ontology

Questions of interest to KM Practitioners

storytelling — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:01:23 -0600

The following are knowledge discovery / creation questions that you might like to apply to yourself.

What unusual and useful know-how do I have? What is this know-how generally called and what could I call it?
Which creative metaphors could I develop to contain this knowledge and what stories could I tell that demonstrate my competence in the domain?
How do I quantify the value of this know-how to myself, my family, my community, the earth and society at large?
What does this know-how help me to create and achieve?
Who else is (or might) be interested in this know-how?
From where have I acquired this know-how?
What is the potential value of this know-how? To whom is it valuable and in what way?
How do I organise myself so that I can remember and reliably re-enact this know-how?
How do I create and sustain a sustainable income for myself, my family and my community using know-how?
What stories do I tell that remind me of my dream?
From where do I draw my inspiration?
How and to whom do I pass on this know-how?
For what do I wish to be remembered and by whom?

Steve Banhegyi
steve@storytelling.co.za

Fireside Chat

The process of emergence - people of the reeds

Qhakijane — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:03:58 -0600

We are told that the word umuntu (plural abantu) spiritually means those who emerged from the reed in an ancient marsh.

The process of emerging is described as ukudabuka i.e. to forcefully tear a covering and emerge. From this we learn that from a Zulu point of view the process of human creation of first human existence entailed a period of gestation in the pre-world because it was when the first humans were sufficiently well developed that their physical womb was torn down and their emerged into the world. As in human birth, the umbilical detaches and the amniotic sac bursts open and the child emerges into the world.

It is important to realize that the reed should not be literally seen as the substance that encased the first humans. The reed should be understood in terms of its biological qualities as a hollow plant shoot, and the combination of water and earth for its existence, which three are necessary for life to thrive.

In Zulu when a person is asked “udabukaphi?” it means that where do you just come from? It may also mean from which world do you come from? Or from which country do you come from? Hence in the Zulu cosmological thinking the human beings have emerged from an unknown world. There is no attempt made to explain where they have emerged from prior to the reed and the marsh. The marsh and the reed therefore do not attempt to portray themselves as a literal place with specific geographic co-ordinates but should be understood from a spiritual point of view.

Osiris, Moses, and many ancient Gods have their emergence into the spiritual world via the reeds and marsh, a place of significant spiritual meaning. Even the children of Israel in their exodus to the Holy Land, crossed a marsh of reeds, generally wrongly translated into English as the Red Sea.

The reed provided the holy papyrus which ancient Egypt used to preserve her ancient Holy Writings. It is therefore immature to ridicule the Zulu cosmology as a childish invention because it points with unmistakable accuracy together with other ancient religions to the fact that water, reeds, and earth are an ancient Holy combination whose symbolism modern man has unfortunately forgotten.

The reed spiritually not literally, stands for the spiritual umbilicus that joins man as a not-yet-creature-in-creation-process to the Great Unknown Powers beyond. It means that there has been a protracted process of nurturing and feeding the uncreated man with powers and spiritual nourishment from the Great Beyond or Heaven if you prefer. The hollow reed symbolizes the conduit through which this transaction took place. Therefore we look for meaning not in the literal meanings and like St. Paul we see the unmistakable spiritual symbols that testify more eloquently of why Zulus located the uncreated man in marsh of reeds.

Chichewa is another ancient language spoken roughly around present day Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe with its various local variations. In Chichewa we unmistakenably see that the root word, nthu the same word used for umuntu (Zulu) or munthu (Chichewa) or Motho (Sotho) is used to denote a verb which means to appear suddenly. This verb is bunthuka. It is a remnant of the ancient meaning that validates the Zulu meaning that umuntu waduka ohlangeni (literally a human emerged from a reed). To bunthuka is to come into view suddenly and be seen.

It is therefore safe to assume that word umuntu means to appear or to emanate from the Great Unknown. When a man is from another racial group or culture the Zulus would refer to him or them as those who have emerged from another reed-place. Izinhlanga therefore refers to people of other racial groups.

Zulu culture, language & traditions

Create your personal Vision Statement

storytelling — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:17:10 -0600

A compelling, powerful vision can help you succeed, become more satisfied with your life, and get the most out of your personal & working relationships. Many experts on leadership emphasize how vital it is for you to craft your own personal vision. Warren Bennis, Stephen Covey, Peter Senge, and others point out that a powerful vision can help you succeed. It can also propel and inspire those around you to reach their own dreams. And remember, if you don't create your own vision, others will plan and direct your life for you.

