Nepotism:

Nepotism:

पिछले कई वर्षो, कई दिनों से बार बार एक सवाल सामने आ रहा है..... आखिर ये है क्या?

और क्यों ये हमें इतना विचलित कर रखा है ?

क्या ऐसा पहली बार हुआ है?

क्या इसके पहले सब कुछ ठीक था?

इन सब सवालो ने कहीं न कहीं हम मध्यम वर्ग को ज्यादा प्रभावित किया है.. आखिर ऐसा क्यों?

ऐसा क्यों होता है की हमारे आस पास चल रहे किसी भी अव्यवस्था से हम सहज ही प्रभावित हो जाते हैं.... और इतना प्रभावित की हम खुद को खत्म कर उस चल रहे अव्यवस्था के लिए एक ऊर्जा देते जाते हैं .

हमारा सोचना बिलकुल गलत नहीं है...गलत है की हम किसी से भी कुछ ज्यादा आशन्वित होते हैं और खुद की अपेक्षा बढ़ाये रखते हैं जिसके पूरा न हो पाने का दंड भी खुद को ही देते चले जाते हैं...जो बिलकुल तर्कहीन और गलत है

हमारा सबसे बड़ा दोस्त हमारा आत्मविश्वास होता है, क्यों नहीं हम इसे मजबूत करने का प्रयास करते हैं.... यहाँ सायद मई गलत हो सकता हु लेकिन क्या हमारे पास कोई और भी विकल्प है क्या?

जिस भाई भतीजावाद की बात चल रही है उससे तो ऐसा कोई सेक्टर नहीं जो प्रभावित नहीं... तब क्या हमें अपने लड़ाई, आत्मविश्वास को छोड़ अंतिम यात्रा को निकल चलना चाहिए... बिलकुल नहीं... मैं सहमत नहीं... हमें तो अपना रास्ता खुद बनाना है...काम से काम ये तो होगा की हमने खुद के लिए प्रयास तो किया... आत्मसंतुष्टि तो होगी.

हम बॉलीवुड की ही क्यूँ...किसी और की क्यूँ न बात करे... आज जहां से मैं देखता हूँ वहां से भाई भतीजावाद से प्रभावित अगर कोई है तो वह है हमारी राजनीति, न्यायपालिका, मीडिया, ब्यूरोक्रेसी आदि

और यह ऐसी व्यवस्था बन गई है जिसके साथ ही जीने को हम अभिशप्त हैं, हम जानते हैं की हम न इसके खिलाफ लड़ सकते हैं और न इससे पार पा सकते हैं, तो बेहतर यह होगा की हम इसे एक चैलेंज के रूप में ले और अपने लिए खुद रस्ता बनाये जो हमें हमारी मंजिल तक पहुँचायेगा।

हम माध्यम वर्ग _ जो बहुत ही कर्मशील है _ जिसे ये पता है की वो हर परिस्थिति से लड़कर पार प् सकता है क्यों न अपनी लड़ाई खुद लड़े और ये याद रखे की वो कौन है_कहाँ से आया है_उसे कहाँ जाना है.

शायद यही एक रास्ता है जो हमे अख्तियार करना होगा मंजिल पर पहुंचने के लिए अन्यथा फिर हम किसी अव्यवस्था का शिकार होने के लिए खुद को प्रस्तुत कर रहे होंगे...

कल्पना एक स्वस्थ लोकतंत्र की

राजनीति और सत्ता दोनों की ही परिभाषा बदलती दिख रही है इस लोकतंत्र के महापर्व में!
दुखद तो है इस सारे को सुचारु रूप से चलाये जाने वाले विभाग की कहानी
EC जो पुरे महापर्व को आयोजित करता है वही संवेदनहीनता और संवादहीनता के साथ खुद को भी कही न कही पर्यवेक्षक से इतर एक पार्टी के रूप में स्थापित करने को आतुर है, ये जानते हुए की बाद में उसे सफलता में वही मिलेगा जितना की आज तक से पहले वाले को मिलता आया है.
आज के इस महापर्व में वो सारे मुद्दे गायब हैं जिनकी जरुरत हमारे नौजवान हिंदुस्तानी को है, उन्ही मुद्दों पर बात चल रही है जो की विभाजनकारी हो सकती हो।
सबसे बड़ी बात की हम युवा भी खुद की बात और भविष्य के सारे सम्भावनाओ को दरकिनार कर उसी के पीछे भाग रहे हैं जिसका कोई अंत नहीं और है तो अतयंत ही भयावह और विद्रूप।
मेरा मानना है की कम से कम हम उस मुद्दे पर तो बात कर ही सकते हैं जिसपर हमारा भविष्य और कही न कही वर्तमान टिका हुआ है.
आइये के स्वस्थ और सफल लोकतंत्र की कल्पना करते हैं जिसे हमने बड़ी कुर्बानियो के बाद पाया है.
जय हिन्द 

