Sites that Deal with Knowledge Management - Coursework Example

Internet exercises Name: Institution: Internet exercises Sites that deal with knowledge management 33 websites were identified that deal with knowledge management. Academic Consultancy firm Vendors Search testshop.com academicpkm.org ejkm.com ala.org tandfonline.com kmpro.org kmmanagement.com kmworld.com knowledge-management-tools.net kmmang.com gurteen.com km4dev.org interspire.com knowledge-management-online.com k4health.org Dialog.com helpmakingdecisions.com decisionpath.com knowledgebusiness.com sveiby.com iskme.org apqc.org skyrme.com Infovis.org Handshaw.com Contentology.com skyrme.com Google Yahoo.com Bing.com Wikipedia.com feeds.feedburner.com oracle.com Table 1: Websites that deal with knowledge management Google.com Google.com is a search engine owned by global technology company Google Inc. The company’s business is mainly focused on search, operating system, advertising, hardware products and enterprise. As knowledge management site, Google.com is an online application that is available in some 100 languages. The search application also hosts Google Books. The company scans books and uploads limited previews into its search engine. The primary purpose of Google Search is to search for texts in publicly accessible documents hosted by web servers rather than pursue database search or other data. The search engine also provides a range of features rather than just searching for words, such as weather forecasts, synonyms, maps, movie show times, stock quotes, time zones, sports scores, home listings, and airports. Other features include dates, numbers, money, patents, package tracking, calculations, language translation and area codes. It is therefore, a knowledge management firm that publishes, provides data for organising meetings, and deals in document management, content management, and knowledge management. Google.com also provides users with information regarding the processes and contents that provide solutions for enhancing business performance. The company has access to information and knowledge experts from various industries that provide knowledge on various industry aspects. 3. Sites that describe methods for improving meetings. In all, 15 sites were found that highlighted the effective strategies for improving meetings. From analysis of the 15 sites, it is established that their content shared the message that the ability to conduct effective meetings required effective organisational, communication and management skills. The sites identified include: briantracy.com quality.wisc.edu ihi.org ama-assn.org mindtools.com theglobeandmail.com dal.ca ehow.com knowhownonprofit.org startupcollective.com inc.com wikihow.com meetingsimproved.wordpress.com humanresources.about.com redbooth.com Ways meetings can be made more effective and efficient. Plan the agenda: According to Humanresources.about.com, planning the agenda follows after it is determined that a meeting is necessary. If the meeting should be focused on specific strategic goals and outcomes, Dal.ca advises that the person planning the meeting should determine the meeting agenda around these areas. Still, the goal should be to restrict the meeting agenda to as few items as possible, such as six or seven, to allow for enough time to discuss each one exhaustively. The members expected to attend the meeting may then have the proposed agenda at least days or hours in advance, depending on the urgency of the agenda. Outline the purpose of the meeting: As indicated in Briantracy.com, a significant task that leads to conducting effective meetings is improving communication skills by first outlining the purpose of the meeting. By specifying the goals and objectives of the meeting, those attending the meeting know what to expect. According to Briantracy.com, the first five minutes should be used for introduction as well as communicating the purpose of the meeting. On the other hand, Wikihow.com stresses that the introduction should be clear. Appoint a moderator According to Theglobeandmail.com, appointing a moderator, or someone who will chair the meeting, is necessary. The site advices that the person selected does not have to be the most senior individual in the room but any person attending the meeting. In most cases, the subordinates are likely to run the conversations more objective, since the senior leaders tend to dominate and to concentrate on only matters they feel are important. Promote open discussion According to Startupcollective.com, encouraging open discussion is important as it encourages everyone in the meeting to participate and to feel that he or she can influence decisions. Keep the discussion focused: As stated by Quality.wisc.edu, the discussions should be kept on track. Accordingly, the meeting leader should remember to bring people back to the issues being discussed, or to stick to the items on the agenda, as it helps save time. Keep it humorous: According to Theglobeandmail.com, keeping the meeting humorous is an important tip for keeping the spirits high throughout the meeting. It also keeps the members interested in the meeting. At the same time, those who have performed well should be praised, as this will motivate the receiver, as well as others who also attend the meeting. Summarize the key points: Summarising the main points at the end of the meeting is, according to Briantracy.com and Knowhownonprofit.org, an important tip. The assignments, actions schedules, and implementation plan should be summarised to enable everyone in the meeting to understand what has been decided and what will need to be done from the resolutions. End discussions with emphasis on progress: According to Redbooth.com, the meeting leaders should end the discussions by emphasising on the forward progress. Hence, regardless of whether time is running short, the agenda should be concluded with discussions of the implications of the meeting and the bottom-line. This may include what action plans should be taken, who should do what and the time-frame. This can strengthen the connection between the meeting and the purpose of the meeting. Keep a record The minutes from the meetings should be distributed within 24 hours, as Briantracy.com suggests. The important decisions reached during the meeting will appear more important once distributed in terms of writing. Additionally, the individuals who attended the meeting would have somewhere to refer to instead they need to clarify on an issue discussed. C. Groove.net/ SharePoint software The Groove technology, initially owned by Groove.net before it was later acquired by Microsoft, is an offline application that can read and share files between users. The software enables users to manage documents and share documents centrally (Microsoft, 2014). Additionally, it has the capabilities to make information and documents available to many groups of people at the same time. The software has various tools for meetings, discussion, notepad, tracking issues, forms, calendar, sketchpad, and pictures. In using the software, several issues were noted. It is easy to use and convenient for working offline, especially when it comes to sharing of files. For users looking to share files offline, the software is easy to use. While the user is online, the users should enter the universal resource locator (URL) of the site they want to link with the folders displayed. Once they select the folder, the software synchronises the content of the folder to the desktop. The content will be available offline. Files can then be opened and edited offline. Considering the infrastructure impact of the software, the software is easy to use as it does not need fundamental changes to the network infrastructure or computer systems when it comes to externally hosted. Indeed, it requires little changes to infrastructure changes as it can be easily downloaded to benefit from its range of its tools offline. In terms of scalability, the software is flexible and scalable as it has a range of capabilities, such as storing large amounts of data. It also allows sharing of large amounts of data during the collaborative projects. This implies that users can share hundreds of documents using the software site, and to stores them on the user’s desktop. Additionally, it allows a large number of users to shared files. What also makes the software convenient is its capability to retain documents. For instance, when working on documents that need to be retained, the software is very efficient in this regard. In particular, it has the capacity to ensure long-term tracking of the document stored, long-term storage, as well as document search. The software is also convenient due to its reporting and auditing capabilities. For instance, in situations where users need to share sensitive data, the activities that the users can apply in auditing and reporting include adding users to distribution list, allowing only authorised users to access the documents, and permitting and removing user authorisation. The software also allows the users to drag email from Microsoft Outlook into SharePoint library. While dropping the email into SharePoint is easy, doing so requires manual operation, which makes it difficult to use as a long-term storage technique. However, when it comes to the issue of data ownership, using the software is a problem since there are additional factors to be considered once the data that needs to be shared has to be confidential. Indeed, several issues question the reliability of the software in terms of whether the hosting service can assume liability of the lost data, the processes of data recovery, the type of encryption provided by the software and whether it is really secure and the techniques used in preventing unauthorised access of data. It is difficult to ascertain whether sharing documents with others can prevent those shared with, from copying or changing the documents. For instance, when looking to protect data so that I have the full right to edit, read and print the documents, authorised persons can read it. However, the risks of unauthorised persons accessing the file using the authorised person’s accounts also exist. References Microsoft (2014). Sharepoint: The new way to work together. 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