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

What do you want out of your Online Community?

If we agree that community is important to people and that online community is a legitimate phenomenon in the 21st century, then that begs the question, “What do we get out of online community?”  What should we get out of it?  What do you want it to provide to / for you?

For me, I want connection … to people and to their ideas.  If we’re sharing a common purpose or interest, goal or passion, then I want to be able to share it well.  I want to meet people who are “top notch” and find access to ideas and information that’s right up there with them.  If there are people who aren’t very committed to the community and to the interest we share in it, then they’re less attractive to me.  If someone’s written 10 books on the subject, then I want to meet them.  Wait … only if their books are good ones, so I’m going to need a way to figure that out — ideally without reading all 10. 

If there’s any objectivity to the information — such as how to setup a few IR repeaters in my entertainment system, when the registration deadline for that conference is, or where the nearest Chicago-style pizza parlor’s located — then I need to find that information quickly and easily.  And it needs to be correct when I find it.  Plus, I feel an obligation to share knowledge and experience here when someone is looking for it.

If it’s more subjective – such as picking a new digital television, deciding which new audio book to download, or figuring out which pizza place is the best — then I want advice and opinion from people I trust.  Of course, I might also have opinions or advise to share here too.

So those are my requirements for a good community.  What about you?  What do you look for?

Technorati tags: community, connection

What is an Online Community?

If our company is “all about online community“, then I guess I’d better define the term

A community is a group of people, variable in size, who come together around a common purpose, goal, or interest.

An online community is a group of people who come together using Internet technologies as their communication medium.  Most commonly, this is the web, but not always.  Instant messaging, IRC, email, SMS and others all qualify.  The revolution of the Internet has opened a huge set of doors to shrinking the world and bringing people closer together.  So, where communities once had to pretty much be in the same room to be effective in their interaction or the sharing of ideas, today a group of people can be spread out all over the world but still belong to the same (even tight-knit) community. 

A great example of an online community is the Sling Community.  This community was built by Capable Networks for Sling Media, the visionary company who brought us the Slingbox.  Here, those who own slingboxes or may someday buy one or maybe just think they’re cool – whatever it is about the slingbox that brings people together – gather to share common interest in this new technology.  Our community platform enables that (we’ll talk more about how it does that later).  This is an online community – a common interest shared by over 5,000 people all over the world via a bunch of clever Internet-based technology. 

For more “Terms and Definitions”, see the glossary page I’ve added (and will continue to update).

Technorati tags: online community, community, slingbox, sling media

Who is Capable Networks?

Capable Networks LLC was founded in 2004 by Ron Repking and Steven Jones.  Because I’ve known these guys for years, I’ve been connected to the company since the beginning, and have formally worked for the company since the beginning of 2006.

Capable Networks was formed to address the problem I talked about in a former entry – that good information is becoming harder and harder to come by as the web grows and the world shrinks.  We state our goal / vision pretty concisely in the form of a catchy byline:  “More value.  Less noise.  Every day.”

The company is all about giving people the tools necessary to find what they’re looking for online in the best possible way.  We’ve pressed several different kinds of weapons into service as we work to fulfill this vision.  The centerpiece in our arsenal is our online community platform, which we’ve used now to create several kinds of communities – with more on the way.  At the heart of our platform is our Intelligent Scoring engine we call the “Content Valuation Engine”, or CVE.  Intelligent scoring is our patent-pending mechanism that does the actual work, behind the scenes of our platform, to cause the good stuff to rise to the top.  This is how we achieve our “more value, less noise, every day” vision.

My role – in creating this blog – is to discuss this vision of Intelligent Scoring, and how it’s becoming a reality.  If you stay tuned, you’ll discover that I plan to be all over the map on this and related topics.  I look forward to sharing how we came about this idea, what has influenced it, where we’re going, where we think the web is going, who else is doing what, etc.  As you read and have questions, post them.  I’m excited about the opportunity to dialogue about this significant invention and what it has to offer online communities and the web in general.

