[esocialaction] Knowledge Management & Development CfP

[Walker, Steve]

The following may be of interest.

 

Steve

___________________________________

Steve Walker

Senior Lecturer, People & Technology Group

Innovation North, Leeds Metropolitan University

 

 

Call for Papers

 

KM4Dev Journal  Vol. 3, Issue 1, June 2007

 

?Stewarding Technologies for Collaboration, Community Building &  

Knowledge Sharing in Development?

 

The ?Knowledge Management for Development Journal? (KM4D Journal) is  

an open access, peer-reviewed, community-based journal on knowledge  

management in development ? for and by development practitioners and  

researchers. The journal is closely related to the KM4dev community  

of practice, and can be read and downloaded at: www.km4dev.org/journal

 

Vol. 3, Issue 1, to be published in June 2007, will focus on  

innovative practices and uses of ?technologies for knowledge  

sharing?. This focus comes on the wave of new web based tools and  

processes supporting knowledge sharing, knowledge management and  

organizational learning that have emerged. Sometimes called "Web 2.0"  

technologies, these tools allow people to collaborate over time and  

distance in both new ways and in new networked forms. It builds on  

previous issues on the importance of networks, working across  

boundaries and even sustainability.

 

Guest editors are comprised of Nancy White, Beth Kanter, Beverly  

Trayner, Partha Sarker and Brenda Zulu, in combination with Chief  

Editor, Lucie Lamoureux.

 

Rationale International development has always had to work across  

time and distance. With the increased access to internet connected  

computers and the development of a wider range of web based  

collaboration technologies, sometimes called "social software," a new  

practice is emerging of stewarding technology for knowledge sharing,  

knowledge management, collaboration and learning. By stewarding, we  

mean paying attention not just to the technology, but how it usefully  

applied by groups. Groups from within, across and between  

organizations can now work together every day without being in the  

same location. Collaborative networks which were never possible due  

to geographic limitations are now sharing knowledge, collecting data  

and doing team work.

 

The emergence and application of tools such as blogs, wikis, tagging,  

social search, web based content and learning management systems, pod  

and vodcasting intersect with various forms of collaboration such as  

distributed communities of practice, networks, and online communities.

 

Attention to the useful stewarding of technology is particularly  

important. The market changes rapidly. The accessibilty of the tools  

means many people are experimenting in diverse way. We are learning  

new processes and practices of technology in use and understanding  

the implications of technology on group dynamics. Sharing stories and  

knowledge in terms of how this technology is being stewarded is a  

critical piece of increasing both access to successful practices and  

increased success in collaboration. In this issue we hope to "shine a  

light" on technology stewardship for knowledge sharing and  

collaboration in development.

 

This issue

 

It is easy to focus on the technologies. They hype around "Web 2.0"  

and the crowded market of technology providers can make it easy to be  

both distracted and overwhelmed by the tools. But technologies alone  

don't create change or achieve goals. It is the people and practices  

using the tools that matter. This issue of the KM4Dev Journal will  

address the question of how how the international development  

community is identifying distributed collaboration opportunities,  

picking and configuring technology and developing practices to  

support the collaboration. The emphasis will be not just on the  

technology itself, but the processes of using technology to  

collaborate. What have we learned about what works, what doesn't work  

and what is just another distraction?

 

The issue will include papers from technology stewards and online  

knowledge sharing practitioners in the South and North. Of particular  

interest are recent experiences with both the the processes of  

supporting distributed collaboration and knowledge sharing, and the  

use of web based tools in that collaboration.

 

We invite technology stewards and online knowledge sharing  

practitioners, NGOs, resource centres, research institutes, think  

tanks, bilateral and multilateral development agencies and other  

organizations working in the context of development cooperation to  

propose papers covering topics such as:

 

     * Main challenges for distributed knowledge sharing and  

collaboration

 

     * Preconditions, entry points and strategies for using web based  

technologies for collaboration and KS

 

     * Experience gained in supporting adoption of distributed tools  

and processes for collaboration and KS (case studies featuring  

Dgroups experiences are especially welcome)

 

     * Specific approaches adopting web based collaboration technologies

 

     * Effective capacity building practices ensuring the long-term  

viability of distributed collaboration and KS

 

     * Considerations on how to balance web based collaboration and  

KS with more traditional F2F approaches, including issues of  

inclusion or exclusion with both approaches

 

     * Specific issues of development cooperation to be considered in  

capacity building for distributed collaboration and KS such as  

internet access, cost of technology infrastructure, intercultural  

communication, impact of technology on power, gender, or learning  

modalities

 

     * Reflections on capacity building for South-South distributed  

collaboration and KS

 

     * Future agenda for the stewarding of technology for  

collaboration and KS

 

About the team of guest editors

 

Nancy White is an independent consultant from the United States and a  

KM4D Journal Editorial Board Member.

 

Beth Kanter is an independent consultant from the United States.

 

Bev Trayner is an independent consultant from Portugal.

 

Partha Sarker is a Researcher with Telecentre.org (Canada) and Co- 

founder of Bytes for All (India).

 

Brenda Zulu is a Zambian freelance journalist and OneWorld Africa  

(OWA) volunteer editor.

 

Proposed deadlines

 

Submission deadline for the title and  

abstract                           28 February 2007

 

Acceptance of paper  

proposal                                                  15 March 2007

 

Submission of  

paper                                                              15  

April 2007

 

Peer-review  

completed                                                            

15 May 2007

 

Author revision completed and final version of paper submitted  31  

May 2007

 

(e)-publication  

date                                                               15  

June 2007

 

If you would like to submit a paper, or be actively involved in this  

initiative in any other ways, please send your abstract (minimum one  

paragraph ? maximum one page) or your message by email to km4dj- 

editors at dgroups.org

 

 

 



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