Gurteen Knowledge Letter January 2023 Issue 271

Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Issue 271 – January 2023

A very Happy New Year to you. Whether you’ve been with me from the start in 2002 or are a more recent subscriber, I appreciate your support, and I’m looking forward to an awesome 2023. It can only improve for me as I have started off the year with a nasty bout of Covid.

1. What will be the impact of ChatGPT?
   We've no real idea yet.
2. Certified Knowledge Specialist in Conversational Leadership
   KMI - KM Institute
3. The 2022 Reith Lectures: The Four Freedoms
   BBC
4. Will there be a Knowledge Management revival?
   KM is a generation old
5. Creating a glossary for my blook
   With a little help from ChatGPT
6. After-action reviews - are we lazy?
   A conversation after an event to discuss improvement
7. Help Keep My Work Alive
8. Unsubscribe
9. Gurteen Knowledge Letter

I do not doubt that AI technology, such as ChatGPT, will have a massive impact on the world in 2023 and beyond. I am already using it myself to help develop a glossary for my blook but, more surprisingly, in developing some of the underlying WordPress code.

Over Christmas, for example, it has helped me solve a complex AJAX coding problem I had been struggling with for some months - it didn't write perfect code for me (though it can and has), but by "chatting" with it and asking questions like "Could you explain this?" or "Why won't this work?" it helped me figure it all out in an hour or two.

We have much to learn about its potential impact (both good and bad), so I have pulled together a short reading list that you may find of interest.

A Chatbot's Predictions for the Future of AI
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/12/a-chatbots-predictions-for-the-future-of-ai/672540/

How to spot AI-generated text | MIT Technology Review
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065596/how-to-spot-ai-generated-text/

Enjoy Chatbots While They're Free
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/chatgpt-ai-chatbots-openai-cost-regulations/672539/

ChatGPT: The End of Programming (As We Know It)
https://medium.com/geekculture/chatgpt-the-end-of-programming-as-we-know-it-ac7e3619e706

Enjoy!

I hope you know by now that John Hovell, Donita Volkwijn, Saule Menane, and I will be running a Certified Knowledge Specialist in Conversational Leadership class in partnership with the KM Insitute from February 27th to March 3rd, 2023.

It is an excellent opportunity to learn how to practice Conversational Leadership and if you have not done so yet, take a look - you can find complete information and register here.

You may also like to watch a recording of a recent webinar we held on What is conversational leadership and why is it important? here.

Note, the Early Bird Discount of 25% has been extended to January 15th.

Over Christmas, I listened to and was intrigued by the annual Reith Lectures.

The Reith Lectures were inaugurated in 1948 by the BBC to mark the contribution made to public service broadcasting by Lord Reith, the corporation's first director-general.

Four speakers featured in this year's Reith Lectures: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Lord Rowan Williams, Darren McGarvey, and Dr. Fiona Hill.

The lectures were inspired by Franklin D Roosevelt's famous "Four Freedoms" speech, where he argued that these freedoms were fundamental human rights that should be protected and promoted by governments worldwide.

Each speaker explored one of Roosevelt's themes: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Four freedoms that we should hold dear if we wish to create a better world.

You can listen to the lectures in the Reith Lectures archive and watch Roosevelt's original speech on YouTube.

Interest in knowledge management has been slowly declining in recent years. Despite this trend, the importance of effectively managing knowledge, particularly at a societal level, remains as critical as ever.

It occurred to me over Christmas that the concept of knowledge management has been around for almost 30 years, and today managers (and employees) in their 30s and early 40s who were children in its early days may have little understanding or fully appreciate the importance of the field.

In the past 30 years, we have gained a better understanding of knowledge management, principally that it is primarily a human discipline, not a technological one.

Given this, could there be a revival of knowledge management and a chance to correct past mistakes?

I have long wanted to create a glossary of terms for my blook but have been put off by how much effort it would take. However, I now have the beginnings of one.

I have consciously defined most of the tags in my blook to correspond to Wikipedia entries. A summary of the corresponding Wikipedia entry is dynamically extracted from Wikipedia and displayed if you visit a tag page such as in this tag page for cognitive bias.

What's new is that I am now slowly adding a tag definition to the top of each tag page. My glossary is then dynamically created by extracting and listing the definitions from only those tags that contain definitions.

Furthermore, I am using chatGPT to help write the tag definitions. Most of the time, ChatGPT generates a near-perfect definition, and I just need to carefully check and tweak it.

Other times I need to guide it a little, as in this chat.

• define tribal thinking in 200 characters or less
  Tribal thinking refers to the way people often identify with and feel loyalty to a particular group, and view those outside of their group as different or inferior. It can lead to the creation of "in-groups" and "out-groups," and can result in prejudice and discrimination against those in the out-group. Tribal thinking is often fueled by a desire for social identity and a sense of belonging, but it can also be used as a means of exerting power and control over others.
• shorter and more focus on thinking
  Tribal thinking is the tendency to view one's own group as superior to others and to view those outside the group as inferior or different. It is characterized by a strong identification with and loyalty to a particular group, and can lead to prejudice and discrimination against those outside the group. Tribal thinking is often fueled by a desire for social identity and a sense of belonging, but it can also be used as a means of exerting power and control over others.
• It's not quite right - I want more about agreeing with the beliefs of others within your tribe
  I apologize if my previous explanation was not fully accurate. Tribal thinking can also refer to the tendency to conform to the beliefs and attitudes of one's own group, even if those beliefs and attitudes may not align with one's own personal values or beliefs. This can occur as a result of a desire to fit in and be accepted by the group, or because of the influence of group dynamics and the pressure to conform. Tribal thinking can lead to a lack of critical thinking and an inability to consider alternative perspectives, as well as to conflicts and divisions within and between different groups.
• looks good now shorten it for me
  Tribal thinking is the tendency to conform to the beliefs and attitudes of one's own group, often at the expense of personal values and beliefs. It can lead to a lack of critical thinking and an inability to consider alternative perspectives, as well as to conflicts and divisions within and between different groups.

And here is my final tweaked definition

I think this is an excellent example of chatGPT as a productivity tool. I am not relying on it generating correct answers or perfect text (even though it comes close 90% or more of the time). I am using it as a thinking tool. In some strange way, I am partnering with it.

There is nothing complicated about an after-action review. At its best, it is simply a conversation after an event or activity to discuss improvement. We should be engaging in this type of reflection daily. Every event, activity, or interaction should end with a simple conversation, whether with others or in our minds, initiated by the question, "How did that go?"

So why are AARs not more common? Peter Senge proposes one reason which is undoubtedly true.

The Army's After Action Review (AAR) is arguably one of the most successful organizational learning methods yet devised.

Yet, most every corporate effort to graft this truly innovative practice into their culture has failed because, again and again, people reduce the living practice of AAR's to a sterile technique.

Credit: Peter Senge

But I think the most likely explanation is that we are lazy, and it isn't easy to make it a habit. I know however hard I try, I have never really established it as a regular practice.

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Gurteen Knowledge Letter

The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a free monthly email newsletter designed to inspire thinking around Conversational Leadership and Knowledge Management. You can explore the archive of past issues here.

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David Gurteen
Gurteen Knowledge
Fleet, United Kingdom

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