on PLC for organisational KM and knowledge creation perspective

Individuals come, individuals leave (retire, switch career, 躺平, whatever). How does an organisation ‘retains’ as much tacit institutional knowledge as possible? Documentations, guides, playbooks are some ways, but these have their limitations. Why? Becos meanings are not hard cold words, graphics, and videos, print, online, or otherwise. Humans are social beings, and meanings are socially negotiated in respective social contexts.

Communities (or societies?) are where knowledge ‘resides’, some pple would say. By forming professional learning communities (PLC; or otherwise commonly known as CoP, although the term ‘CoP’ includes various conceptions due to different interpretations of what “communities” meant), organisations create an additional avenue for retaining tacit institutional knowledge. But the value goes beyond knowledge retention (if knowledge can be ‘retained’; also note that documents, guides, playbooks stop here). Members of a PLC, through regular interactions, create new knowledge. Thus, the body of organisational knowledge continually grows and renews.

People in PLC don’t necessarily work together every day, but they are bounded by their respective activity systems at work, which may not be conducive for knowledge creation. In the PLC activity system, rules that encourage learning and creating knowledge together can be negotiated and practised by the community.

references: Engeström (1987);Wenger, McDermott, & Synder (2002)

on epistemology and etymology

saw the following quote in petraeus’s post:

“When confronted with two things that have an appearance of accuracy, most people will choose the one that is more appealing to them.”

and it totally resonated with an observation made 2 days ago. this story began with a casual flip of a ForwardSG booklet that was distributed free with the printed Zaobao. and the casual flip turned up an observation (looks like the casual mode did not disengage the analytical mind):

(click here for image (pwd))

there was a problematic expression. it should have been “取诸社会,用诸社会” (meaning: giving back to society what’s obtained from society).
but “诸” is a word from old Chinese and it’s seldom used and considered more difficult in contemporary Chinese today. however, the second of “诸”‘s multiple meanings in old Chinese can be represented by two simple words of today: “之于”。in other words, 诸 = 之于 (could be interpreted as: from). hence, if “诸” is difficult and not used, a more understandable and accurate expression would be “取之于社会,用之于社会”。but it is lengthy.

so why is “取之社会,用之社会” problematic from an etymology’s perspective? noticed the omission of 于 from the original 之于? none of the 12 meanings of “之” can make sense in this expression. pls let me know if you can interpret otherwise.

what if it were “取于社会,用于社会”? the 3rd meaning of “于” actually makes total sense and can be used to replace “诸” while still retaining its original meaning.

in short, “取之社会,用之社会” is totally meaningless etymologically. but, a quick google actually revealed that pple used and published “in “wrongly” . why? well, not everybody is etymologically-aware; how many of these writers are familiar if not linguists in old Chinese? and in our busy-ness, anything that ‘sounds’ correct goes? afterall, if something sounds ‘weird’, just repeat it 10 times verbally, and it’ll sound “just fine” — a ‘trick’ taught to me by my linguistic professor some 25 yrs ago.

and does something that appear in publications makes it (more) right? this is an epistemic question that was posed to me by my supervisor when i was doing lit review for my doctoral thesis.

to be fair, google also revealed pple pointing out what’s right, for example, here and here. but as per petraeus’s quote at the beginning of this post, pple may decide what’s ‘right’ and/or ‘ok’ to them cos it’s more appealing, for one reason or another.

in summary, “取之社会,用之社会” is problematic etymologically cos “之“ doesnt make any meaning-sense. “取于社会,用于社会” is an acceptable and meaning-accurate if “取诸社会,用诸社会” is archaic and more difficult, or if “取之于社会,用之于社会” is too lengthy an expression.

if you are a (Chinese) language teacher reading this, would you correct the “错误” in your student’s writing?

C-C-C-C

inspired by and adapted from PPAP; sing to the tune:

🎶i have a coffee, i have a clementine
uh! coffee-clementine!

i have a coffee, i have a comp
uh! comp-coffee!

clementine-coffee, comp-coffee
uh! coffee-comp-clementine-coffee 🎶

a reflection on “芸芸众生,日日忙忙碌碌何为?”

