ConFigures

Knowledge Gardening

I came up with this term when I was discussing knowledge management (and where I come in) with Joe McCarthy in comments on my January entry “Learning”. I was trying to come up with a term to describe where I fit in knowledge management (at the practitioner/encourager end rather than theoretical). To refine a little further, what I mean by it is the practice of nurturing participatory knowledge sharing and the growth of ideas. As in, architecture of participation (engaging co-workers).

However, it turns out that Jon Udell talked about “collaborative knowledge gardening” over two years ago. Which is great; I can point folks to his excellent column as an intro to the concept, and to him as another person excited about the possibilities of social software for collaboration and knowledge work.

Possibly further back (2000?), there’s the article Knowledge Gardening Through Music. I very much like the “Cognitive functions of gardening” section.

See also Knowledge Ecology.

Where I would like to be this afternoon: “Putting the Fun in Functional: Applying Game Mechanics to Social Software” at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. I may write an entry later about what we can draw on from games to engage people in learning.