मै एक Candle हूँ

मै एक Candle हूँ जो हर रोज जल रहा हूँ कभी महिलाओं की सुरक्षा के लिये , कभी छोटे छोटे मासूम बच्चो की सुरक्षा के लिए , कभी भ्रष्टाचार मुक्त समाज के लिये तो कभी परिवर्तन, सामाजिक सुरक्षा और अधिकार के लिए.... पक्ष और कभी विपक्ष दोनों के लिए भी जल रहा हूँ मैं।
मेरे जलने और जलते रहने का गवाह है India Gate और वो तथाकथित भीड़ जो बस खुद को किसी भी समय तैयार रखती है किसी के भी साथ हो लेने के लिए।
मुझे बस इंतज़ार है उस परिवर्तन का जिसके लिए मैं जल रहा हूँ.
क्या मेरा जलना महज एक औपचारिकता मात्र ही तो नहीं रह गया है.... ???
सोचता हूँ की कभी न कभी मेरी जलन कुछ तो परिवर्तन ला पाने में सक्षम होगी बस इसी उम्मीद से जल रहा हूँ मैं !

राजनैतिक असंवेदनशीलता

राजनैतिक संवेदनशीलता बेमानी होती जा रही है और यह एक ऐसा शब्द है जो हमारे राजनीतिज्ञों के शब्द कोष से गायब है..
असम और झारखण्ड की ह्रदय विदारक और दिल दहला देने वाली यह घटना हमारे सभ्य समाज का विद्रूप चेहरा उजागर कर रही है. अब रहा महिला आयोग का प्रश्न तो यह अशंतुष्ट कार्यकर्ता और उनके परिजनों को संतुष्ट करने के लिए बनाया गया और Government द्वारा लिया गया एक प्रगतिशील कदम है जिसका Politically glamorization हो गया है और इसके बारे में कुछ कहने की कोई आवयश्कता नहीं है क्योंकि आप सभी समझ सकते हैं की मै कहना क्या चाहता हूँ.
सबसे बड़ी बात तो यह है की क्या है कोई ऐसा आयोग या कानून जो सुश्री मुखर्जी और असम के पीड़ित को न्याय दिला सके ....यह एक ऐसा यक्ष प्रश्न है जिसके लिए मुझे नहीं लगता है हमारे रहनुमाओ के पास कोई भी उत्तर हो

काश हम समझ पाते...

आज हर जगह एक ही चर्चा हो रही है ...विडम्बना तो यह है की वो हमारे उस नस के विषय में बताने की बातें है जो कही न कही हमारे अश्मिता से जुडी हैं. मै ऐसा नहीं कहता की ये नहीं होनी चाहिए,यह आवश्यक भी है किन्तु बचपन से सुनता आ रहा हूँ की अपनी समाश्या अपने घर में मिल बैठ कर सुलझा लेना हमारी प्राथमिकता होनी चाहिए..ऐसा न हो की सुलगती आग में कही बहार का ऐसा हवा का झोका आये जो हमारी सारे सम्भावनाओ को ही समाप्त कर दे.
सारे समाचार पत्र, पत्रिका, यहाँ तक की न्यूज चैनल भी रक्षा से जूरी तमाम खुलाशे कर रहे हैं .क्या यह तर्क सांगत लगरहा है आपको ...कल रात मै इसी तरह तमाम न्यूज चैनलस को देख रहा था ..सुनने में तो काफी दिलचस्प बातें बताई जा रही थी जो शायद आम आदमी के जानकारी से परे थी पर एक अनदेखा डर भी पीछा करता नजर आया की क्या कोई इसका फायदा तो नहीं उठा सकता है.....हम अक्सर ही अपनी प्राथमिकताओ को भूल कर दुसरे की गलतियों को ऊपर दिखाने की चेष्टा करते रहते हैं...ऐसा क्यों शायद यह बताने की जरुरत नहीं है....
बेशक हमारे यहाँ हर तरफ भ्रष्टाचार का बोल बाला हो गया है किन्तु हमे मिलबैठ कर इसका निदान ढूँढना चाहिए और रही आम आदमी को बताने की बात तो ऐसा प्रबंध होना चाहिय की कुछ खबर केवल और केवल देश के सीमा के भीतर ही प्रसारित हो ...ऐसा हो सकता है की हमारे सुजाव से कुछ खाश वर्ग सहमत न हो लेकिन यह मेरा व्यक्तिगत सोच है .