Hope to see you out there.  Oh, and for more information about the company or our online communities, check out http://www.capablenetworks.com/company.shtml.

Technorati tags: capable networks, value, intelligent scoring, content valuation engine, cve

Who am I?

My name is Jeff Block.  I graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Computer Science from the engineering college in the mid-90’s, worked as a consultant for several years, then did corporate training, and now work for Capable Networks. 

At CN, my title is Vice President of Community Development.  I’m also the co-inventor, along with the CTO of the organization, Steven Jones, of the Intelligent Scoring engine we’ll be talking about in this blog. 

I thought it was appropriate, before I splattered too much more of my brain all over this blog, that I took a few moments to introduce myself.  The tangential stuff that goes only to identity is that I’m married, have no kids (yet), live in the suburbs of Chicago, am very involved with my church, am totally inept at sports, and am a pretty social guy.  There are almost always people at the house.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the stuff that’s more on target for our discussion here.  The dominate gene that led me to writing this blog is that I’m a pretty big nerd.  Love math; lots of history with it.  Love science, particularly physics.  Love computers, particularly building something out of them.  In fact, I love to build just about anything that starts out in pieces.  So from my somewhat geeky perch at the company, I’ll be your tour guide through the world of intelligent scoring.  Yes, I helped invent the thing.  No, I won’t be offended if you criticize, question, suggest alternatives, etc.  In fact, I want to encourage all of that.

It will become obvious as we chat that we’ve built something that we think will benefit everybody.  It’s more than just some idea.  We think it’s a huge idea – big enough to build a company around it.

Technorati tags: jeff block, university of illinois, computer science

Houston, We Have a Problem

Too much noise.  That’s the problem.  The TV?  Too much noise.  Commercials?  Noise (except during the Superbowl).  The subway?  Noise.  Instruction manuals in 10 languages?  Noise.  Phone trees and tech support queues?  Noise.  My last web search?  Yep, lots of noise there too.

Haven’t thought about it that way before?  Well, let’s do so now.  What do you spend most of your life doing?  If I set aside critical upkeep / maintenance kinds of activities like sleeping and eating, then most of my life is broken down into two areas:  achievement and recreation.  I work and I play.  I get things accomplished and I enjoy the life that that accomplishment brings.

And in either case, as an American, I spend a lot of time sorting through my options.  If I’m trying to get the job done (whatever the job is), then I need answers.  Either I know them, or I have to find someone who does.  Okay, I’ll settle for what that guy wrote down, as long as it’s a pretty cut-and-dried deal.  Otherwise, even that won’t do, and I need the guy himself.  And recreation is the same.  Which national park should I go to?  Where’s the best vacation spot?  Which hotel should I stay in?  What restaurant will I enjoy most?  Which movie would be worth my time?  What book should I read?  Need I go on?

So, we’re looking for answers.  And the fact that more and more information is available to us every day makes it harder and harder to find them.  Let me be clear.  It’s EASY to get answers, but I submit it’s getting harder to find GOOD answers.  Everyone’s got an opinion.  There’s a blog on every subject you can name.  News runs 24 hours a day.  The TV has 4 billion channels.  According to Yahoo’s Yellow Pages, my town (28,876 people) has 503 car dealers, 413 banks, 372 hotels and 503 restaurants … and that’s just the “sponsored” lists for their “top” searches.  Forget the more obscure stuff.  Oh, and did I mention that of the 4 “top searches”, 2 of them give me sub-trees after the first click instead of search results?  I mean, that’s just crazy.  We know the information’s not accurate, but we settle for it because there’s no better alternative.  And this is just one example.

It all adds up to noise.  Everyday a new restaurant opens and it makes it harder to choose, not easier.  Pick your analogy and it works.  Good information is getting harder to come by as total information increases.

Stay tuned in.  We’ll be talking answers soon.  And I’m going to want your opinion!

Technorati tags: value, noise, world wide web, knowledge management