there’s only one certainty in life since birth — death.
but the time in-between birth to death is unknown to the individual (while some pple may argue that some higher beings/deities know/control/pre-determined it).
what would then one need to do to pass the time in-between?
ironically, the first thing is to find sustenance, to sustain the ever-dying shell; regardless if you are humans or prokaryotes, you do the same. in the grown up world context, it would mean “earning a living”, for most is to find a job(s) to earn an income to find sustenance and obtain things, to prevent the shell from dying too fast.
when one is able to find sustenance, and there’s still energy and time and not yet time to rest/sleep to regain energy for finding sustenance, pple begin to choose things to do (e.g., entertainment, interests, hobbies).

and life goes on like that, day in day out, excluding ‘sudden death’ events, the shell slowly crawls towards the certainty.

so back to the question, 芸芸众生,日日忙忙碌碌何为?the answer is perhaps 为了不死,或知道会死但不要想太多?
so what’s death? would death means ‘nothing’ at t+1? i wouldnt know for sure, but perhaps ‘nothing’ is the conception for those who seek early ‘termination’ on the journey to certainty?

different religions (generally defined as a set of beliefs, practices, and moral codes that relate to the nature of the universe and the place of individuals within it) would have shed different lights on the question of “芸芸众生,日日忙忙碌碌何为?”. from a buddhist perspective, one is trapped in the worldly cycle of death and rebirth (aka samsara). and one truth in this trap is suffering (dukkha), which can refer to “direct suffering, being liable to suffering, a bodily painful feeling, or unsatisfactoriness, deficiency, insufficiency.” not sure if there’s another religion where suffering is absent, not there at all?

how to attain the end of suffering, the end of the cycle, and thus the 芸芸众生,日日忙忙碌碌? it would be to work towards enlightenment through eliminating ignorance and craving. the method is to follow the eightfold path (八正道): right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

so if you are a 芸芸众生 like me reading this in the midst of 日日忙忙碌碌, perhaps you can find a way in your (religious) beliefs to explain the purpose of your 日日忙忙碌碌 and if there’s a way to seek an end to it, of cos unless you love work so much and also there’s no ‘suffering’ in life. for me, the eightfold path (八正道) would be a good start, if not a reminder (:

references:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/The-Four-Noble-Truths
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zg7297h/revision/3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zyhmk2p/revision/1

roles and responsibilities of a teacher, unofficially defined.

received a notification that fb is removing its Notes pages permanently (after ‘hiding’ it for some years. here’s a post that’s created >10yrs ago, but will probably still allow some teachers today (or of yesterday?) a smile or LOL? and here you go:

a teacher is a/an:

1. instructor (delivers lessons),

2. designer (designs lesson)

3. nanny (nagging students to do their homework, study for their test/exam)

4. gatekeeper (catching students who misbehave)

5. marker (never ending marking)

6. a god-parent (for students whose parent(s) is either too busy taking care of living/him/herself; single-parent)

7. planner (plan and execute school & learning events)

8. meeting-er (conduct/attend any sort of big/small meetings)

9. administrator (handle all admin-related work),

10. input clerk (keying in of results, remarks for students’ reports)

11. role-model (moral values, lifelong learner)

12. futurist (preparing your students for 15-30 yrs down the road)

13. politician (fend off office politics for those teachers who hadn’t had enough to do, or not doing what they’re supposed to do, or simply should have joined politics instead of teaching),

14. assessor (of learning, for learning)

15. professional (require certain professional skills, while some may argue that we deal with learning too many other skills unrelated to teaching, making us a 16. generalist)

17. scientist (cos teaching is a science)

18. artist (cos teaching is an art)

19. facilitator (for all students’ activities & discourse during learning)

20. counsellor (for small and big issues)

21. judge/referee (when students disagree or quarrel or fight)

22. fireman (on standby to put out any fire that may happen in school or with your students, and sometimes their parents)

23. actor/entertainer/magician (every lesson is a show that needs preparation)

24. optimist (see the strengths and possibilities in the student, no matter how weak or how ill-discplined)

25. liar (at times while composing progress reports, school graduation certificates & testimonials and during meet-the-parents sessions)

26. interior designer (decorate classroom and CCA room with students)

27. technician (solves ICT-related issues for colleagues, hardware issues in the classrooms and computer labs)

28. lifeskills coach (teaches students about their personalities & learning styles, how to conduct research, how to stay cyber-safe, how to budget, etc)

29. financial manager (HOD manages department’s budget; form teacher unoffcially oversees class fund cos officially we cannot collect class fund)

30. loanshark (always bugging them to ‘pay’ their homework, and all kinds of money collection)

31. personal assistant (to any of your heads; AND to your students too, by following the deadlines/dates for handing up homework, tests/exams so closely than anyone of them. and you begin to wonder who’s the one studying) 

