America’s Top Model (#7) winds hands down over Carbon (#97) according to Wikirage. If you’re ever curious to learn what netizens are creating over at Wikipedia, link to Wikirage. In my case, I wanted to see what articles had the most unique editors … an indication of an involved community. Looks like true knowledge creation takes a back seat to celebrities even on Wikipedia. My thanks to "CC" who commented on this blog and keyed me in to this tool.  Finally, I wish I knew something about Carbon and could contribute to the article. My own Wikipedia edits have been quite small.
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I became aware of a new tool from Yahoo! today, YSlow. My curiosity was piqued when I realized that Steve Sounders of Yahoo was presenting at Google TechTalks … not exactly a normal occurrence. If Google was interested in listening to the competition, then I should take note!

YSlow is a Firefox add-in which analyzes your web site, and gives it a speed rating. Better yet, it links back to Yahoo YSlow and explains what you need to fix. Here are some YSlow links to get you "quickly" started:

• Yahoo! YSlow Tool / Web Site
  • Demo Screencast
  • Google TechTalk Presentation (Steve Sounders)

In addition, I just realized that Google TechTalks are not listed on the Engineering Learning Wiki software engineering page. I will rectify that mistake.

As requested, I’ve update the "Collaboration, Learning and Web 2.0 post. Please link here to read the original post, update and comments. The original question posed was:

"If one is trying to encourage engineering knowledge transfer and learning at one’s corporation … and you are already using internal blogs, wikis and tagging tools / social networks … what would you do next? Are there "specific" online resources, tools or courses in which you would invest for engineering knowledge sharing and learning? Why? "

One of my pet peeves is web site clutter. Whether it is a corporate intranet site, or a major portal like CNN, Yahoo or MSN … clutter is everywhere. As sites try to attract more viewers, their never ending additions have exactly the opposite effect.  Via Bill Ives’ Portals and Knowledge Management Blog (one of my favorites) I learned of this brief screencast. Take a look, pay attention, and learn:

• What if Google optimized their interface for Google

Hi Folks:

This is my first serious test of asking a question via Web 2.0. I’ve asked this same question via Facebook, LinkedIn and now my blog. I’m trying to expand my own knowledge base as I consider new programs for my company. I’ve got actual budget for 2008, but I’m concerned about adding "same old / same old". Thus my question … I’ll use your answers in an engineering strategy meeting later next week. Thanks.

• If one is trying to encourage engineering knowledge transfer and learning at one’s corporation … and you are already using internal blogs, wikis and tagging tools / social networks … what would you do next? Are there "specific" online resources, tools or courses in which you would invest for engineering knowledge sharing and learning? Why?

Either post your answers in the comment section, of contact me privately via email. Thanks.
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Update #1 on November 13th:

Folks have asked for an update on how my research is proceeding … a fair question. Although my goal is getting useful ideas, one interesting aspect of my search is I used three different social networks, my blog, LinkedIn, and Facebook. This blog and LinkedIn Questions far exceeded FaceBook in terms of generating useful discussion and links. Even though I am a member of the largest Web 2.0 / Enterprise 2.0 groups in Facebook, I found little interaction via that resource (I did have fun wasting time on other Facebook features only … added "My Map").

From my vantage point, have I solved my problem? No, but I’ve been pushed in some interesting directions. One LinkedIn Question post in answer to my question commented …

"Since your question referred to engineering and there have already been a number of good answers, I’ll focus the "what’s next?" part of your question a bit further into the future. What’s next for engineering is that remote autonomous sensors (on robots, UAV’s, satellites, whatever) will be able to autonomously digest and analyze the constant (huge) stream of sensor data. These "intelligent" sensors will give automatically give robust diagnostics, prognostics and reports, which are directly sent to these Web2.0 sites such as Twitter, MediaWiki and more."  (Christiaan Erik Rijnders)

Christian’s answer led me to do some research on "intelligent sensors" and "intelligent search agents". Although the concept of intelligent search agents has been around for some time, there is new MIT research on the topic which I’m still assimilating:

• A Goal Oriented User Interface for Personalized Semantic Search

In the end, no one suggested traditional learning sources. Given this audience, perhaps I should not be surprised. I’ve also been contacted by some folks who represent various knowledge management tools. The companies range from small to large.

Here are two other closing comments:

• John Hunter posted about my search in the American Society of Engineering Education Blog. That was neat.  Hopefully we’ll get more input from this group.
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• A anonymous commenter to this post noted: "Is some form of reward and recognition appropriate for those that choose to be knowledge sharers. Some people have the ‘knowledge is power’ ethos and will happily take knowledge for their own gains but not reciprocate." This person also provided an intriguing link to a journal article on the same subject: Inside Knowledge

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Update #2 on November 13th:

I just received another response to my LinkedIn question. Amanda Smith gave me some excellent ideas, and also a link to a very interesting NASA expertise locator project (i.e. finding the correct technical people in a large dispersed organization). You may wish to view my LinkedIn question and all the reponses
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Per the comment about knowledge sharing! Given I’ve blogged, created screencasts, search engines, wikis, etc … I guess I am contributor! Oh yes … here’s how I wasted my time on Facebook! (see image)
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