DaChispa

Very weird moment this morning. I was reading a fictional book – a modern thriller – and there was a paragraph describing the work that one of the protagonists was doing. She is portrayed as a high flier, closing a deal. When she gets back to the office she (to paraphrase) writes up the deal and posts it on the global network so that the information is immediately available to colleagues across the world.

That sounds very much like a good practice KM example – it just threw me slightly that it surfaced in the middle of my light reading. Does this mean that KM is now embedded in the business world to the extent that it is used as a bit of scene setting for a good story? Seems so…

I admit it, I am a Babylon 5 addict – I think it was a brilliant conceived and executed sci fi saga that still holds up a good 20 years later. I’m gradually re-watching it at the moment and noticed a really prescient re-cycling moment. Two of the characters met at the ‘newstand’ where they put in their papers, dialled up what they wanted, and it came back to them with the day’s news. It was particularly interesting because the paper paradigm remained, they didn’t go as far an e-paper. With the advent of e-book readers, I wonder whether there will finally be a paradigm shift. I like the feel of paper, but if I can get 100s of books on a small reader – on which I can change the text size as my eyesight gets worse – I might make the change myself.

You really see how the world is changing when you notice the flexibility people now have in how they manage their social and working lives. I sat on the train a few nights ago and heard a group of early teens discuss arrangements. It was quickly evident that they were plugged into a much wider virtual network, not only by text, but also via Facebook (which they were checking on their phones). Plans could be made or changed on the fly and easily communicated. It did make me wonder whether this might lead to a death of patience. If everything is so quick – rapidly changing plans, sound byte entertainment, fast access to information – is there a danger that just stopping and thinking might become a disappearing skill?