बापू आज होते तो वो भी सत्याग्रह करने से डरते

लोकपाल , अन्ना साहब और बाबा से पटे परे खबरों से अब जी उब गया है ...कही से यह पता नहीं चलता की मीडिया लोकपाल और कला धन के पक्ष में है या विपक्ष या हो सकता है मै अभी पक्ष या विपक्ष को विश्लेषण करने के स्थिति में न पाऊं और उतनी मेरी पहुच भी न हो.
हो कुछ भी मगर सरकार लोकपाल और काला धन के मुद्दे पर पीछे क्यों हट रही है मेरे समझ से परे है. अगर आप किसी तरह किसी भी प्रकार के भर्ष्टाचार में लिप्त नहीं हैं तो फिर इस तरह के क़ानून से डरने की क्या जरूरत .
मै यह अपने आँखों देखि बात बता रहा हूँ की एक आदमी जिसके पास सुबह का खाना हो तो रात के लिए सोचने की नौबत थी २ बार विधायक होने के बाद आज वह २०० कड़ोर की सम्पति से अधिक का स्वामी है और अराजक भी
तो क्या इनको बचने के लिए सरकार लोकपल के विरोध में है.
चाहे जो भी आम आदमी हमेशा अपने २ समय की रोटी और इज्ज़त के लिए परेशान रहा है और आजकल के कुछ घटनाओ पर जब नजर परता है तो आम जन इससे भी वंचित नजर आते है . तब जेहन में यह बात उभरता है की क्या इनके लिए कोई न्याय प्रणाली नहीं है. आज जरुरत है किसी ऐसे कानून की जो आम आदमी को २ समय का भोजन दिला सके, क्या है कोई ऐसा कानून !!!!
आज जब बाबा केसत्यग्रह के रात की बातें सामने आती है तो डर लगता है की वह कौन सी जरूरत आ पारी थी की रात में ही रामलीला मैदान खली करना जरुरी हो गया था हमारे दिल्ली प्रशाशन के लिये, बाबा को तो प्रशाशन हरिद्वार पंहुचा दी लेकिन जरा उस महिला को देखिये जो आज तक अपने मौत से लड़ रही है क्या है कोई कानून जो उसे वापस उस स्थिति में ला दे.
गौर करने वाली बात यह है की बापू के जिस सत्याग्रह से हमें आजादी मिली हमारी सरकार ही उस तरह के सत्याग्रह के दमन करने जैसा कुकृत्य किया है ...क्या इन्हें शर्म भी नहीं आया ऐसा करने में ????
चाहे जो भी हो मै मानता हूँ की कला धन वापस आये या न आये मगर हम आम जनता के पास जो मौलिक अधिकार है उसका कम से कम हनन न हो .....

उदयपुर में लगेगा युवाओं का मेला

उदयपुर आगामी 12 से 16 जनवरी तक उत्सवमय रहेगा. देश भर से युवा आके यहां युवा उत्सव में जुटेंगे. यह युवा उत्सव स्वामी विवेकानन्द के स्मृति में आयोजित किया जाता है. इसके माध्यम से युवाओं में विवेकानन्द के जीवन और विचारों के साथ साथ राष्ट्रीय एकता और सांप्रदायिक समन्वय की भावना का प्रसार किया जाता है. गौरतलब है कि विवेकानन्द भारत के एक युवा चिंतक थे और उनका मानना था कि युवाओं का जागरुक रहना देश कि लिये बहुत ही आवश्यक है.

उत्सव का उद्घाटन 12 जनवरी को एम.बी. स्टेडियम में उपराष्ट्रपति हामिद अंसारी के हाथों होगा. मुख्यमंत्री अशोक गहलोत, केन्द्रीय मंत्री एम.एस.गिल., वरिष्ठ नेता शिवराज पाटील मुख्य अतिथि रहेंगे. कार्यक्रम का उद्घाटन आतिशबाजी और लेज़र शो के साथ किया जायेगा. इसके बाद सांस्कृतिक कार्यक्रम होगा जो आगामी १६ तक चलेगा. सांस्कृतिक कार्यक्रम में देश भर से आये युवा कलाकार शिरकत करेंगे और अपनी कला का जौहर दिखायेंगे. इन कार्यक्रमों में शास्त्रीय नृत्य, शास्त्रीय गायन, नाटक, के साथ लोक कलाओं का भी प्रदर्शन होगा. इसके अतिरिक्त पेंटिंग, फ़ोटोग्राफी और शिल्प की प्रतिस्पर्धा आयोजित की जायेगी. कार्यक्रम की समाप्ति की घोषणा खेल व युवा मंत्री एम.एस. गिल करेंगे.

युवाउत्सव का आयोजन केन्द्रीय युवा मंत्रालय के युवा विभाग द्वारा किया जाता है. इस सोलहवें आयोजन में राजस्थान सरकारा का युवा मंत्रालय इस का मेजबान बना है. माननीय मुख्यमंत्री इस आयोजन के मुख्य संरक्षक हैं. इस युवा उत्सव की राष्ट्रीय सेवा योजना और नेहरु युवा केन्द्र के साथ सहभागीता हैं.