32. cleaner (clean classroom, esp lower pri teachers, and CCA room with students, pri & sec)

33. FORMs teacher (going in to class to collect forms day in day out)

34. octopus (cos although we appear to have 8 hands full of things and doing all sorts of things but the 8 hands are never enough for the roles and responsibilites listed herein)

35. purchaser (make purchases for school, class, events and whatever stuff you name it; and before that you need to seek budget approval, then hunt for quotes, prepare specs docs, put up ITQ, evaluate and submit for final approvals, plus whatever other paperwork)

36. auditor (Making sure nothing you signed for go missing – constant checks need to be carried out)

37. quality assessor (Administer ITQ and when numerous proposals are made for product purchases – you need to assess the quality and sign for them. Anything goes wrong…good luck :p )

38. the Almighty-Who-Knows-All (You must always be correct and know all the answers – at least from the perspective of the students and parents)

39. motivation speaker (Always coaxing and motivating students to do better…and also motivating PARENTS not to give up, just like a 40. social worker or 41. family counsellor! )

42. delegate (when you are requested to attend official dinners at/organised by CC, CCC, RC, Istana and mingle …)

43. artistic director (when there are school/national plays to be created and directed, SYF, etc…you the (wo)man!)

44. professional photographer (no budget to employ a professional one…you can do it for FREE…during prize giving days, meet the parents sessions, camps, any school events that is. sometimes you may need to carry TWO equipment and double up as a 45. videoman)

46. sports coach (again, you should be fluent in soccer, basketball, hockey, floorball, …, etc)

47. (eco-)gardener (for the school science garden … plant flowers, taking care of plants, add fertiliser … and feed & rear fishes like an 48. aquarium expert if a pond is part of the package)

49. medic (for small cuts big wounds and any other injuries that do not require immediate referral to a doctor/hospital; conduct temperature-taking drills)

50. talent scout (to hunt down talented students to represent the school in various competitions)

51. event manager (recommended talent for mtt-wannabe, as cited in ST & CNA reports on 17/4/13)

52. police(wo)man (to patrol the neighbourhood and let your presence be felt by GOOD students)

53. career guidance-r (to discuss with students their future employment opportunities as if any of these will still be around in 10-15 yrs time)

54. emergency planner (to plan SOPs for (un)foreseeable situations and conduct dry-runs with colleagues and students so that they are emergency-ready)

55. detective (to uncover where students hide contrabands as defined by the school rules)

56. multi-linguist (switching between the use of different languages to aid students’ comprehension. languages include but not restricied to singlish, english, chinese, malay, tamil, dialects)

57. insurance agent (to issue insurance policy schedule to students, and assist in claims during unfortunate circumstances **touch wood**)

58. travel agent-cum-tour guide (to plan, organise, and eventually lead students on local & overseas trips)

59. PR manager (to manage relations with partners in education, including community partners, and overseas partners)

acknowledgement of contributors:

24 to 28 – Chun Kiat

29 & 31 (heads part)- Sharon Goh

30 – Wilkie Tan

31 (students part) – Lily Teo (Shu Hua)

32, 35 – 39, 42 to 44, 46 to 49 – Darren Nonis

34 – Hui Nin (Wei Yan)

50 – Yan Ling

53 & 54 – Szu An (Si An)

23 (additions) – Michelle (Xue Qi) 

55 – Geok Joo (Yu Ru)

56 – Yanli 

57 – Yan Oh (Xiu Yan)

58 – Yin-Chiao

59 – Chin Guan

and Joyce Meitian for reminding us that a slave’s job is more simply defined than ours (:

change log

version 2.2 added no. 59 on 18 Jan, 2018

version 2.1 added no. 57-58 on Mar 6, 2015

version 2.0 added no. 53-56; revised no.23 & 49 on Aug 22, 2013 

version 1.5 added no. 52 on Aug 21, 2013 

version 1.4 added no. 51 on Apr 17, 2013 (MOE promotion ceremony was held the day before)

version 1.3 added no. 50 on Apr 5, 2013

version 1.2 added no. 47-49 on Apr 25, 2012

version 1.1.1 revised no. 31 and fixed some typo errors on Apr 24, 2012 

version 1.1 added no. 35-46 on Apr 13, 2012

version 1.01 added no. 34 on Mar 26, 2012

version 1.0 published Mar 24, 2012; no. 1 – 33

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