Posted by Prac on November 04, 2002 at 04:01:53:

In Reply to: Re: Al Qaeda and KM posted by Akhil Shahani on November 03, 2002 at 23:33:44:

Hi Akhil

Yes, errr.....point well taken. It is very difficult to discuss a sensitive matter objectively without popular politics creeping into it. I am therefore most grateful for your response.

Do you have SMS or email in your bunker?..;-)

In response, I am sure there is a heck of a lot going on with governments and Al Qa'eda alike, which we will probably never know about. However, the American government has made it clear that they want to apprehend Usama Bin Laden. Many moons ago, a CNN interview with an ex-SAS operative clearly indicated that they are looking in all the wrong places. The FBI admitted that they have so many "knowledge workers" in the office, that they have neglected to grow and nurture their ground operatives, namely the operator FBI agent walking the street for information. As such, they missed obvious information lying around.

We could learn from this. Organisations could become so technology dependent that they miss the boat altogether. Knowledge does not reside in machinery, but in people. Machines may well store vast amounts of this information, but the management of machines and information is not KM in my opinion. It remains MIS, or whatever the next term will be.

I think an underlying "motive" for technology growth outstripping employee growth is not economics as people have us believe all the time. Some of it may well be true, but I do believe the need for control exceeds even economics. Machines are mostly manageable, but do they give us what we really want? Could they give us Knowledge on demand? I doubt it very much.

We stil require people to ask the right questions to the machine. The machine can only represent what is in its database. The point is that the questions must be formulated looong before any any data/information is stored in the machine, but to most that seems like such a waste of time.

In context, back to our HOT topic. What questions are Al Qa'eda asking themselves, and what questions are other governments asking themselves? What strategies are implemented to populate databases with useful information and how is that information applied, or translated, into knowledge?

As far as I can observe, Al Qa'eda seems to have "outsourced" their information needs to the point where they basically receive it all for free. Now there is a novel thought for you. In addition , they have managed to secure millions of virtual employees, even their very designated enemies have been "conscripted", to serve their strategic objectives.

I once overheard a joke between men: One man to another - "I won't waste my energy on you to hurt you. I'll merely set you alight and you will beat yourself to death." Not such a funny joke, but it is the thought that counts. Isn't that KM in action as well?

Regards,

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Al Qaeda and KM Barry 12:46:56 11/05/02 (3)
  • Re: Al Qaeda and KM Prac 15:43:01 11/05/02 (2)
    • Re: Al Qaeda and KM Barry 17:24:56 11/10/02 (1)
      • Re: Al Qaeda and KM Chunguli Odemo 05:28:12 12/02/02 (0)
• KM in organizations vs communities Gautam Ghosh 03:57:11 11/05/02 (2)
  • Re: KM in organizations vs communities Barry 17:53:41 11/10/02 (0)
  • Re: KM in organizations vs communities Prac 11:22:02 11/05/02 (0)

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