Peter Senge defines vision as what you want to create of yourself and the world around you. What does your vision include? Making a vital change in some area? Raising happy, well-adjusted children? Writing a book? Owning your own business? Living at the coast? Being fit, healthy and strong? Traveling the world? Facilitating others? What are you good at? What do you love doing? What aren't you good at now, but you'd like to be? All of these important questions are part of identifying your personal vision.

Use the following questions to think about and start to develop your personal vision. It's adapted from many sources and should prompt you to THINK. Find a place without distractions. Answer as many of the questions as possible. It might be useful to discuss your responses with someone you trust.

Things I really enjoy doing
What are my most important values?
Issues and causes that I care deeply about?
Things I do very well indeed?
What I'd like to stop doing or do as little as possible?
What brings me happiness /joy?
The two best experiences of the Past Week?
What would I do if I won the Lottery?

It's now time to pull together your research and write a Personal Vision Statement. Your vision must be unique and appropriate for you. For example:

I am becoming more physically fit every day. I am almost finished studying a BComm part-time through UNISA. I am actively involved in my close personal relationships. I have fun every day at work and play and am doing the work that I love and loving the work I do...

steve@storytelling.co.za

Personal Knowledge Management Project

Personal Vision, Mission, Values, Measures and Purpose Statement

storytelling — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:06:53 -0600

Vision and Mission statements are your guiding principles. They say what you intend to accomplish and create. They are principles you can measure your progress against.

The vision statement is a high-level statement that encompasses your philosophy, goals and long-term position. It is your realistic, credible and attractive future. There is no more powerful engine driving you toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile, and achievable vision of the future.
The mission statement is a more specific articulation of the vision, a statement of how the vision will be implemented day-to-day. It can be done in a narrative form, but a list is more specific.

Vision is the art of seeing that which is invisible, a picture of something that does not yet exist. Organisations and people need vision, they need to understand:

where they are
where they are going
how they are going to get there
what is expected of them and what they, in turn, can expect from others
their purpose and reason for existing (Their Cosmology)
All this is communicated via story

What is YOUR personal vision statement? In a nutshell, your personal vision is what you want to be, do, feel, think, own, associate with, and impact by some date in the future. Why bother? Research conducted with people judged to be ‘successful’ consistently highlights one interesting fact; Successful people invariably have a personal vision statement. Your vision statement is your guide and is vital in helping you judge how far you are towards achieving your goals.

steve@storytelling.co.za

Thinking Skills

storytelling — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:38:10 -0600

We oftentimes tend to focus on the latest technologies and Gizmos but all too often the person behind the technology - you - is overlooked. It seems that while the education system is reasonably good at telling you about the world around you, it is not terribly effective about teaching you about yourself and what happens in your brain/mind/body/nervous system. Therefore, I believe that a study of thinking skills should form part of each PKM practitioner's personal growth plan.

I have taught thinking skills to a variety of audiences over the years ranging from school children to engineers and boards of directors in listed companies through our thoughtformz thinking skills project - the course outline includes:

Module 1: Perception What’s really going on? Insights from biology and the nature of its relationship to information. What do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt? Can it survive analysis? How to evaluate the data:story ratio in your knowledge. Differences between analytical and analogical thinking.
Module 2: Language, Reality and Culture Words, meaning, personal narratives, metaphors and mythologies. Power relationships and culture. Leadership as storytelling. Narrative Medicine.
Module 3: The biology of thought Analogical & Analytical thinking and your nervous system. How thinking processes and consciousness are impacted by foodstuffs and substances. Smart, conscious nutrition.
Module 4: Learning, Forgetting and Change New insights into memory, learning and change. Management of change. Holding on and letting go. Rituals and rites of passage and transformation.
Module 5: Your thinking skills toolbox Useful metaphors, thinking skills, uncommon awareness, models, tools, narratives and software necessary to navigate the future. Ideas you can take and immediately implement in your own context.

One of the exercises that we provide is to get participants to become deliberate about writing their own lifestories according to the lifeline exercise attached. Storytelling or the oral tradition is very much associated with Africa and here we adopt the view that a human being is the creation of his or her own story. Reminding people of their own authority is empowering to people. See what happens when you become deliberate about your story. The attached exercise has been created specially for teachers from the Gauteng Department of Education as part of a lifeskills programme we have developed.

KM & Communications