In doing some research on the web into communities and community development I came across this fascinating article by Verna Allee entitled "Knowledge Networks and Communities of Practice".

Now whilst not directly related to community development in the UK, I found the whole concept interesting. It occured to me that if, as Verna Allee asserts in her article, that up to 80% of companies have knowledge management underway, then at some point, I would be involved in it up to my neck!

The whole thing makes a good read, but here are a couple of quotes that I found of interest to me:

"............ at least one-half of U.S. companies, and up to 72% of overseas firms, have some kind of knowledge management initiative underway. Other studies put the figure closer to 80% for global corporations. Chief Knowledge Officers and Chief Learning Officers are popping up everywhere."

This comes in the very first paragraph. I would LOVE to be a Chief Learning Officer! It sounds a great job. I'm not so keen on being a Chief Knowledge Officer, for some reason, well, it sounds just a bit too exclusive to me. Lots of people do not see themselves as knowledgable but everybody sees themselves as a learner (or capable of learning). I stand by this statement - I know I said EVERYBODY.

"..... knowledge having become the most important factor of economic life: it is the chief ingredient of what we buy and sell; it is the raw material with which we work."

Again this quote comes very early in the article, what a good writer Verna Allee is!, and I find that I totally agree with the statement. Having worked for organisations that made no effort to understand the knowledge of their staff and reward them for inputting it into the organisation, but who rather bought in expensive "experts" who then found a disillusioned and de-motivated staff to work with - I know what this means - I've been there! And I've seen the other side of the same coin, where the organisation values and promotes the knowledge and experience of the members from within -wow this organisation gets things done in style!

Anyway, you will want to read the article yourself, and draw your own conclusions, most likely very different from mine, so here it is: Knowledge Networks and Communities of Practice.