From Seb Pacquet's Open Research


Did you know the US army has embraced collaborative weblogs on a private network? Greg Searle, who's the founder and chief scientist at Tomoye, explained how that came about. It's a very interesting story:  two company commanders -tony & russell - who lived next to one another in Hawaii discovered the incredible value of informal conversation among peers for learning.

 They ended up wroting a book titled "Taking the Guidon" which became wildly popular within the army and led to a guerilla knowledge management effort among people in that position. A community of practice enabled by PHP-Nuke sprang up below the radar and interest bubbled up over about two years.

Despite obvious resistance among people in the upper ranks, it was eventually recognized that you need a network to fight networks, and this internal blogging activity is now officially endorsed, which is quite an about-face for the military culture.

Greg said the passion of the participants was a key factor in the success of the CoP. Also, when the survival of your men depends on learning, it provides a powerful incentive to find effective ways to learn.


.