Blogs can be a cool tool for keeping track of thoughts

I did this last semester. This semester I am going to do it again. I will continue to experiment with blogging to help keep track of my wonderful thoughts about knowledge-based decision support. This is done partly out of trust in Google to manage their systems the way their are supposed to: privacy will be respected. Content will not get lost. Convenience and useful features are the real incentives, of course.

Recording and storing thoughts with help of great technology are a sure way to organize and accumulate ideas. This is actually practicing what you preach about management of tacit knowledge. Everything existing only in the head is tacit by its very nature. The content of the brain can not be seen in any reasonable way. To make the implicit explicit, you must describe it in some way. This is not always an easy task. It's especially hard in the beginning. But you get better and better with practice and experience.

Another obstacle is reluctance to open yourself up to the whole world. Actually this is mainly a matter of perception. Some online activities may be risky, but certainly not blogging. There is no private information to leak out. You have total control over what to disclose. It's alright to share your thoughts, understanding, or even your emotion with others. It's a good habit actually. Only those who are really interested in your content will take time to read it. No instrusion to worry about. No apology to make. In summary, the benefit well exceeds the cost.

Make this a good new habit to pick up for this year. Happy blogging to you all!