Knowledge Management

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Knowledge Management & Communication Technology
September 2010 – December 2010

Communities of practice

According to Wenger (2002):

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

Tacit knowledge: Knowledge possessed by an individual that is difficult to transfer. Typically the ‘know-how’ a person has. It’s the knowledge we don’t recognize we have.

Explicit knowledge: Knowledge that can codified and easily shared.

“Continual dialogie between explicit and tacit knowledge…drives the creation of new ideas and concepts.” (Nonaka, 1994).

According to Nonaka (1994), there are four modes of knowledge conversions. Blogs play an important role in each of these steps.

Socialization (Tacit to Tacit)
Fans have the ability to communicate using blogs. Comment sections that are open to public postings allow for an exchange of the tacit knowledge held by fans.

Externalization (Tacit to Explicit)
Blogs allow fans to answer the questions of one another. Recording an individual’s tacit knowledge on a blog converts that knowledge to explicit. This can then be referenced later on when needed. Fans have also begun making their knowledge easier to find using tags and data mining software.

Internalization (Explicit to Tacit)
Since blogs are on the internet, explicit knowledge is readily available for conversion to tacit knowledge. Fans can read the knowledge available on blogs and internalize what they find. It is when fans utilize this knowledge, however, that they truly convert it to explicit knowledge. For example, a fan can take explicit knowledge and use it to gamble on hockey games.

Combination (Explicit to Explicit)
Various sites have begun making their data sharable with others. For example, fans grade player performance each game, use Microsoft excel to sort it and make it available for other fans to obtain and manipulate.

Nonaka, I. (1994). A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation. Organization Science, 5(1), p. 5 – 37.

Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and learning systems. Organization, 7(2), p. 225-246.

Jim Kelley, NHL Hockey Writer

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Personal favorite of mine passed away last night. Great quote from his bio on Sportsnet:

I don’t ask you to agree with what I write, but I would hope you read it with an open mind, think about what’s being said and, hopefully, realize that there is always more than one way to see the game.

The battle goes on…and on: Bloggers and MSM

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Great story about bloggers came out recently. Tyler Dellow of mc79hockey.com did some excellent research into some old emails between NHL Senior VP and Director of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell and NHL Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom. These emails became public because of a wrongful dismissal case involving former NHL referee Dean Warren and the league. Within the emails, Dellow was able to uncover some of Campbell’s attitudes towards specific players, as well as his concern with calls made against his son, who plays in the league.

Dellow’s article can be found here.

Here’s TSN’s take on Dellow’s findings.

Dellow’s interview on The Score: http://video.thescore.com/watch/glenn-schiiler-one-on-one-with-tyler-dellow

Needless to say, Dellow got a tonne of attention for the great work he did. Whether or not you care about the findings of his research, the fact is he took the time without any monetary motivation and on his own time, to decipher through documents. He raised some really interesting questions about the league and how it handles its referees. All of this is public information. He just took the time to work with it.

Aside from questioning whether or not Campbell should keep his job, a lot is being discussed about the relationship between bloggers and MSM. Talk of how one is better than the other or how bloggers will take over the jobs of MSM, to me, is a big stretch. Questions have been raised about why it took a blogger to dig out this stuff and what role sports journalists have.

How social media destroyed the NHL All Star Game.

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The NHL is in the midst of reviewing the state of the game. Managers have lots to discuss but the two topics that are interesting are the All Star Game festivities and the leagues development of a social media policy. TSN’s Darren Dreger is covering it here.

Over the course of a weekend, the All Star Game, including the skills competition, is a great way to promote the game and showcase the best talent in the league. But the whole event has gone stale. The game itself is pretty meaningless as the players don’t really compete during the game to avoid injury. The games format (East vs West, North America vs The World) has changed in the past but really there is no significance to it. Fans do get to vote on the starting lineup, but besides that, there isn’t a way for fans (or potential fans) to get involved

Social media and evolving technologies has really changed the attitude towards the NHL’s showcase event. Hockey fans have found other ways to interact with the game and learn more about it.

In the past, seeing a player that plays for a different team was rare. So when they did show up, it was a big deal. But now, every game is available anytime, anywhere. Both TV and mobile technology ensures fans don’t miss a second of marquee games. It’s not as big of a deal now when these superstars come into town.

Game highlights and stats are readily available on the web soon after, which can be shared, analyzed and commented on. Fans can then head to message boards and blogs to interact with others. All this promotes the game and keeps people engaged.

Fantasy league hockey lets fans create their own list of all stars to compete with friends and other poolies. Prizes and bragging right at the end make it even more interesting. This generates a lot more interest in less important games.

Video game such as the EA Sports NHL series gives fans the opportunity to experience players and see the matchups they envision. Gaming is a great way to get involved and learn more about hockey. Why watch a meaningless game when you can experience the game with the all stars.

Fans don’t just consume the information and entertainment. Instead they take it and do something else with it. This is something the all star game does not allow. Fans in the mean time, have found other ways to learn about the game and get more from it.