उदयपुर इस आयोजन के लिये तैयार हो गया है. विभिन्न आयोजन केन्द्र तैयार हो गये हैं. इस आयोजन के लोगों को विविध रंगों से बनाया गया है जिसमें अंग्रेजि के N,Y,F अक्षर दिखते हैं. टिंगर इसका शुभंकर है और इस उत्सव का नारा है ‘सबसे पहले भारत’.

What is an IPO?

Initial public offering (IPO) is an offering of stock or shares to the general public by a company which wants to raise capital for the first time. Following an IPO, the company gets listed and its shares are traded on stock exchanges.

Sometimes, the owner of a company, who holds most of the shares in a company, sells his/her holdings in the market to raise money for himself /herself through offer for sale of shares. Such offer for sale of shares is also known as IPO if this is happening for the first time and will lead to listing of the company on stock exchanges.

Many a time, the government might be offering IPOs under its disinvestment policy . In a disinvestment, government sells a part or the entire holding in a public sector company through offer for sale of shares to public.

The money paid by investors for an IPO goes directly to the company. However, in the offer for sale of shares in the course of disinvestment, the money goes to the government.

Once the permission to trade these shares are granted to shareholders, the profit or loss incurred on the transactions accrues to the shareholders. The future profits made by a company are also distributed among shareholders as dividend.

जीने की राह

कहने को तो बहुत कुछ है लेकिन शब्द और समय दोनों का नितांत ही अभाव रहता है.आज तक यह समझ में नहीं आया कि कर्म और भाग्य में कौन अधिक महत्वपूर्ण है और किसकी ज्यादा अहमियत है. दिल आज भी कर्म को प्राथमिकता देता है और रोज रोज की घटनायें भाग्य के विषय में सोचने को मजबूर कर देती हैं.अभी तक मैंने कर्म ही किया और किसी सहारे की कभी जरुरत नहीं महसुस हुई लेकिन जब पीछे लौट कर देखता हूँ तो सोचता हूँ कि काश.....
हमेशा उन दोस्तों से घिरा रहा जो कभी भला नहीं सोचते थे वैसे मैं शुरु से दोस्ती में कोई विश्वास नहीं रखता था लेकिन समाजिक प्राणी होना भी एक चाहत थी. उनलोगों का सदा अपने लिए बुरा सोचना एक एहसास दे गया कि शायद यही समाज है जहां हमेशा लोगो को पीछे खींचने और नीचा दिखाने को ही प्राथमिकता दी जाती है और यह धरना शायद अब तक बनी हुई है.
आज मैं इन सब से पीछ छुड़ा कर मीडिया में कार्यरत हूँ तो दिखता है कि भाग्य की प्राथमिकता यहाँ भी जस की तस बनी हुई है. चाहे आप कितने बडे तीस मार खान ही क्यों न हो अगर गाडफ़ादर रूपी भाग्य आपके साथ नहीं तो कुछ होना उतना ही मुश्किल है जितना की पत्थर पर घास उगाना वैसे असम्भव सा कुछ नहीं है, लेकिन यहाँ का शार्ट-कट तरीका कभी कभी अपने आप को भी उसी रूप में ढलने को बेबस करने को उतारू करती रहती है जैसा की आज कल होता है सुनता हूँ और देखने में भी कभी कभी आ ही जाता है.
ऐसे ऐसे लोग यहाँ ऊंची जगह पर बैठे हैं जिन्हें करना क्या है शायद यह मालूम नहीं और कार्यप्रणाली वही जस की तस कुछ नया नहीं...अगर किसी ने प्रयास किया भी तो उसे इतनी स्वतंत्रता नहीं मिलती जितनी की जरुरत होती है.
सब कुछ साथ नहीं होता इतना शायद मुझे मालूम है किन्तु इतना सुना था की मेहनत का फल मिलता जरुर है किन्तु इतनी प्रतीक्षा...शायद संभव नहीं
मैं अपनी ही बात नहीं कह रहा हूँ मैं शायद अपने सबसे करीब उनकी भी बात कहना चाहता हूँ
जब मैं इस मीडिया मार्केटिंग के फिल्ड में आया, वैसे तो मुझे अपने डोमेन की पूर्ण जानकारी तो नहीं लेकिन इसको जानने की इच्क्षा शक्ति रखने वाला विद्यार्थी हुआ करता था और उनका सदा सहयोग और परामर्श मिलता रहा और आज जिस जगह पर खडा हूँ वहां से उनके सहयोग के लिए थैन्क्स कहना काफी नहीं होगा.
उनसे सदा यही नसीहत मिली की यह एक अथाह सागर है और तुम को काफी कुछ जानना है-किन्तु आज यह सोचने पर मजबूर हो जाता हूँ की इस सागर को लांघने वाले उस शक्स का भी दायरा सीमित ही लगता है.
और यह हकीकत सामने आ जाता है की जानकारी के साथ उसका आडम्बर भी नितांत ही आवश्यक होता है.
शायद यही आडम्बर यहाँ भाग्य के रूप में सामने आता होगा…अभी भी मैं पूरी तरह सहमत नहीं हूँ किन्तु सहमति से कुछ नजदीक जरुर हूँ.
कभी कभी जी कहता है कि इन सब से अपने को अलग कर लुं किन्तु सामाजिक प्राणी होने का कर्तव्य भी तो निभाना है. समझ में नहीं आता की वो कौन सी सीढी है जो मेहनत से मिलती है और जो मेहनत को ही प्राथमिकता देती है.
रोज रोज ऐसे ऐसे लोगो से मुलाकात होती है जो करना क्या चाहते हैं इसकी जानकारी तक उनको नहीं होती है और कुछ ऐसे भी मिलते हैं जिनसे बहुत कुछ सिखने को मिलता है लेकिन ऐसे लोगो की संख्या हमेशा कम होती है.
ये अक्सर सुनने को मिलता है की बहुत अच्छे जा रहे हो किन्तु ऐसी बातें अवसर मिलने के लिए काफी नहीं होती है शायद यही सच्चाई होती होगी, ये मालूम नहीं...और यहीं से भाग्य के विषय में सोचने को मजबूर करती हैं कभी कभी लगता है की भाग्य ही सब कुछ है और कभी कभी लगता है कि नहीं कर्म का फल मिलता होगा, लेकिन कब, पता नहीं .
ऐसा नहीं की ये बातें किसी हताशा का हिस्सा है हकीकत यह है की यह एक बहुत दिनों से दबी हुई सच्चाई है जिनको मैं आज शब्दों का रूप दे रहा हूँ. आज जहां मैं हूँ वहां से कई मील आगे होता अगर भाग्य ने मेरा साथ दिया होता और ऐसा बहुतो के साथ भी हुआ होगा ऐसा निश्चित है. दिल हमेशा आज भी कर्म को ही प्राथमिकता देता है और मैं भी इसी का साथ देने का सोच रखा है देखना यह है की आखिर जीतता कौन है?
कुछ दिन पहले की बात है की मुझे कही से एक अच्छा ऑफर मिला और यह मेरे लिए अच्छा हो सकता था लेकिन यहाँ मेरे कर्म पर मेरा भाग्य भारी पडा और सब होते हुए वह नहीं पहुँच सका जहां मुझे पहुचना चाहिए था.
आखिर इतनी बातें हैं और समय कम इसलिए आगे की बात अगले पोस्ट में करूँगा....
किसी भी तरह यह मेरा व्यक्तिगत विचार है और यह किसी को प्रेरित करने का कोई तरीका नहीं अतः आप सब अपने भाग्य की प्रबलता पर केन्द्रित हो सकते हैं किन्तु एक बडी आबादी हमारे साथ है जिसमे अदम्य उत्साह और कार्यशक्ति निहित होते हुए भी अवसर की तलाश है.
उन सबो से यह उम्मीद की आप आगे भी अपने कर्म को ही प्राथमिकता दे...
अवनीश .

