I have a mentorship program that I have used at the last four commands where I have been stationed.  I allow junior Naval officers and some civilians to "shadow" me for a week at a time to see how I lead, manage, use communications strategies, build coalitions, mentor, learn, and generally try to get things done. 

What I hope the junior officers get out of the internship week is:  a better understanding of the high level issues affecting the organization that junior officers rarely experience first hand (they typically just feel the after-effects), personal observation of the forums and interactions I use to help "steer" the organization, exposure to leadership styles and issues different from their own, and mentoring from a senior Navy officer. What I usually get out of the week is: exposure to a different point of view, some insight into what junior officers are thinking, and 360-degree feedback on my leadership style and effectiveness.

Over the next few weeks, you'll be seeing a lot more voices weighing in on KM topics via the KM Edge blog--including senior members of APQC's KM team, seasoned practitioners, and KM thought leaders.

Today, I'm writing to introduce our newest featured contributor. Capt. Ralph Soule is a career Naval officer who has been on active duty for 26 years. Since November 2007, he has been commanding officer and supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion, and repair in Newport News, Virginia. As such, he is responsible for the U. S. Navy's aircraft carrier and submarine ship construction, nuclear refueling, and repair programs at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Newport News Operations.

The rise of social networking has led some to worry that it means the slow withdrawal from human interaction for all who participate.  But in a Wall Street Journal column, L. Gordon Crovitz notes an interesting phenomenon--business conferences are doing better than ever.

In fact, Crovitz reports that at the recent D: All Things Digital conference put on by the WSJ, the top names in the digital world were out in force, shaking hands and engaging in good ol' fashioned jawboning.  And they seemed to enjoy it.

Just as other technology has enabled us to stay connected with others--think the phone--does social networking online spur our desire, perhaps even our need, to deepen those relationships with a little human interface?  Is there a virtuous feedback loop at work here?  What is your experience? 

Last month, I linked to a post about Enterprise 2.0 from Tom Davenport's Harvard Business Review blog. (Davenport is one of today's leading voices in KM--he holds the President's Chair in Information Technology and Management at Babson College, where he also leads the Process Management and Working Knowledge Research Centers.) Today I'm posting an excerpt and link to Davenport's thoughts on "Government 2.0," or the use of social computing inside government organizations. Davenport begins his post by discussing a May 21 interview with Wikinomics author Don Tapscott on NPR's "Talk of the Nation."

He [Don Tapscott] was talking ... about the transformation of government by Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0. I don't doubt that these tools will have some impact on how governmental information and services are delivered. I also don't have any doubt that they will not drive as much change as Don (and his co-author Anthony Williamson as quoted in a CIO Insight article) apparently believe they will.

Although Davenport's post does touch on the future of Enterprise 2.o in government, his main focus is whether the overly optimistic or emphatic statements of "gurus" like Tapscott are helpful--or not. He ends his post with a question: "What do you think--should management and technology gurus moderate their expressed views, or is it the more utopian and visionary the better?"

Go to Tom's blog to read more, including comments.

Click here to listen to the "Talk of the Nation" interview with Don Tapscott.

For those of you who attended this year's KM conference, you know that one of the hottest topics was the debate around trust in and the value of Web 2.0. This came up again last week as the APQC team led the wrap-up session for the "Web 2.0 and KM" Practitioner Series.

The following paradox came up in the conversation: On the one hand, blogs, wikis, and social networking sites on the Web have allowed many of us to experiment, learn, and see the potential of social computing for business purposes. On the other hand, the way Web 2.0 looks on the Web makes many executives think that all blogs are about what the blogger had for breakfast, wikis are about rock groups or Disney fan clubs, and social networking is My Space or Facebook.   Hardly what they want to bring inside the firewall.

One participant in our Practitioner Series encourages his executives to actually read the blogs popping up inside his firm in order to see a fresh perspective on how the firm operates and what people are willing to share.  I'd like to hear from some of you about the reactions of your execs. Has Web 2.0 tainted their perceptions? Or does it excite them?

