While it may seem casual to some, I’ve discovered that blogging requires a fair amount of time and thought.  Over the last two years, I’ve blogged in the early morning and very late at night.  In addition, I’ve had to set aside time to do the reading that makes it possible for me to write.  And then, there’s the thinking time.  While I’m not always successful, I do try to process information before committing it to writing.  While there are many helpful blogs that focus on being primarily a conduit to the work of others, I’ve tried to balance some original writing with simply sharing information with my readers.  Lately I haven’t had the time to do any of this so you and I haven’t had these posts.

What I’ve learned through this forced hiatus is that I miss the stimulation and discipline of regular blogging. Above all, I’ve missed having opportunities to be in conversation with you.

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  In my case, at least, I can say that’s true.  I do hope it’s true for you as well.

[Photo Credit:  YivaS]

December is the month for nominations for the Canadian Law Blog Awards (or CLawBies). In typically understated Canadian fashion, bloggers are asked to nominate other blogs and bloggers of note, and to modestly refrain from plugging their own work. In the spirit of the season (and of these generous awards), here are my nominations:

• What smart person would fail to read a blog entitled Wise Law Blog?  Not this one!  Great writing covering a range of legal and political topics is the highlight of this blog.  As an added bonus, Gerry Wise includes news from both sides of the 49th parallel.
• To be honest, “style” is not a word I regularly associate with the law.  However, I’m prepared to believe that lawyers can be stylish when I read Precedent.  News, comments, gossip and amusement – that’s the bill of fare the writers at Precedent offer.  And, it’s fun to boot.
• Connie Crosby is a self-professed “Info Diva” who covers a broad range of topics stretching from social media to classic librarian issues.  In the process, she leverages her deep knowledge of lawyers and law firms to keep her posts relevant for those of us in the legal industry.

Finally, how can a blog post discussing Canadian legal blogs fail to recognize the category-busting blog that is astonishing in its range and depth.  I’m speaking, of course, of Slaw.ca.  It is an amazing resource for lawyers and other folks interested in all things legal.  To the marvelous team of bloggers at Slaw, all I can say is thanks for another terrific year of entertaining and educational posts.

Now that the list has been published, the next step is for readers to vote for the blogs  that they like the best in each of the 10 categories.  This blog is in the “Legal Tech” category along with the following impressive blawgs:

• DennisKennedy.com
• e-Lessons Learned
• Eric Goldman: Technology & Marketing Law Blog
• FutureLawyer
• Inter Alia
• iPhone J.D.
• Real Lawyers Have Blogs
• Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites
• Social Media Law Student
• Strategic Legal Technology
• TechnoLawyer Blog
• 3 Geeks and a Law Blog
• 22 Tweets

The voting has begun and the results will be reported in February.  If you are so inclined, I’d be grateful for your support.  All you have to do is cast your vote before December 31.  Regardless of whether you vote or not, please do check out the blogs on the list.  They are a terrific entry point to the riches of the legal blogosphere.

Before I sign off, I do want to thank all my readers.  As I’ve learned over nearly two years of blogging, you are an extraordinarily generous group of people.  Some of you leave comments when you read something of interest.  Others of you tweet a blog post that has caught your fancy.  Still others send me e-mails from time to time just to let me know that something in the blog has resonated with you.  And then, there are those of you who don’t contact me, but are kind enough to recommend Above and Beyond KM to your colleagues and, in this case, to the ABA Journal.

Please accept my deepest appreciation.  It’s a great pleasure to write for and with you.

The reality is that in blogging (as with many* things), all we need is a good enough choice.  The hunt for the perfect choice is just another way of delaying the need to make a commitment.  No matter what you’ve heard, we now know that there is really no guarantee that if you hunt longer you’ll find perfection.  In fact, Barry Schwartz tells us in the Paradox of Choice that most of the time the only reward for the painstaking weighing of too many choices is  — too much stress.

Now think about how we approach knowledge management projects.  If we listen to the siren song of vendors, we all too often choose projects with big budgets and big expectations.  As a result, every decision is fraught because the price of failure is high.  After all, how do you tell the partners in your law firm that you’ve spent thousands of their dollars on a “good enough” (but definitely not perfect, and possibly not great) solution?

Somehow we have to change our mode of operating, moving away from big productions worthy of Cecil B. DeMille, and closer to an indy film created with a camcorder.  When the stakes are lower, we are less likely to succumb to the paralysis of choice.  And then, a solution that is “good enough” suddenly becomes … perfect.

* Just for the record, nothing I’ve written here should be construed to apply to the choice of a significant other — especially if that person is reading this  blog!

