Right Time, Place, Skill Set, Mind Set
Jinfo Blog

By Scott Brown

Abstract

Robin Neidorf observes that our work as information professionals is perhaps not about trying to manage knowledge ‘but the application of knowledge: enabling the right know-how to emerge for workers at just the right time and place’. While this can seem like a random and serendipitous event, well outside of our control, how can we consciously create an environment for this to happen more often?

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Robin Neidorf, in her editorial for the FreePint Report: Knowledge Management, observes that our work as information professionals is perhaps not about trying to manage knowledge "but the application of knowledge: enabling the right know-how to emerge for workers at just the right time and place".

When I read that – and re-reviewed the articles in the report - I felt like a bell had gone off in my head. This all resonates with my experience of how others suddenly ‘get’ information services – the beauty of when they discover the right information at just the right time that they need it.

While this can seem like a random and serendipitous event, well outside of our control, I think the articles in this edition point to some of the ways we can consciously create an environment for the bell to go off for others, so to speak. To start off, James Mullan discusses the different types of knowledge in the organisation and how they often fall outside of our own and our users’ perception of what constitutes knowledge. James reflects on being the "knot in the bow tie" of information within the organisation – a centralised place to help facilitate ‘right time and place’ information discovery.

From another aspect, Amy Affelt looks at the topic of ‘big data’ and helps dispel some of the mystery around it. She points to some current tools that we may find ourselves using in the near future.

Finally, Cynthia Lesky and Robin look at different aspects of determining the reliability of information – text-based or otherwise. Cynthia lays out the concepts of "Right Skill Set", "Right Mind Set" and "Right Reports", and highlights the importance of being able to discern and communicate the reliability of information, no matter where it comes from. Robin looks at the visual side of this issue, and shares some intriguing examples of unreliable visual information. As she asks, "Is seeing believing?" Not always.

Maybe it’s the coffee talking, but I find this a very exciting time to be in this profession. Information is becoming increasingly complex and important to so many people, for so many reasons. The choice for us is, perhaps, not so much where we can apply our skills, but which opportunity – of the many in front of us - we should choose.

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