To join the Web 2.0 debate and read various reactions to new social computing tools, see the KM Edge page on Bob Wendover's conference keynote.

A key aspect of Web 2.0 is expertise location and social networking, which is the topic of APQC's latest consortium benchmarking study. View the study proposal to learn more.

For the APQC Practitioner Series discussed in this blog post, APQC lined up leading organizations IBM, MITRE, and Royal Dutch Shell to share their experiences using Enterprise 2.0 tools in the service of KM. This Practitioner Series is closed, but you can learn more about it here.

Dale Arseneault is manager of knowledge services at Bank of Canada and has been one of KM Edge's most active contributors. After returning from APQC's KM conference, Dale posted his thoughts about generational gaps in KM to his own blog, Reflections on Knowledge Management and Organizational Innovation. Here's an excerpt:

Since returning from the APQC KM Edge Conference in Chicago, I've been thinking about one of the themes that came out of some of the keynotes/presentations--differences between the "boomer"/older generations and the "younger generations"--such as millennials' ability to time-slice, their ease with technology, and focus on development rather than long relationships with a single employer ... There is no shortage of emerging research and commentary about differences between generations, and the challenges that could result. But, why not focus on the similarities?

As you can see, Dale's post is partially a reaction to Bob Wendover's keynote at the conference. In addition to Dale's blog, I encourage you to read  the KM Edge conversation on this keynote topic and add your own thoughts about how generational gaps affect today's workplace.

Marc Aafjes, global head of knowledge management at Vodafone, has used his own blog to post a very effective summary of his breakout session presentation at this year's KM conference. In his post, Marc clarifies the concept of "the shadow organization" on which his presentation was focused:

By connecting various participants across the company around the execution of our knowledge strategy we're cultivating a meta network--the shadow organization--that enables the company to enhance the value we derive from the knowledge we have. Framing knowledge management in economic terms, the shadow organisation in effect is 'making the market for knowledge' by connecting otherwise disparate parts of the company around knowledge needs. This shadow organisation consists of the change agents that help us execute the knowledge strategy and embed sustainable change in all parts of the company.

Marc's post goes on to describe the five key groups within "the shadow organization" and highlight some of the benefits that this model has provided for Vodafone.

Thank you to everyone for their Edge-y comments on APQC's 2008 KM conference.  In the two weeks since we've launched, the site has generated more than 150 comments--we have been overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of your submissions. We wish that we could formally reward all participants, but only 10 can be official winners of our Comment to Win contest. The following individuals have been selected through a random drawing to receive $100 Amazon gift cards:

Although the contest is closed, the conference pages remain open and are available here. Please feel free to read over what others have said and add your own insights.

In the week since we've launched this new site, we've already seen evidence that underscores the global interest in knowledge management.  We track the usage of kmedge.org with Google Analytics and one report we thought telling about the world of knowledge management is the map showing the cities where visitors to kmedge.org live.

519 cities from 6 continents.  More than half of the visitors were from outside the United States.  Only one continent has yet to show up -- yes, we're talking about you, Antarctica.

This post is to let you know about some of the new content that's been posted to KM Edge today. First, Carla O'Dell has added notes and reactions to the presentation page for Jeremy Gutshe's keynote, "Unlocking Cool." Carla's observations are located directly above the comments section. Jim Lee has added remarks on Steve Denning's keynote, "The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative." Again, the new material can be viewed directly above the comments section. If you're interested in these presentations, I encourage you to read Carla and Jim's responses and then add your own thoughts via the comments feature.

Finally, we've added a page for Cindy Hubert's panel presentation, "The KM Maturity Model" Carla has posted her own notes on the presentation as well as excerpts from some of the panel members. In addition, one of the panel members, Capt. Ralph Soule of U.S. Navy Carrier Team One, has added his contact information to the page in case you'd like to follow up with him about his experiences with the KM maturity model. Click here to visit the new page.