Ministers and their Ministries.....

मंत्रियों को मिले विभागों का विवरण इस प्रकार है-
1. नीतीश कुमार- गृह, निगरानी, निर्वाचन, सामान्य प्रशासन, मंत्रिमंडल सचिवालय व ऐसे सभी विभाग जो किसी को आवंटित नहीं
2. सुशील कुमार मोदी- वित्ता,वाणिज्यकर, पर्यावरण एवं वन
3. विजय कुमार चौधरी- जल संसाधन
4. विजेंद्र प्रसाद यादव- ऊर्जा, उत्पाद एवं मद्य निषेध, निबंधन व संसदीय कार्य
5. नंदकिशोर यादव- पथ निर्माण
6. नरेंद्र सिंह- कृषि
7. वृषिण पटेल- परिवहन व सूचना एवं जनसंपर्क
8. रमई राम- राजस्व एवं भूमि सुधार
9.चंद्रमोहन राय- लोक स्वास्थ्य अभियंत्रण
10. अश्विनी कुमार चौबे- स्वास्थ्य
11. हरि साह- पंचायती राज, पिछड़ा वर्ग एवं अति पिछड़ा वर्ग कल्याण
12. भीम सिंह-ग्रामीण कार्य
13. रेणु कुमारी- उद्योग एवं आपदा प्रबंधन
14. जीतन राम मांझी- अनुसूचित जाति एवं जनजाति कल्याण
15. दामोदर राउत- भवन निर्माण
16. डा. प्रेम कुमार- नगर विकास एवं आवास
17. नरेंद्र नारायण यादव- विधि-योजना एवं विकास
18. प्रशांत कुमार शाही- मानव संसाधन विकास
19. शाहिद अली खान- अल्पसंख्यक कल्याण एवं सूचना प्रौद्योगिकी
20.श्याम रजक- खाद्य एवं उपभोक्ता संरक्षण
21. परवीन अमानुल्लाह-समाज कल्याण
22. नीतीश मिश्रा- ग्रामीण विकास
23. अवधेश प्रसाद कुशवाहा- गन्ना व लघु जल संसाधन
24. गौतम सिंह- विज्ञान एवं प्रौद्योगिकी
25. जनार्दन सिंह सिग्रीवाल- श्रम संसाधन
26. गिरिराज सिंह- पशु एवं मत्स्य संसाधन
27.सत्यदेव नारायण आर्य- खान एवं भूतत्व
28. रामाधार सिंह- सहकारिता
29. प्रो. सुखदा पांडेय- कला संस्कृति एवं युवा
30. सुनील कुमार उर्फ पिंटू-पर्यटन

