"If it rained knowledge..."
The inaugural meeting of the British Chapter of ISKO
26 March 2007
16:00 - 18:00
UK members of the International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO) have recently formed a UK Chapter. ISKO UK aims to provide a focus around which professionals involved in knowledge organization can explore their common territory and discuss their different perspectives, irrespective of discipline or job title, and across the commercial, industrial and academic sectors.
Agenda
16:00-16:15 Welcome and introduction to ISKO UK.
16:15-17:00 "If it rained knowledge...". A talk by Alan Gilchrist [presentation]
The quotation in the title, attributed to Samuel Johnson, goes on to say
"If it rained knowledge I'd hold out my hand; but I would not give myself the trouble to go in quest of it."
This neatly sums up what appears to be the attitude of many of today's managers and CIOs. Knowledge acquisition is made to look so easy by the search engine vendors, but in reality many websites and intranets are failing to meet the most basic needs of their users. Meanwhile, "information professionals" - librarians, information scientists, records managers, webmasters, knowledge engineers continue (with honourable exceptions) to work in their silos, conversing in their own jargon. Alan Gilchrist will suggest that these groups need to join forces to have a significant effect on the problems of information overload, information literacy and the growing need for interoperability within and between organizations.
17:00-17:45 Open invitation to discuss the direction and focus of ISKO UK.
17:45-18:00 Summary and closing remarks.
18:00-19:00 ISKO UK Planning Meeting (potential members welcome)