It’s not just what you know…

Community is a tricky thing.  If I’m just looking up some fact in a reference manual (and the manual actually has what I’m looking for), then I guess don’t really need it.  What I really need is a good manual, where “good” is defined as having the information I need, or a good author to generate the right manual in the first place.

Oh, wait!  Got me!  Maybe I do need more than the manual.  Why?  Because the “if” in the “if the manual has what I’m looking for” statement above is a pretty big “if”.  Isn’t that your experience?  It sure is mine.  Even if we lay aside the many other benefits of community and focus exclusively on knowledge management for a moment, there’s still a lot to be said for doing work in groups.  Learning, many times, is more than just a database or reference volume.

In other words, a lot of times I want to know who knows something … as much as, if not more than, just discovering the isolated fact they know.  Because, if they’re worth their salt, then they know far more than the one thing I gleaned from the one conversation I was in.  Instead, wouldn’t you rather be connected to their knowledge in general.  They probably have a lot more to teach you than just one thing, especially if you’ve identified that they’re knowledgable in the same things you’re interested in.

Well then, maybe their IQ and their phone number is all I care about.  That sounds good, right?  Not really.  I also want to know who they are.  If they’re not trustworthy … or not ambitious enough to share what they know … or not committed to the community … or don’t care if I need their help … or … or … or … Then being connected to them just isn’t as valuable to me, no matter what they know.

So, it’s more than what they know that I care about, it’s who they are.  Not just their proficiency, but their credibility as well.  Not just their level of knowledge, but their integrity, their motivation, their trustworthiness … lots of variables that have everything to do with them and their character, and very little to do with the the knowledge or shared purpose of the community.

Take TechLore for instance.  People that are always out there, always contributing, always reading something new about some facet of the consumer electronics world.  If I have a lot of questions about my gadgets or a lot of experiences to share, then I want to rub shoulders with these folks.  Yes, they have to know what they’re talking about.  But if they’ve demonstrated to me honesty and consistency and commitment to the community over time, then they’re the kind of person I want to be connected to — more than just being connected to the knowledge or experience they share in one blog entry, etc. Because life isn’t a reference manual.

Technorati tags: credibility, proficiency, character, techlore