[Photo credit:  Gregor Rohrig, Creative Commons License]

Go where?  To WordPress.  (And you thought I was agonizing over something truly earth shattering, right?  But think about it for a minute.  My question is just a proxy for a lot of tough decisions we face daily.  It’s the process of working through the question that I want to focus on here.)  The reality is that when you’ve made an investment in something, it’s hard to turn your back on your sunk costs and start over again.  In fact, the real question for me was:  Do I stay where I’m comfortable or do I take a risk and move?

As you can see, I’ve moved.  But the thing that tipped the balance for me was identifying the issues that were holding me back:  fear of the unknown and fear of failure.  Once I named them, I literally was blinded by the light.  I’ve been writing for some time about the importance of change and, especially, about the importance of feeling free to fail in order to learn and grow.  In fact, I’m on record for saying that failure is a critical prerequisite of innovation.  So now, having seen the light, I have to put on my sunglasses and walk the walk.

I’m up to my eyebrows in change and just a hair’s breadth away from disaster.  But as I work through this particular set of experiments and changes, I’ll be documenting my lessons as they become clear to me.  After all, as long as we’re learning,  we can’t call the experience a loss.  And, we certainly can’t call it failure.

(Photo Credit:  Little Ricky, Creative Commons License)

To celebrate that excellence, our blogging colleagues in Canada have instituted the Canadian Law Blog Awards, or CLawBies. The creator of the CLawBies, Steve Matthews (the terrific Vancouver Law Librarian and founder of Stem Legal), has implemented an innovative nomination process this year with the goal of fostering “some audience sharing & link-based infrastructure between members of the Canadian law blog community.”

In deciding which blogs I would nominate, I was interested to discover that in every case I read these blogs because they are consistently good rather than because they are Canadian. (The fact that they are Canadian is a bonus as far as I’m concerned.) Here are the Canadian blogs I’ve enjoyed in the past year:

Connie Crosby — I read Connie’s blog regularly and follow her on Twitter. Her background in law libraries and social networking gives her insight into those knowledge management issues that keep me occupied. Above all, how can you not pay attention to a great “Info Diva”?

Law21 — Jordan Furlong’s blog is a must-read for anyone thinking hard about intelligent ways to practice law. And, even if you’re not, he’s such a good writer that I’d recommend you read him anyhow!

Slaw — This is a category-busting blog: a community effort that covers a wide range of legal and cultural topics. There’s always something of interest and, due to the number of contributors, there is always something new.

Finally, I do want to thank Steve Matthews personally. He has been a terrific supporter of legal blogging on either side of the 49th parallel. Steve’s efforts to promote individual bloggers and legal blogging generally are marked with the kind of personal generosity that makes the blawgosphere such a rewarding place for those of us interested in good conversation and community. Thanks, Steve!

And what was the gift? Dennis Kennedy was kind enough to include Above and Beyond KM on his 2008 list of notable blogs, also known as Dennis Kennedy’s 2008 Law-related Blogging Awards (The Blawggies). I was surprised and delighted to find myself in the company of some terrific bloggers. I invite you to spend a little time with the blawgs and blawggers Dennis called out for recognition. The list covers a wide range of law-related subjects and provides lots of thought-provoking reading.

All of this starts with Dennis, one of the pioneers of legal blogging. I was reading his writing before I even realized what a blog was. He has set a high standard not only for great content and longevity in this business but, most of all, for generosity.

So, thank you Dennis Kennedy!

With best wishes for the Holidays,
Mary

***********

And, because I couldn’t resist, here’s an excerpt from my post on April 15 in which I quote Dennis Kennedy:

In the inimitable words of Dennis Kennedy: “I have no doubt that Tom Mighell has mentioned many more new legal blogs than the number of blogs that have links back to his blog. He’s a saint – I’m not quite that saintly.” Dennis makes this observation in the course of a post entitled “What are the Most Common Mistakes a New Legal Blogger Makes,” in which he reminds bloggers who are lucky enough to be mentioned by a more established blogger that they should not be delinquent in thanking the experienced blogger.

(Cookies `n Cream? Heath Bar Crunch? Mint Chocolate Chip? Butter Pecan? Help!)

So here’s what I did. I looked at the blog posts my readers seemed to like the most (based on site traffic reports and comments received) and then I thought about the posts I particularly enjoyed writing. Here’s the list I came up with today:

Is Your KM Department Serving Fish?

The Problem with Low-Hanging Fruit

Overcoming Hurdles to Web 2.0

Is Your Knowledge Management Strategic?