Batteries that could store sun's heat instead of electricity

MIT researchers have discovered how a molecule works to store and release heat on demand - a find that could form the basis of a rechargeable battery to store heat rather than electricity.

The molecule called fulvalene diruthenium into a higher-energy state after absorbing sunlight, and can remain stable indefinitely. Then, triggered by a small addition of heat or a catalyst, it snaps back to its original shape, releasing heat in the process.

However, in an intermediate step, the molecule forms a semi-stable configuration partway between the two previously known states.

The two-step process helps explain why the molecule is so stable, why the process is easily reversible and also why substituting other elements for ruthenium has not worked so far.

Jeffrey Grossman said that in effect, this process makes it possible to produce a "rechargeable heat battery" that can repeatedly store and release heat gathered from sunlight or other sources.

In principle, Grossman said, a fuel made from fulvalene diruthenium, when its stored heat is released, "can get as hot as 200 degrees C, plenty hot enough to heat your home, or even to run an engine to produce electricity."

"It's reversible, and it's stable over a long term. You can use it where you want, on demand. You could put the fuel in the sun, charge it up, then use the heat, and place the same fuel back in the sun to recharge."

The problem of ruthenium's rarity and cost still remains as "a dealbreaker," Grossman said, but now that the fundamental mechanism of how the molecule works is understood, it should be easier to find other materials that exhibit the same behaviour.

"It's my firm belief that as we understand what makes this material tick, we'll find that there will be other materials" that will work the same way," Grossman said.

The paper was published on Oct. 20 in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

This is how they are managing their economy........

Despite high unemployment and persistent weakness in the housing market, consumers are cautiously increasing their spending, helping keep the U.S. economic recovery going.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that its “beige book“ survey of economic conditions in the central bank's 12 districts showed that economic activity “continued to rise, albeit at a modest pace.“ The report, based on interviews conducted by the Fed's regional banks between September and early October, was in line with recent data showing that the period of deterioration the economy underwent in the summer has ended.

“The beige book was a further indication that the double-dip anxieties of the third quarter did not come to pass,“ said Robert Barbera, econo- mist at Newtown, Pennsylva- nia-based hedge fund Mount Lucas Management. “But growth remains disappointing.“

The economy's main source of strength over the past year has been manufacturing, which swiftly rebounded as global trade recovered from the recession and businesses around the world rebuilt depleted stockpiles. The manufacturing sector is still grow- ing, but at a slower pace than earlier in the recovery. That leaves any hope of a boost to economic growth largely in the hands of consumers.

The picture painted by the beige book showed consumers spending just a bit more. Retailers told the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston that consumers are focused on “getting a good deal,“ and the Cleveland Fed said that consumers “remain price sensitive and focused on buying necessities.“ Most Wall Street economists now esti- mate that consumer spending increased at an annual rate of around 2.5% in the third quarter, enough to keep the econo- my growing moderately, but not enough to prompt companies to hire enough workers to bring down the unemployment rate.

Indeed, the beige book not- ed that many companies felt the economy was still too weak to add to permanent jobs. The New York Fed said that manufacturers in its district continued to hire, but that New York City financial firms shed workers. The Cleveland Fed said that the pace of hiring had slowed and the San Francisco Fed said that in most sectors businesses “expect that ongoing productivity gains and cost efficiencies will largely offset the need for staffing increases in the near term.“

High unemployment is a main factor holding back consumer spending, while the weakness in spending is an important reason that companies aren't hiring. In an effort to break that cycle, the Fed is expected to restart its bond-buying program when it meets November 2 and 3. By doing so, the Fed also hopes to bolster the economy to head off any possibility of deflation.

The beige book reported that companies were paying higher prices for agricultural commodities like wheat, raw mate- rials like steel, copper and zinc and wholesale goods, but those prices were not passed along to consumers.

