Frequently Asked Questions in Libraries - Role of Knowledge Managers

Reading now: Unshelved Volume 6: Frequently Asked Questions by Bill Barnes

On the same shelf:

• Frequently Asked Questions - Ohio State University Libraries 

Extract:"The Ohio State University Knowledge Bank proposes to create a knowledge management system for the university that will encourage and support the creation, organization, storage, dissemination and preservation of the institution’s digital information assets. It is intended to be both a “repository” that captures the intellectual output of the university produced in a digital format, as well as a “referatory” providing links to digital objects."

Facebook Q&A Update: Sorry, we're not ready for you just yet

News maker @ FB Blog: Searching for Answers? Ask Facebook Questions

by Blake Ross on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 4:09pm
Millions of people ask their friends questions on Facebook every day. What new music should I listen to? Where's the best sushi place in town? How do I learn to play the piano?

Today we're introducing Facebook Questions, a beta product that lets you pose questions like these to the Facebook community. With this new application, you can get a broader set of answers and learn valuable information from people knowledgeable on a range of topics.

Since we like to develop products carefully over time with your help, Facebook Questions is available to a limited number of people right now, and we'll be developing it rapidly based on their feedback. We're aiming to bring this product to all of you as quickly as we can.

But, Beta is only in news

"We can't wait to show you what Facebook Questions has to offer but unfortunately we're not ready for you just yet. Look for Questions on your homepage in the near future.
In the meantime, click the image on the right to see what a question page will look like." Facebook.

info courtesy:

News: How Facebook Handles Questions Could Play Key Role in Future Search Habits, http://www.WebProNews.com

image from Sociolatte: Facebook Questions

Whaddya Call It? All-a-do-about terminology management

"While using multiple terms to describe one thing is common, doing so can lead to product confusion and even compliance issues in the business world. Why you should be worried about terminology management."
By Donald DePalma

"...That’s not to say that big companies don’t worry about terminology. IBM has long employed a terminologist who works with a variety of teams for consistent product representation. The terminologist on staff at medical device manufacturer Medtronic gets involved at the earliest stages of a project, working with the development team to formalize the words used to describe the product they will build. And faced with a proliferation of terms due to mergers and acquisitions, companies like Cisco are actively reviewing their own terminology management futures. Companies such as Oracle, PTC, and Nokia also employ full-time terminologists.

Let’s complicate matters a bit more. Take terminology management one step further, beyond the simple transformations of product documentation in a single market, to a product that is sold in 10 other countries that speak different languages. Those 120 terms that refer to a single product now have the potential of becoming 1,200 terms once translated into those 10 languages. And each one of those translated terms will trickle through the documentation, online help, marketing, advertising, and other collateral information in each of those languages. These downstream uses all lead to the possibility of far more interpretations as creative writers, translators, and transcreators elsewhere in the supply and demand chains for that product.

The bottom line is that formal terminology management benefits companies both within a country and across its global business units. Harvesting, normalizing, and integrating your company and industry terminology into authoring and translation systems will allow you to save money on re-purposed content and translation, improve quality, and increase efficiency. At the same time, more consistent terminology can help you improve safety, compliance, and customer service..."s Read the full article