Why KM Needs Good Design

KM and the Pantyhose Fallacy

Putting Blinders on to Enhance Productivity

Just One Thing

If you asked me tomorrow, I might come up with a different list. But, for today, this is my multi-scoop alternative to plain vanilla.

Be sure to check back with 3Geeks and a Law Blog. They’re planning to publish today the list of all the recommended blog posts. I’m looking forward to reading them.

[photo courtesy of ulterior epicure under a Creative Commons license]

So how do I decide how/what/when to blog?

The HOW of blogging is relatively easy — at my iMac with a cup of something caffeinated nearby; multiple drafts until I get the content and tone right; and then a firedrill as I publish, discover the inevitable typo, fix it and republish.

The WHEN of blogging used to be early in the morning. However, as I’ve discovered more readers in other time zones, I’ve learned it makes more sense to write and publish at night. This means that by the time I’ve poured my morning cup of caffeine, my friends and readers elsewhere have left comments on my blog to continue the conversation. It’s a great way to start the day.

Closely related to WHEN is HOW OFTEN I blog. Over time, I’ve steadily built up the pace of my blogging from once or twice each week to once each weekday. Since I don’t blog from the office, posting multiple times during the day really isn’t practical. To be honest, publishing even once each weekday is pretty demanding and I don’t know if it is truly sustainable over the long term. Time will tell.

WHAT I blog about is really the hardest question to answer. I started out with a fairly clear focus: dealing with the non-technology elements of knowledge management that often end up being overlooked, even though they are so critical to KM success. What I soon discovered is that this focus encompasses a fairly wide territory. Deciding which section of that territory to explore on any given day is largely dictated by chance: What did I read or hear that sparked my curiosity? What have I been thinking about that could benefit from the rigor of writing? What issue has been troubling me and won’t give me peace until I’ve wrestled with it in writing? What question would I like to put into the blogosphere in order to have the benefit of the many thoughtful points of view provided by my favorite bloggers?

While I draw on my own experience and the experience of friends and colleagues, I tend not to blog about the personal. And, despite the considerable temptations provided by the US election cycle, I’ve refrained from discussing politics and religion. Money and gender do come up from time to time, but I’m only human.

And, while I’m doing this, I try to stay true to myself. A dear family friend recently told me that my blog posts sounded so much like me that reading my blog was like having a conversation with me. I was pleased to hear this since it has always seemed to me that authenticity of tone is critical in the blogosphere where so many of our relationships are virtual.

Enough about me. Who is next?

Early in October, I had the great pleasure of serving on a terrific panel on the topic of Blogging as Knowledge Management. Doug Cornelius convened the group and the other panelists were Bill Ives and Jack Vinson. Jack has already participated in this meme, so I’d like to draw in Doug and Bill and ask them to answer the question. In addition, I’d like to tag some bloggers I haven’t yet been fortunate enough to meet in person, but whose posts I always read. They never fail to be thoughtful and thought-provoking. So, here are the bloggers to whom I’d like to issue an invitation to participate:

Doug Cornelius (KM Space)
Jordan Furlong (Law21)
Mark Gould (Enlightened Tradition)
Bill Ives (Portals and KM)
Patrick Lambe (Green Chameleon)

Thanks, Samuel, for providing today’s blog post topic. All I’ve been able to do is offer a provisional answer. I expect it’s something I’ll come back to and answer differently from time to time.

Looking at the month of August, they considered frequency of posting, number of comments, Google page rank and Alexa rankings. (There may be other criteria as well, but we’ll have to wait for Pumacy Technologies to explain further.) In any event, they’ve provided a list of over 50 KM blogs, sorted by blog activity.

Since I’m always interested in finding new KM blogs to add to my personal reading mix, I decided to click through to take a look at the blogs Pumacy Technologies identified. For regular KM blog consumers, most of the names on the blog list will not be surprising. Some of the best and most active commentators in this discipline are on that list. For example, Jack’s blog shows up as #11. What surprised me was that Above and Beyond KM was on the list as well as #15!

A closer look revealed that some good KM blogs were not on the list. While we don’t have a complete explanation of the study criteria from Pumacy Technologies, a quick review of the list indicates that they seemed to be tracking blogs that cover knowledge management generally as opposed to highly specialized knowledge management blogs.

In any event, do take a look at the list. You’ll find some well-known, well-established KM bloggers there. However, you’re also bound to discover a few new KM bloggers who have interesting things to say. So explore the list, read the blogs and join the conversation.

Above and Beyond KM began on January 21, 2008. Thanks to Pumacy for giving me this great way to celebrate 8 months of blogging.