Call for Papers
KM4Dev Journal Vol. 3, Issue 1, June 2007
“Stewarding Technologies for Collaboration, Community Building & Knowledge Sharing in Development”
The ‘Knowledge Management for Development Journal’ (KM4D
Journal) is an open access, peer-reviewed, community-based journal on
knowledge management in development – for and by development
practitioners and researchers. The journal is closely related to the
KM4dev community of practice, and can be read and downloaded at:
www.km4dev.org/journal
Vol. 3, Issue 1, to be published in June 2007, will focus on
innovative practices and uses of ‘technologies for knowledge sharing’.
This focus comes on the wave of new web based tools and processes
supporting knowledge sharing, knowledge management and organizational
learning that have emerged. Sometimes called "Web 2.0" technologies,
these tools allow people to collaborate over time and distance in both
new ways and in new networked forms. It builds on previous issues on
the importance of networks, working across boundaries and even
sustainability.
Guest editors are comprised of Nancy White, Beth Kanter,
Beverly Trayner, Partha Sarker and Brenda Zulu, in combination with
Chief Editor, Lucie Lamoureux.
Rationale
International development has always had to work across time and
distance. With the increased access to internet connected computers and
the development of a wider range of web based collaboration
technologies, sometimes called "social software," a new practice is
emerging of stewarding technology for knowledge sharing, knowledge
management, collaboration and learning. By stewarding, we mean paying
attention not just to the technology, but how it usefully applied by
groups. Groups from within, across and between organizations can now
work together every day without being in the same location.
Collaborative networks which were never possible due to geographic
limitations are now sharing knowledge, collecting data and doing team
work.
The emergence and application of tools such as blogs, wikis,
tagging, social search, web based content and learning management
systems, pod and vodcasting intersect with various forms of
collaboration such as distributed communities of practice, networks,
and online communities.
Attention to the useful stewarding of technology is
particularly important. The market changes rapidly. The accessibilty of
the tools means many people are experimenting in diverse way. We are
learning new processes and practices of technology in use and
understanding the implications of technology on group dynamics. Sharing
stories and knowledge in terms of how this technology is being
stewarded is a critical piece of increasing both access to successful
practices and increased success in collaboration. In this issue we hope
to "shine a light" on technology stewardship for knowledge sharing and
collaboration in development.
This issue
It is easy to focus on the technologies. They hype around "Web
2.0" and the crowded market of technology providers can make it easy to
be both distracted and overwhelmed by the tools. But technologies alone
don't create change or achieve goals. It is the people and practices
using the tools that matter. This issue of the KM4Dev Journal will
address the question of how how the international development community
is identifying distributed collaboration opportunities, picking and
configuring technology and developing practices to support the
collaboration. The emphasis will be not just on the technology itself,
but the processes of using technology to collaborate. What have we
learned about what works, what doesn't work and what is just another
distraction?
The issue will include papers from technology stewards and
online knowledge sharing practitioners in the South and North. Of
particular interest are recent experiences with both the the processes
of supporting distributed collaboration and knowledge sharing, and the
use of web based tools in that collaboration.
We invite technology stewards and online knowledge sharing
practitioners, NGOs, resource centres, research institutes, think
tanks, bilateral and multilateral development agencies and other
organizations working in the context of development cooperation to
propose papers covering topics such as:
- Main challenges for distributed knowledge sharing and collaboration
- Preconditions, entry points and strategies for using web based technologies for collaboration and KS
- Experience gained in supporting adoption of distributed tools
and processes for collaboration and KS (case studies featuring Dgroups
experiences are especially welcome)
- Specific approaches adopting web based collaboration technologies
- Effective capacity building practices ensuring the long-term viability of distributed collaboration and KS
- Considerations on how to balance web based collaboration and
KS with more traditional F2F approaches, including issues of inclusion
or exclusion with both approaches
- Specific issues of development cooperation to be considered in
capacity building for distributed collaboration and KS such as internet
access, cost of technology infrastructure, intercultural communication,
impact of technology on power, gender, or learning modalities
- Reflections on capacity building for South-South distributed collaboration and KS
- Future agenda for the stewarding of technology for collaboration and KS
About the team of guest editors
Nancy White is an independent consultant from the United States and a KM4D Journal Editorial Board Member.
Beth Kanter is an independent consultant from the United States.
Bev Trayner is an independent consultant from Portugal.
Partha Sarker is a Researcher with Telecentre.org (Canada) and Co-founder of Bytes for All (India).
Brenda Zulu is a Zambian freelance journalist and OneWorld Africa (OWA) volunteer editor.
Proposed deadlines
Submission deadline for the title and abstract 28 February 2007
Acceptance of paper proposal 15 March 2007
Submission of paper 15 April 2007
Peer-review completed 15 May 2007
Author revision completed and final version of paper submitted 31 May 2007
(e)-publication date 15 June 2007
If you would like to submit a paper, or be actively
involved in this initiative in any other ways, please send your
abstract (minimum one paragraph – maximum one page) or your message by
email to
[email protected]
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