Lets hope the NHL gets a social media policy in place so some of the more interesting characters of the league can get more exposure and give fans what they really want.

Cleveland’s response to Lebron James

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After announcing his decision to leave Cleveland for the Miami Heat, Lebron James faced a considerable amount of backlash. By announcing his decision in a one hour TV special, sitting down for a one-on-one interview, James irked not only Cleveland fans, but sports fans around the world.

Traditionally, when a player decides on where he/she wants to play, it’s a press conference setting, hosted by the team acquiring the player. The player and managers face the cameras and speak directly to the audience via television, radio or webstream. James went a whole other route and admitted afterwards he would have done things a lot differently if he had to do it again.

Here’s the latest ad by Nike featuring James.

So now James speaks directly to the camera, eye to eye, and asks ‘What should I do?”. He goes on to talk about his decision and what ramifications it could have. He spins the backlash from his decision into a motivator to persevere as a professional athlete. Typical sports ads deliver their message through actions. For example, an athlete would dunk a basketball or a hit a home run. A dialogue with the audience such as this ad is rarely used.
Grant McCraken’s comments about the ad and the individualism expressed by James and Nike are worth a read.

Cleveland filmmaker Dan Wantz recently released this response to the Nike ad featuring James, attached below. The video takes the Nike ad and splices in fan responses to what James should do.

Telling NewsChannel5, Wantz commented:

“I felt like Cleveland didn’t really have a voice in the matter. I saw a need for Cleveland to have a voice. I feel like this video was a good representation of how Cleveland feels.”

This comment is interesting because fans do have a voice. Message boards, blogs, Twitter and Facebook are all methods to give fans a voice and were used to support/jeer James’ decision. But it’s this video which matched the professional, polished look of the original Nike ad that really drew viewers on Youtube. It used footage from the original ad, clips from the decision and other highlights to really express a communities feelings. By wrapping all the feelings of Cleveland fans in a short clip, a summary is provided to fire right back at Nike and James. I found this to be much more powerful method to express feelings than social media tools.

***UPDATE***

Had to add this one. Just came out. MJ claims to have nothing to do with it though.

Power of the professional sports fan

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Came across an article recently that really made me think about pro-sports and fans. It’s by Gladwell of the New Yorker and can be found here. Gladwell talks about how professional football has a lot of characteristics similar to dog fighting. This was written around the time Michael Vick was sent to jail for running a dog fighting operation.

Really it’s a kids game, but these athletes are under tremendous pressure. Expectations are from everywhere: teammates, club owners, families, sponsors and fans.

Teammates expect your best effort every game and every play. Contracts are paid before they even play a game, raising the owners’ expectations. Families rely on the pay cheque to cover child care, mortgages and bills. Sponsors expect a high level of professionalism, as athletes represent the brand.

And of course, the fan.

It’s a gate driven business. The people in the stands, people tuning in and those buying merchandise have invested in the pro-athletes financially and emotionally. They’re there to be entertained and to be engaged. They want the best. Failure to do so means the fan spends less or finds other options.

Athletes don’t just represent their team. They represent a city, a country or even a religion. If the team loses, the community loses.

The athlete themselves know that their careers can end at any time. They work their entire lives to get there but it can be taken away pretty quickly. There are younger players coming through the ranks every day, ready to take their jobs and pay cheque. Competition gets fierce because realistically, there are only a few spots out there in the professional ranks.

No matter how hard they get hit or how bad they get hurt, they are expected to get up and keep playing. The long term ramifications of continuous shots to the head or the beating their bodies take are still under review. But it’s safe to assume the majority of pro-athletes won’t be feeling too great in their old age.

The cause of this is pretty spread out across different factors, and of course depends on the situation. But the influence of fans on pro athletes and sports is extremely high, and could be growing because of social media.

Terry Fox

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ESPN’s 30 for 30 series has done an amazing job covering different topics and stories over the past thirty years in sports. I haven’t watched every single one yet, but the ones that stand out for me are “King’s Ransom”, “The Two Escobars” and now “Into the Wind”. Each one deals with the impact sports has on the culture and society it’s within. The stories go into the ramification of sporting events on nations and social issues existing at the time. Terry Fox’s story goes one step further, dealing with Canadian identity and how sports play a role in its development.

The story of Terry Fox is inspirational. A man determined to raise awareness about cancer by running across Canada brings a lot of pride to Canadians. “Into the Wind” gives a lot of unseen footage of Fox’s trek and the different challenges he faced along the way.

What stood out for me the most was the importance of Terry Fox to Canadian culture and identity. His “grittiness” was talked about in the documentary and symbolized the hard-working nature of Canadians, according to Leslie Scrivener.

I’ve always believed that sports reflect society. It reflects life and the stories we have. Both have a beginning, middle and an end. Both have ups and downs. Challenges, success, failures, triumph. Athletic performances like Terry’s mean so much more than just sports. They provide us with inspiration, faith and identity. Fans play an integral role watching, following and engaging with sports. They take away a lot from the game but also embrace its effects to play a role in their culture.