जिन्दगी मेरा इन्तज़ार करेगी और मैं……

मैं दो कदम चलता और एक पल को
रुकता मगर………..
इस एक पल जिन्दगी मुझसे चार
कदम आगे बढ जाती ।
मैं फिर दो कदम चलता और एक पल
को रुकता और….
जिन्दगी फिर मुझसे चार कदम
आगे बढ जाती ।
युँ ही जिन्दगी को जीतता देख
मैं मुस्कुराता और….
जिन्दगी मेरी मुस्कुराहट
पर हैंरान होती ।
ये सिलसिला यहीं चलता रहता…..

फिर एक दिन मुझे हंसता देख
एक सितारे ने पुछा……….
” तुम हार कर भी मुस्कुराते
हो ! क्या तुम्हें दुख नहीं
होता हार का ? “
तब मैंनें कहा…………….
मुझे पता हैं एक ऐसी सरहद
आयेगी जहाँ से आगे
जिन्दगी चार कदम तो क्या एक
कदम भी आगे ना बढ पायेगी,
तब जिन्दगी मेरा इन्तज़ार
करेगी और मैं……
तब भी युँ ही चलता रुकता
अपनी रफ्तार से अपनी धुन मैं
वहाँ पहुँगा…….
एक पल रुक कर, जिन्दगी को देख
कर मुस्कुराउगा……….
बीते सफर को एक नज़र देख
अपने कदम फिर बढाँउगा।
ठीक उसी पल मैं जिन्दगी से
जीत जाउगा………
मैं अपनी हार पर भी
मुस्कुराता था और अपनी जीत
पर भी……
मगर जिन्दगी अपनी जीत पर भी
ना मुस्कुरा पाई थी और अपनी
हार पर भी ना रो पायेगी

आखिर ये हो क्या रहा है.....................

मानव सभ्यता के विकाश के साथ ही मनुष्य में एक स्वाभाविक प्रवृति स्नेह ,आकांक्षा ,आकर्षण और अनेक इसी तरह की भावनाओ का भी विकाश हुआ होगा . लेकिन विकास के साथ साथ इसकी प्रकृति में इतना बदलाव आ सकता है मैंने कभी नहीं सोचा था .
किसी शायर ने कहा है कि-
"हम आंह भी भरते है तो हो जाते हैं बदनाम
वो क़त्ल भी करते हैं तो चर्चा नहीं होती."
मेरा मानना है कि आज इसका इश्त्मल लोग आपनी गलतियों को छुपाने के लिए ही किया करते हैं ................
लोगो में एक दुसरे पर कीचड़ उछलने कि जिस प्रवृति का विकाश हो रहा उसका चरम क्या होगा यह मेरे सोच से परे दिख रहा है.
खुद कि गलतियों को छोटा करने के लिए दुसरे कि गलतियों को तोड़ मरोड़ कर पेश करना एक फितरत सी बनते जा रही है .
आज स्नेह का भी स्वरुप बदल सा गया है . शायद इसकी भी मार्केटिंग हो गया है और यह भी मार्केट से पूरा पूरा प्रभावित सा दीखता है.सामान्य सा दिखने वाले माता -पिता अपने बच्चे के लिए आया का प्यार खरीद रहे है तो उनके कुछ बड़े हो जाने पर उनके लिए बोर्डिंग शिक्षा.
सबसे विकृति तो प्यार शब्द के अर्थ में आया है ........................................शायद इसका जिक्र करना यहाँ उचित नहीं होगा .
समर्पण तो दीखता ही नहीं दीखता तो कुछ और ही है ........................................आशा करता हूँ कि आप इसे बेहतर समझ और परिभाषित कर सकते हैं.

आज कि होने वाली तमाम तरह कि गतिविधिया क्या मार्केट से ही प्रभावित है या मार्केट ही उनसे समझना मुस्किल सा हो रहा है.
शायद मैंने आज विषय ही गलत चुन लिया है जिस पर मेरी कोई पकड़ बहुत ढीली है और मई चाहता भी हूँ कि इसपर पकड़ ढीली ही रहे क्योंकि इसे जानने और समझने से कल्याण कि अपेक्षा ही गलत है.

