How do we get people to communicate openly together?

Information, knowledge management and collaboration in the community and international development sector – how do we get people to communicate openly together? As I begin to enter a new career as the knowledge manager for engineers without borders Australia, I have been reflecting upon my experiences as a volunteer within the organisation. In Queensland, we recently tuned a strong focus towards an initiative called ‘local projects’ and with this, begun to actively network with other non-profit organisations around the region and country. Whilst each of these organisations were doing great things, and in their own niche, I was surprised how little each of them new about other community development organisations in the local area. Which raises the question, how much efficiency can be gained in the sector, by targeted collaboration which promotes increased efficiency? In a sector that runs off of scarce public and private grants and donations, or re-injected social enterprise profits and not to mention volunteer hours – we should be always thinking, how can we do more with less? The open source community has been pushing information technology communities in a similar promise for some years now with some great results. Its pleasing to see networks like ASIX.org.au pop-up and promote the networking of people looking at making a difference in Australia, and the world. There are a number of other wiki style websites that are arising too, such as appropedia.org and greenlivingpedia.org, which are encouraging those working in sustainable development to contribute to their library of resources, and promote an open learning and knowledge sharing community. If we are true to our cause, if we were true to wanting to create a sustainable future and raise the living standards of the poorest people in our world – then by sharing our community’s knowledge around development practice and appropriate technologies, would surely empower the individual, reduce the inefficiencies within our sector and further our objectives. I’m keen to hear and discuss with you all your experiences around information/knowledge sharing, and how this can help us all achieve our common goals. Please comment to this post, or email me at nick[at]thinkactlive.com so we can talk.