“Into the Wind” can be watched here.

Bloggers analyzing 1972 Summit Series

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The 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia will forever be remembered as one of the greatest events in hockey history. The Canadians stacked with the top NHL players were expected to roll over the unknown Russian squad. Instead, they needed a final game to decide the winner. Legends were made for sure, with one of the most memorable goals of all time being scored to win it for Canada.

You can read up on all of the history, players and storylines at Joe Pelletiers excellent website.

As a project, blogger Pat Maclean of Black Dog Hates Skunks is applying modern methods of hockey analysis to each game of the Summit Series. Not an easy task considering how old the footage is and the lack of instant replay. There’s not a lot of people out there to bounce ideas off of, no Youtube and not a whole lot of stats. He does an amazing job regardless and provides detailed analysis of players, events and the coaches decisions.

I’m also in the midst of reading Ken Dryden’s “Face off at the Summit”. Dryden played goal for Team Canada and kept a journal of his thoughts during the series. After losing game 1 against the Russians, Dryden (1973) writes:

I’m afraid that this series will be analyzed and analyzed ad nauseam. People in the street. Cab drivers. Bellboys. Waiters. Writers. Coaches. League presidents. Prime ministers. Everyone. They all have a theory. They all picture themselves as a coach or a player, and they become theoretical and hypothetical. It’s so much bull, believe me. They’re all sitting there and playing verbal games to make themselves sound important. We have to play the real games. We know what we have to do. Or do we? (p. 64)

Fan analysis has always been around. It’s just with more people online, and more tools readily available for fans to contribute, the analysis has increased significantly. The community online is stronger and the amount of information available continues to grow. Gotta wonder what Dryden thinks of today’s fans compared to those in 1972.

Dryden, K. (1973). Face-off at the summit. Toronto: Little Brown.

Professional Athletes and Social Media

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Professional athletes aren’t strangers to the public eye. They play in front of fans in stadiums and around the world. They get paid to play a game and get an incredible amount of attention and adulation. Of course, they also get dumped on when things are tough. Sports fans are not the kindest bunch. Just ask any player in a performance slump or asked to be traded.

Dan Ellis learned the hard way what it means to be a modern professional athlete. He got into Twitter, had thousands of followers but had to delete his account for a mistake he made using the service. Additional commentary by CBC’s Elliotte Friedman and Yahoo’s Greg Wyshynski.

Here’s what Ellis had to say about the NHL owners keeping money because of escrow:

If you lost 18% of your income would you be happy? I can honestly say that I am more stressed about money now then when I was in college.

More and more pro-athletes are getting into social media to get their own voices out to fans. Tools such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace eliminate the filter that existed between athletes and fans. But fans don’t want these accounts managed by a team or player rep. They want honesty from athletes when they send out thoughts, ideas and actions. Not advertising for tickets and team-sponsored contests.

The media’s role has always been to give fans what they want from the sport and athletes. This includes post game interviews, extensive statistics, insider information and editorial/opinion pieces. Even though the media has been removed as that filter, fans are still in control of what the sport and athletes provide. They pay to watch the games, support the team by buying apparel and, in essence, pay for the player salaries. It’s a gate-driven business. What fans don’t want is a comment from a millionaire athlete complaining about money problems.

Twitter users are all under the same rules and protocols online. Everyone has an equal voice and range of freedom. This includes following, retweeting, hashtagging, etc. So when fans are unhappy with the game or an athlete, it’s much easier to voice their displeasure and form a community online. Instead of a couple calls coming into the leagues office or a media outlet, a wave of tweets come in mocking the pro-athlete. The barriers to expression are gone so pro-athletes must be more mindful of what they do online.

Real World vs Online Community

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Hockey fans definitely have an online community. But what exactly does it mean to be online? It used to conjure up ideas of being in a separate world, away from existence and in solitude from others. It was a distant place with its own rules and protocols. And of the few that ventured online, barely any would give away their real name or personal information. The real world was where we were physically, while the digital world was out there.

But with more people participating online and the advancement of communication technology, the two worlds, ‘real’ and online, are overlapping. Mobile technology keeps us connected from anywhere, making it harder to leave one and go to the other.

We remain connected online, even with no terminal to access it from. We don’t need to be sitting on a laptop or even a mobile device to be online. Our personal information, comments, contributions and ideas are other there in the digital realm being read, commented on and shared. We don’t just leave a mark on the internet. Our mark is active and in continuous flow even when we’re disconnected.

Having this overlap is beneficial for those who have ideas to share. These ideas are able to be magnified and extended to an audience. Because of social media and the ability to connect to anyone and their ideas/contribution, at anytime, there is a greater opportunity for the extension of these ideas. When like-minded individuals interact in this dynamic environment for ideas, a community is formed online. A major strength of these online communities is the fact that they are always connected regardless of time and space. The marks that are left by participants, whether or not they actually contribute, have the potential to be significant and are in an environment that allows ideas to be constantly exchanged.