What regular reading do you do to "stay on top of" new (improved) developments in CI?

[Craig S. Fleisher]

I'm curious what the members of our group read in order to keep up with developments in the field of CI. I'm speaking more about the "horizontal" (process) aspects of our field as opposed to the vertical (industry-related) ones.

I'll start by noting a half dozen I attempt to regularly read:
1. Journal of CI and Management (CI Foundation)
2. CI Magazine (SCIP)
3. Journal of Information Science
4. Journal of Knowledge Management
5. Marketing Intelligence and Planning
6. Intl. Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning (IJTIP - Inderscience)

How about you? Are there any good journals or serials that regularly help you to further your understanding or knowledge of developments impacting our field? Please share...

[Michael Neugarten]

Craig hi

My list is somewhat eclectic, and I deliberately try and follow journals which are not specifically CI oriented.

JCIM (does anyone know anything about the so-called 'restructuring' that SCIP's CIF has just announced?)
The Economist (there's always something that can impact on my CI work)
Financial Times (likewise, because they take a broad managerial/financial/organizational view)
Information Outlook (the SLA's magazine - with a far wider scope than CI magazine)
and, also Organization, and Organization Studies (the latter being the journal of EGOS - the European Group on Organizational Studies), and Futures (which often deals with issues related to foresight, for example)

regards

Michael

[Craig S. Fleisher]

Hi Michael: I love your list and the eclectic approach you take. I try to read a few of these myself on an occasional basis. Like you, I truly enjoy the Economist and FT. I also subscribe to Harvard Business Review and Business Week for interesting views on business, management and organizational phenomena. As for JCIM, the best person to ask would likely be its one of its co-editors, either Bobby Brody or Sheila Wright. I just saw the last JCIM issue and found several intriguing articles in it. Hopefully we'll hear more about this in San Diego.

[Michael Neugarten]

Craig hi

thanks ...

As for JCIM - my feeling is that there's more there than meets the eye. Why fix something that appears to be working, or take 'time out' before putting something else in place. I suggest you see my earlier email (I cc'd you).

regards

Michael

[Craig S. Fleisher]

Hi Michael: As you might imagine, I am familiar with what is happening, but I am not a party to any of it since my term as a member of the Board of Directors of SCIP or the Board of Trustees of the CI Foundation has come to an end as of the close of 2007. When you say "there is more than meets the eye," I know that you would understand that better than most having read your articles in JCIM and elsewhere which talk about optics. I don't mean to sound "political" or evasive in my reply but I do hope you will keep asking questions until you receive the satisfactory nature of answers you seek. That is one of the key characteristics of good CI (and research) work and I have no doubt that you will demonstrate once again in this matter, as you have consistently displayed in the past. Good wishes, Craig

[Michael Neugarten]

Craig hi

thanks - there's a quote I like, by the Italian philosopher and writer Unamuno, who, as the son of a baker once remarked that his job was not to be the bread, but the yeast ...

not a popular job, but one that sometimes needs to be done.

Professor Nonaka (of Knowledge Management fame) told me once of the career and personal price people paid for subscribing to the acclaimed Toyota method called the Five Why's - i.e. asking a question, and then asking "why?" again - and again ... organizations do not like being asked to explain themselves, even though this is a proven way to uncover tacit assumptions and blindspots.

regards

Michael

[Craig S. Fleisher]

Hi Again Michael: I am in full agreement with Nonaka and your views. I am always encouraging my students to do the same things in my classes and am disappointed when they either a) don't ask the question in the first place or b) too passively accept an unsatisfactory response. This is another reason I find the field of CI to be so fascinating since we are nearly always faced with dealing with ambiguity, dynamism, fluctuation, uncertainty and various forms of "unexplained" variance that we need to understand better than others in order to properly support our organizational decision makers. This domain may be uncomfortable for some individuals entering or practicing in the field, but it is never dull to be sure! Craig