 1 July 2008

Granovetter, M. (1983) The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited. Sociological Theory, Volume 1, 201-233. State University of New York,
Stonybrook. [Internet] Available from: http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/SI110/readings/In_Out_and_Beyond/Granovetter.pdf Accessed 1 July 2008

Karrer, T. (2008) Corporate Learning Long Tail and Attention Crisis : eLearning Technology. [Internet] Available from: http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2008/02/corporate-learning-long-tail-and.html Accessed 1 July 2008

Kilian, D. (2007) The Learning Organization Meets the Long Tail (Part 2). [Internet] Available from:
http://www.clomedia.com/guest-editorial/2007/October/1949/index.php Accessed 1 July 2008

“What is the Scope of our Responsibility as Learning Professionals?”

Since Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker”, learning professionals have been moving away from the silo of the training department and have become more integral to the broader ongoing development of the primary assets organisations possess: its people and their expertise.

In 1959 Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” to describe

one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. It is performed by subject-matter specialists in all areas of an organisation;

(1973, p.839)

their tools are the knowledge assets they use in an organisation. It is “generally accepted” (Drucker, 2006, p.165) that the knowledge workers’ expertise in their role is the starting point for enhancing productivity, quality of work, and performance. If knowledge workers are to continue contributing to an organisation, their knowledge must remain up-to-date.

With the range of learning technologies and content delivery channels now available, learning professionals are meeting the needs of learners more successfully than ever before. They have done so adapting to the changing nature of organisations, which has meant increasing the breadth and depth of the functions undertaken by learning professionals.

My belief is that the responsibility of learning professionals encompasses these areas:

Knowledge Management

• Information Repository Development (Formal CMS solutions as well as non-formal wikis, blogs & podcasts)
• Content Management / Architecture Leadership
• Communities of Practise
• Knowledge Networks
• Experts & Expertise

Formal Instruction

• E-Learning
• Instructor-led Training
• Online Mentoring
• Certification

Organisational Development

• Workplace Learning & Support
• Performance Support
• Informal Learning Environments
• Non-formal Learning (InfoSession-type events)
• Formal Instruction (Classroom-based / Web-based)

Performance

• Ongoing workplace-related development

…and growing.

Interestingly, these domains of expertise align closely to Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation, where (for example) Formal Instruction in the categories I’ve detailed here equates with Level 2 (Learning) and Level 4 (Results) with Performance.

But we’re here to talk about the Long Tail, which I think is an interesting concept to apply to learning & development, but I’m struggling with seeing how to apply it as a rule or axiom in the learning world; I would assert that there is no evidence to support the view that learning professionals / departments specifically have to support Long Tail learning as distinct from all the other modalities of learning within their sphere of influence, except in a certain context.

That context is this: as more and more digital learning content has been developed and distributed using networked channels, online learning has moved from being a net consumer of educational resources to a net producer of learning materials. As such, more types of information / knowledge / learning resources are now available than heretofore. The very existence and availability of these resources to learners ensures their continued, low-level usage over time. Very much like the odd consumer searching for that obscure title on Amazon.com, some (diminishing) number of learners (over time) will continue to access rarely-use or more likely, out-of-date learning materials. I can give you a good example of this; content developed for an earlier version of an application (i.e. Macromedia FlashMX) will still have an audience, but not a very large one; yet the content still remains available for you to find if you so wish to use it.

However, as John Hager points out in Paying Attention what “we know at any point in time has diminishing value.” Taking this truism into account I would suggest that a more appropriate model to apply is the Pareto Principle upon which the Long Tail is based.

The Pareto Principle is more commonly known as the “80:20 Rule” and was originally devised as a means of quantifying distribution of income and wealth among a population (20% of a population own 80% of the wealth).

It is reasonable to say that that knowledge is a form of wealth, and knowledge workers, experts, and “More Knowledgeable Others” exemplify the distribution of knowledge in an organisation. To extend the analogy, learning professionals are the “bankers” or economists of knowledge and the role and responsibility of the learning professional should extend to distributing the acquired skills, expertise and knowledge of workers to others within the organisation. The methods and means of this scope are, like all things, reliant on the nature of the organisation the learning professional is in.

References:

Drucker, P. F. (1973) Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York, Harper & Row

Drucker, P. F. (2006) Classic Drucker. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

–

“What is the Scope of our Responsibility as Learning Professionals?”

Since Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker”, learning professionals have been moving away from the silo of the training department and have become more integral to the broader ongoing development of the primary assets organisations possess: its people and their expertise.

In 1959 Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” to describe

one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. It is performed by subject-matter specialists in all areas of an organisation;

(1973, p.839)

their tools are the knowledge assets they use in an organisation. It is “generally accepted” (Drucker, 2006, p.165) that the knowledge workers’ expertise in their role is the starting point for enhancing productivity, quality of work, and performance. If knowledge workers are to continue contributing to an organisation, their knowledge must remain up-to-date.

With the range of learning technologies and content delivery channels now available, learning professionals are meeting the needs of learners more successfully than ever before. They have done so adapting to the changing nature of organisations, which has meant increasing the breadth and depth of the functions undertaken by learning professionals.

My belief is that the responsibility of learning professionals encompasses these areas:

Knowledge Management

• Information Repository Development (Formal CMS solutions as well as non-formal wikis, blogs & podcasts)
• Content Management / Architecture Leadership
• Communities of Practise
• Knowledge Networks
• Experts & Expertise

Formal Instruction

• E-Learning
• Instructor-led Training
• Online Mentoring
• Certification

Organisational Development

• Workplace Learning & Support
• Performance Support
• Informal Learning Environments
• Non-formal Learning (InfoSession-type events)
• Formal Instruction (Classroom-based / Web-based)

Performance

• Ongoing workplace-related development

…and growing.

