dchase Weblog Archives

The Eureka Moment

Scientists use the term "Eureka moment" to describe the point at which we have enough context to understand a new fact. At Tufts University they believe they can now tell exactly when a Eureka moment happens through measurements of the electrical activity in the brain. An intriquing result of the Tufts research is the notion that confusion is an essential part of remembering things. The activity of trying to make sense of information leads us to understanding and remembering the result. Alas, they can't tell us why these eureka moments happen (at least not yet...).

Wisdom Management™

Is Wisdom Management™ the future of Knowledge Management? Michael Schrage thinks so, and so should you. Of course, the really scary thing is that some people actually take this joke seriously! Knowledge management is really the core competency of any business. As Schrage points out in the Computerworld article, "organizations aren't prepared to pay a premium for a methodology that they feel they should be doing anyway." And, in another article, "The real value of information technology lies less in knowledge than with the communities it creates. The most important thing in an organization is not knowledge, but the relationships it has with its workers and customers," [Schrage] said. "Which is better: to invest $1 million in a database system that's supposed to capture knowledge or to invest the million in building better relationships with customers and workers?"