VICKSBURG, Miss.--What combines the best features of Facebook©, You Tube©, Google© search and chat, file sharing, forums, and LinkedIn© capabilities?
Where can team members connect with subject matter experts, tailor Google Maps and Earth visualizations, create custom dashboards, access usage reports, files, products, slides and other collaborative mediums from current, relocated, or retired Corps employees?
How can employees join subject matter communities of practice for discussions, or Q-and-A? Where can you find all of this and more in a secure .mil environment?
Join “Knowledge Hub” and find out!
ERDC-ITL Project Manager Matthew Bailey said KH activities center around communities where members come together to discuss ideas, share information, and work toward a common goal.
“The Corps has a wealth of information in hundreds of web sites, and even more disconnected information in emails and files locked away on employee machines not privy to those who may need it. Currently, when we need to disseminate such information to the masses, we flood mail servers with duplicate and often bulky attachments,” Bailey said.
Bailey noted an even larger amount of undocumented knowledge resides “in the minds of our Corps assets. Retaining such knowledge is crucial to the Corps’ continued success. Among the majority of the Corps workforce, those with 20-plus years of experience, 41percent are eligible for retirement. Thirty-nine percent of the Corps workforce has less than 10 years of experience, and an estimated 12 percent of the Corps left in FY10. We designed the Knowledge Hub to capture this knowledge, so lower employees could learn from what was shared.”
Cloud-based collaboration system
The KH cloud-based collaboration system was built for the entire USACE community of 35,000 employees. It began as a civil works project in ITL where a small group brainstormed innovative ideas to develop a secure “Hub” framework with real-time collaboration and interaction that had never been done before, but everybody needed, Bailey explained.
“Collaborative efforts also involved members from other laboratories to gain different perspectives. The Corps is tasked with solving some of the toughest problems faced by the nation and its Soldiers,” said Bailey. “Some of the brightest minds in the nation are among our ranks. The more we work together, the faster we can make the important decisions. But with any organization this large, connecting to others and collaborating with colleagues who are spread across the nation and world is daunting. Plus, the amount of information required to reach decisions is either too much to deal with or too hard to find.”
“One of the main goals [of KH] was to facilitate knowledge management and technology transfer. The Corps is used to working locally in localized groups, so we developed KH to reach out among the districts and divisions, to connect people with a need for knowledge to other people or focus groups.”
People and community focus
“The Hub is organized around two components: people and communities. The Hub’s recommendation analytics help find others who share interests or work on similar projects. Many in the Corps are doing specialized work and it is good to know that the Hub is a place where you can network with others who can help you, and you can help them,” Bailey said.
If there is not already a community of interest that suits your needs in the 150 currently in the KH, found by searching or recommendation analytics you can simply create one. Communities can have a membership as large or small as necessary. Their purpose can be for a program, research project, product, or any group that needs to collaborate. Community membership is by acceptance only, but anyone can request membership.
Along with Bailey, the KH team includes ITL’s Dr. Cary Butler, Dr. Robert Wallace, developers Joe Maclean, and Jared Brock, and facilitators Marty Kittrell and Jessica Johnson.
After registration, Bailey said members are required to list a job title and a brief job description.
“The reason we ask for this is because we run nightly recommendation analytics that take each of the current 900 members’ profiles, and match it with people who share the same interests or expertise, and communities with which your experience matches. So, not only can you search for expertise throughout the Corps, but we are also working for our members in the background to recommend associations,” Bailey said.
“Security features, among many others, include CAC or username/password authentication, CAC-only authentication (as user preference), and SSL encryption,” said Bailey.
Easy registration process
Available to all Corps employees and other U.S. military networks by request, Knowledge Hub (KH) is accessible through an easy three-step registration process at https://knowledge.usace.army.mil. First time visitors should select the “Register” button at the bottom of the login page; they will then be guided through the registration process to experience the Corps’ KH opportunities.
Contact
Public Affairs Office
601-634-3188