Full Circle Associates

Call for Papers

KM4Dev Journal Vol. 3, Issue 1, June 2007

“Stewarding Technologies for Collaboration, Community Building & Knowledge Sharing in Development”

The ‘Knowledge Management for Development Journal’ (KM4D Journal) is an open access, peer-reviewed, community-based journal on knowledge management in development – for and by development practitioners and researchers. The journal is closely related to the KM4dev community of practice, and can be read and downloaded at: www.km4dev.org/journal

Vol. 3, Issue 1, to be published in June 2007, will focus on innovative practices and uses of ‘technologies for knowledge sharing’. This focus comes on the wave of new web based tools and processes supporting knowledge sharing, knowledge management and organizational learning that have emerged. Sometimes called "Web 2.0" technologies, these tools allow people to collaborate over time and distance in both new ways and in new networked forms. It builds on previous issues on the importance of networks, working across boundaries and even sustainability.

Guest editors are comprised of Nancy White, Beth Kanter, Beverly Trayner, Partha Sarker and Brenda Zulu, in combination with Chief Editor, Lucie Lamoureux.

Rationale International development has always had to work across time and distance. With the increased access to internet connected computers and the development of a wider range of web based collaboration technologies, sometimes called "social software," a new practice is emerging of stewarding technology for knowledge sharing, knowledge management, collaboration and learning. By stewarding, we mean paying attention not just to the technology, but how it usefully applied by groups. Groups from within, across and between organizations can now work together every day without being in the same location. Collaborative networks which were never possible due to geographic limitations are now sharing knowledge, collecting data and doing team work.

The emergence and application of tools such as blogs, wikis, tagging, social search, web based content and learning management systems, pod and vodcasting intersect with various forms of collaboration such as distributed communities of practice, networks, and online communities.

Attention to the useful stewarding of technology is particularly important. The market changes rapidly. The accessibilty of the tools means many people are experimenting in diverse way. We are learning new processes and practices of technology in use and understanding the implications of technology on group dynamics. Sharing stories and knowledge in terms of how this technology is being stewarded is a critical piece of increasing both access to successful practices and increased success in collaboration. In this issue we hope to "shine a light" on technology stewardship for knowledge sharing and collaboration in development.

This issue

It is easy to focus on the technologies. They hype around "Web 2.0" and the crowded market of technology providers can make it easy to be both distracted and overwhelmed by the tools. But technologies alone don't create change or achieve goals. It is the people and practices using the tools that matter. This issue of the KM4Dev Journal will address the question of how how the international development community is identifying distributed collaboration opportunities, picking and configuring technology and developing practices to support the collaboration. The emphasis will be not just on the technology itself, but the processes of using technology to collaborate. What have we learned about what works, what doesn't work and what is just another distraction?

The issue will include papers from technology stewards and online knowledge sharing practitioners in the South and North. Of particular interest are recent experiences with both the the processes of supporting distributed collaboration and knowledge sharing, and the use of web based tools in that collaboration.

We invite technology stewards and online knowledge sharing practitioners, NGOs, resource centres, research institutes, think tanks, bilateral and multilateral development agencies and other organizations working in the context of development cooperation to propose papers covering topics such as:

• Main challenges for distributed knowledge sharing and collaboration

• Preconditions, entry points and strategies for using web based technologies for collaboration and KS

• Experience gained in supporting adoption of distributed tools and processes for collaboration and KS (case studies featuring Dgroups experiences are especially welcome)

• Specific approaches adopting web based collaboration technologies

• Effective capacity building practices ensuring the long-term viability of distributed collaboration and KS

• Considerations on how to balance web based collaboration and KS with more traditional F2F approaches, including issues of inclusion or exclusion with both approaches

• Specific issues of development cooperation to be considered in capacity building for distributed collaboration and KS such as internet access, cost of technology infrastructure, intercultural communication, impact of technology on power, gender, or learning modalities

• Reflections on capacity building for South-South distributed collaboration and KS

• Future agenda for the stewarding of technology for collaboration and KS

About the team of guest editors

Nancy White is an independent consultant from the United States and a KM4D Journal Editorial Board Member.

Beth Kanter is an independent consultant from the United States.

Bev Trayner is an independent consultant from Portugal.

Partha Sarker is a Researcher with Telecentre.org (Canada) and Co-founder of Bytes for All (India).

Brenda Zulu is a Zambian freelance journalist and OneWorld Africa (OWA) volunteer editor.

Proposed deadlines

Submission deadline for the title and abstract 28 February 2007

Acceptance of paper proposal 15 March 2007

Submission of paper 15 April 2007

Peer-review completed 15 May 2007

Author revision completed and final version of paper submitted 31 May 2007

(e)-publication date 15 June 2007

If you would like to submit a paper, or be actively involved in this initiative in any other ways, please send your abstract (minimum one paragraph – maximum one page) or your message by email to km4dj-editors@dgroups.org