Interestingly, these domains of expertise align closely to Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation, where (for example) Formal Instruction in the categories I’ve detailed here equates with Level 2 (Learning) and Level 4 (Results) with Performance.

But we’re here to talk about the Long Tail, which I think is an interesting concept to apply to learning & development, but I’m struggling with seeing how to apply it as a rule or axiom in the learning world; I would assert that there is no evidence to support the view that learning professionals / departments specifically have to support Long Tail learning as distinct from all the other modalities of learning within their sphere of influence, except in a certain context.

That context is this: as more and more digital learning content has been developed and distributed using networked channels, online learning has moved from being a net consumer of educational resources to a net producer of learning materials. As such, more types of information / knowledge / learning resources are now available than heretofore. The very existence and availability of these resources to learners ensures their continued, low-level usage over time. Very much like the odd consumer searching for that obscure title on Amazon.com, some (diminishing) number of learners (over time) will continue to access rarely-use or more likely, out-of-date learning materials. I can give you a good example of this; content developed for an earlier version of an application (i.e. Macromedia FlashMX) will still have an audience, but not a very large one; yet the content still remains available for you to find if you so wish to use it.

However, as John Hager points out in Paying Attention what “we know at any point in time has diminishing value.” Taking this truism into account I would suggest that a more appropriate model to apply is the Pareto Principle upon which the Long Tail is based.

The Pareto Principle is more commonly known as the “80:20 Rule” and was originally devised as a means of quantifying distribution of income and wealth among a population (20% of a population own 80% of the wealth).

It is reasonable to say that that knowledge is a form of wealth, and knowledge workers, experts, and “More Knowledgeable Others” exemplify the distribution of knowledge in an organisation. To extend the analogy, learning professionals are the “bankers” or economists of knowledge and the role and responsibility of the learning professional should extend to distributing the acquired skills, expertise and knowledge of workers to others within the organisation. The methods and means of this scope are, like all things, reliant on the nature of the organisation the learning professional is in.

References:

Drucker, P. F. (1973) Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York, Harper & Row

Drucker, P. F. (2006) Classic Drucker. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

–

“What is the Scope of our Responsibility as Learning Professionals?”

Since Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker”, learning professionals have been moving away from the silo of the training department and have become more integral to the broader ongoing development of the primary assets organisations possess: its people and their expertise.

In 1959 Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” to describe

one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. It is performed by subject-matter specialists in all areas of an organisation;

(1973, p.839)

their tools are the knowledge assets they use in an organisation. It is “generally accepted” (Drucker, 2006, p.165) that the knowledge workers’ expertise in their role is the starting point for enhancing productivity, quality of work, and performance. If knowledge workers are to continue contributing to an organisation, their knowledge must remain up-to-date.

With the range of learning technologies and content delivery channels now available, learning professionals are meeting the needs of learners more successfully than ever before. They have done so adapting to the changing nature of organisations, which has meant increasing the breadth and depth of the functions undertaken by learning professionals.

My belief is that the responsibility of learning professionals encompasses these areas:

Knowledge Management

• Information Repository Development (Formal CMS solutions as well as non-formal wikis, blogs & podcasts)
• Content Management / Architecture Leadership
• Communities of Practise
• Knowledge Networks
• Experts & Expertise

Formal Instruction

• E-Learning
• Instructor-led Training
• Online Mentoring
• Certification

Organisational Development

• Workplace Learning & Support
• Performance Support
• Informal Learning Environments
• Non-formal Learning (InfoSession-type events)
• Formal Instruction (Classroom-based / Web-based)

Performance

• Ongoing workplace-related development

…and growing.

Interestingly, these domains of expertise align closely to Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation, where (for example) Formal Instruction in the categories I’ve detailed here equates with Level 2 (Learning) and Level 4 (Results) with Performance.

But we’re here to talk about the Long Tail, which I think is an interesting concept to apply to learning & development, but I’m struggling with seeing how to apply it as a rule or axiom in the learning world; I would assert that there is no evidence to support the view that learning professionals / departments specifically have to support Long Tail learning as distinct from all the other modalities of learning within their sphere of influence, except in a certain context.

That context is this: as more and more digital learning content has been developed and distributed using networked channels, online learning has moved from being a net consumer of educational resources to a net producer of learning materials. As such, more types of information / knowledge / learning resources are now available than heretofore. The very existence and availability of these resources to learners ensures their continued, low-level usage over time. Very much like the odd consumer searching for that obscure title on Amazon.com, some (diminishing) number of learners (over time) will continue to access rarely-use or more likely, out-of-date learning materials. I can give you a good example of this; content developed for an earlier version of an application (i.e. Macromedia FlashMX) will still have an audience, but not a very large one; yet the content still remains available for you to find if you so wish to use it.

However, as John Hager points out in Paying Attention what “we know at any point in time has diminishing value.” Taking this truism into account I would suggest that a more appropriate model to apply is the Pareto Principle upon which the Long Tail is based.

The Pareto Principle is more commonly known as the “80:20 Rule” and was originally devised as a means of quantifying distribution of income and wealth among a population (20% of a population own 80% of the wealth).

It is reasonable to say that that knowledge is a form of wealth, and knowledge workers, experts, and “More Knowledgeable Others” exemplify the distribution of knowledge in an organisation. To extend the analogy, learning professionals are the “bankers” or economists of knowledge and the role and responsibility of the learning professional should extend to distributing the acquired skills, expertise and knowledge of workers to others within the organisation. The methods and means of this scope are, like all things, reliant on the nature of the organisation the learning professional is in.

References:

Drucker, P. F. (1973) Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York, Harper & Row

Drucker, P. F. (2006) Classic Drucker. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

–