Sharing information - A VIP Editorial
Jinfo Blog

By Yulia Aspinall

Abstract

Effective information and knowledge sharing are crucial aspects of both personal and organisational life. Social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have become indispensable parts of everyday life, and in doing so have brought about a revolution in personal sharing and exchange of knowledge and information.

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Effective information and knowledge sharing are crucial aspects of both personal and organisational life. Social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have become indispensable parts of everyday life, and in doing so have brought about a revolution in personal sharing and exchange of knowledge and information. Organisations also recognise the value of sharing, although they may not be particularly good at it, and increasing numbers have implemented programmes and business processes to facilitate and encourage a sharing culture. Information professionals, equipped as they are with skills to find information and the capabilities and tools to share it, are well positioned to support this organisational desire to create open information and knowledge sharing.

There are not, however, many online products which combine the ability to search specialist websites, and store and share information using the same interface. Portals, for example, are useful tools for sharing, but you can generally only search the content of the portal, and not the external websites.

For this reason, I found one of the reviews in this issue of VIP, Bibliogo, particularly interesting, as it introduces a specialist product with capabilities to search, store and share information. With a scientific background, this website is especially relevant to me since it addresses the need for regular monitoring, storing and usage of both scientific and medical literature.

Importantly, Bibliogo also allows users to share content. As a consultant, a significant part of my role is to help companies collect, analyse and share internal knowledge about competitors, and this feature is therefore particularly useful. Collection of company internal knowledge on competitors forms part of the competitive intelligence (CI) cycle, and is too important to be neglected. Doing so may at best lead to increased risk and missed opportunities, but at worst could lead to disaster. The introduction of any tool or process which enables or encourages information sharing should therefore be welcomed, not least because sharing facilitates the delivery of valuable knowledge which in turn leads to better planning and decision making.

Information is powerful, but the saying goes that "knowledge is power". However, I’ve always believed that knowledge and information are more powerful when shared. One of the biggest barriers to a sharing culture in large organisations is the internal silo mentality. That’s why the review in this issue of VIP on the Silobreaker service caught my attention, as it’s not just a news aggregator but a true knowledge management tool which assists in creating collaboration and sharing between internal silos, whether individuals or departments.

Silobreaker is built to encourage collaboration and widespread use within the organisation. Watch lists and dashboards can easily be shared, and collaborated on, through unique URLs which when used by colleagues recreate the same features and set ups as the originator’s.

These are just two examples of the products which assist professional collaboration. There is certainly an opportunity here for new online products, encouraging and enabling sharing.

This editorial appears in VIP Magazine No. 99, February 2012. Purchase online >>

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