Speaking the language of a large, complex organization is a skill that takes some time to develop. In my new role, I have been tackling the challenge of learning a great deal about how the organization operates and understanding my own role. I have been particularly struck by the great amount of abbreviations that need to be mastered and understood in the course of daily work. The organization does have an acronym dictionary available for staff (a great idea to implement if you don’t have one) but, almost by definition, it cannot cover everything. So I’m taking copious notes, asking questions and meeting with my colleagues to deepen my understanding.

This particular experience has also prompted me to reflect on my ongoing journey from student to professional, a journey that is still unfolding. Back when I was a university student, people would sometimes say one of the benefits of university study is learning how to learn. That is absolutely true! All those study habits, highly developed reading skills and so far are tremendously valuable in the world of work. I am also finding the ability to quickly asses and understand complex documents and policies to be worthwhile, even if the approach is new to me. As much as I am focused on being a professional, I still think there is much to be said for the wide ranging interests and curiousity of (good) students. Those are some of the traits that I will seek to keep.

Notes on the diagram: The above diagram is my first attempt to visualize some of the insights from the lecture I am reporting on below. The baseline on the bottom is meant to signify the possibly of forgetting or failing to invest in learning. The gentle arc I have put in place suggests that learning is the generally the focus of early life but it very much continues as one continues through life. I left out some of the more informal kinds of learning only because I did not quite know how to symbolize them or where to place them on the arc. I’m certainly open to suggestions on how the diagram could be rendered richer and morecomplete.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure to attend a public lecture at the iSchool Institute by serial technology entrepreneur Steven Forth. His talk explored the theme of lifelong learning and the question of who owns learning and our records of this. During the wide ranging topic, he also discussed setting goals and learning plans. In reading productivity books and blogs (including the noted Getting Things Done book), I had come across some of this goal setting ideas before. However, Forth paired this system with the Strengths Finder methodology in a way I found quite engaging. Through graduate school and in other contexts, I have had an interest in learning how different people learn and this talk deepened that interest further. One aspect I had not yet previously considered was Forth’s example of how some people prefer to understand a model or abstraction first and then consider applications while others prefer to build up experience and then derive rules or a model from that.

In reflecting on the event, several questions come to mind that I would like to share with my readers:

• How should one reflect on and plan informal learning (loosely defined as learning that occurs outside the purview of formal educational institutions)?

• What is the right balance of learning goals? (in Forth’s examples, drawn from real individuals, he generally listed three major goals per year with a mix of career goals and lifestyle goals)

• Beyond funding for educational activities, how should employers support learning? (A truly complex question but one well worth exploring)

Now for some shameless self promotion! If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested to have a look at my post on the inaugural iSchool Institute given in April: The Launch of the iSchool Institute. The next iSchool public lecture, “IT Has a Great Future Potential: Is the Management Ready?” by Bruce J. Rogow on October 27 looks very promising as well; register for this free event.

In a complex organization, information has many different qualities and poses different problems. For traditional librarians or researchers, it is traditional to think of information positively. Better information and better organized information helps people think through problems, feel less stress and otherwise work more effectively. However, risk presents another way to think about information. Information risks are varied including managing privacy issues, complying with legal requirements and managing internal controls. The risk approach to information is something of a new concept to me and I am still thinking my way through its implications. What kinds of risks can be eliminated? What sort of risks can only be monitored? What kinds of methods exist for measuring information risks? These are some of the questions I have been thinking about lately and which I may explore in this blog later on.

In the September 2010 issue of WIRED, Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff have an interesting article, “The Web is Dead, Long Live the Internet.” While it is certainly an interesting article that looks at the rise of apps and the appeal of closed systems such as those made by Apple, I am unconvinced. Part of the argument – that most users of the Internet simply want it to work effectively and reliably – does have some merit. In my mind, this article jumps the gun by a few years at least. The App way of experiencing the Internet is still mainly a handheld device experience and most users still use computers, rather than smart phones or tablet computers. The article is at its best when it considers how the move from Web to Apps may effect business models; the authors argue that Google effectively dominates the Web but that potentially more companies could succeed in an App economy though they may still function as an oligopoly.