हम किस ओर जा रहे हैं

समाज और सामाजिकता क्या है ये आज तक समझना मुस्किल सा हो रहा है.
जब मै कक्षा नवम में गया तब वह अचानक एक नए बिषय से पला परा और वो था नागरिक शःत्र . यहाँ हमने पाया की मनुष्य एक समाजिक प्राणी है और अब जब की मै मिडिया में कार्यरत हूँ तब यह एह्शाश होता है की पुरे मानव से सामाजिकता का लोप हो गया है.
यहाँ आय दिन होने वाली घटनाओ को देखे तो पता चलेगा की हमारी सामजिकता किस और जा रही है.
सरे पवित्र रिश्ते किस तरह तर तर हो रहे हैं .कही शिक्षक छात्र का अवैध सम्बन्ध दीगर होता है तो कही बाप बेटी को एक हवाश पूर्ति का साधन मात्र समझता है.
संबंधो को अगर छोड़ भी दे तो हैवानियत इस कदर बढती जा रही है की दाहिने हाथ को अपने ही बाये हाथ का भरोषा नहीं रहा.
आज हमारे निर्वाचित उम्मीदवारों के लिए अपनी वेतन की ज्यादा फिकर है अपने निर्वाचन छेत्र की जनता से .
वो जिसके वोट से निर्वाचित होते हैं उन्ही से मिलने के लिए उनको अतिरिक्त राशी चाहिए .
बात अगर यही ख़त्म हो जाती तो मै समझता की चलो सायद उनको अपने जनता की परवाह है लेकिन इसके बाद भी जनता के ये रहनुमा इनके लिए आये बाढ़ और अन्यान्य रहत राशियों का बन्दर बाँट करने से गुरेज नहीं करते है.
मुझे तो लगता हिया की सर्कार द्वारा चलाये जा रहे विभिन्न योजना इनके व्यक्तिगत विकास के लिए ही आता है.
आज के युवा तो एक तरफ राजनीती को गाली देते है लेकिन इसकी गंदगी को दूर करने कोई सामने नहीं आना चाह रहा है .
किन्तु वो भी क्या करे हमारे यहाँ से राजशाही तो समाप्त हो गया लेकिन इसकी जड़े जमींन
में काफी अंदर तक गाड़ी है जिसका समूल नस्ट होता नहीं दिख रहा है.
राजनीती भी वंशवादी परम्परा जैसी दिख रही है.............................................
इन सब बातो को सोचने के बाद मन बेचैन हो उठता है और कोई रास्ता भी नजर नहीं आता.
आखिर ये समझ में नहीं आता की हम किस ओर जा रहे हैं
या तो हम आपनी वजूद को ही भूलते जा रहे हैं नहीं तो सभ्यता की दुहाई देकर पतन के राश्ते में दिनों दी आगे बढ़ते जा रहे हैं.

NASA Rocket to cause explosion on Moon to study Water

New York: History will be created on Friday, as NASA is planning for a rocket crash on Moon's surface to study more about water. The explosion is expected to help NASA to find more details about the availability of water on Moon. The blast will be created near the moon's South Pole.

At 4.30 AM (US Time) on Friday, a spacecraft called LCROSS will send its 2-ton rocket crashing into the crater near Moon to raise a 6-mile-high cloud of rock and dust.

The cloud of debris will be analysed by instruments on LCROSS and it might shed further light on the availability of water on Moon. The telescope and spacecraft across the US will take images of the flash from the blast.

In my opinion it is not just a start,It is a historical start for finding water and its presence on the surface of Moon and also India's Chandrayan-1 helps in taking pictures of this explosion made by rocket crashed on the surface of moon.
So we can hope these all collectively provide us some extra understanding about Moon and it'll open the door to drive our study for another planet.

CT: 'Indian bookies fixed Pak-NZ match'

Pakistan Sports Minister Muhammad Ali Shah on Wednesday claimed that Indian bookies had fixed his country's semifinal match against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy and ensured that Pakistan lost the match.

Shah, who is also a member of the Pakistan cricket board's governing council, told Headlines Today on the phone: "Indian bookies influenced umpires in the Pakistan-New Zealand game. Every crucial decision in the match went against Pakistan."

"There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to back my claim. No Pakistani player was involved in match-fixing during the tournament," he said.

The allegations came a day after Jamshed Ahmed Dasti, Chairman of the National
Assembly Standing Committee on Sports, accused his country's team of throwing matches during the Champions Trophy.

Dasti, however, backtracked on Wednesday, saying: "I never said the Pakistani players indulged in any match-fixing against Australia or New Zealand. I have been misunderstood."

Dasti claimed he had merely wanted to say that some people called him up and expressed concern that Pakistan might have deliberately lost matches to Australia and New Zealand.

- With inputs from agencies

I don,t know what is this????????????????????

Yesterday night i was watching the Program Sur Sangram on Mahua Chanel and i found that the judges are demotivating the contestants and specially those who are belonging from Bihar . Now my question is...............Is it ethical?????????
.........................................Is it healthy competation???????

If yes then it is difficult for me to understand the differences between Motivation and Dimotivation as well as biaseness due to state name???????????

It is well known fact that A person from bihar can do any thing for his pride and prestige so please come fprward and prove yourself that you can be a winner and you can give challange to any one in this Reality show....................................

My well wishes are always with you......

Avanish

Excellent Dravid

Today Rahul Dravid has taken a great catch on position of first sleep and this shows his fitness level. Now no body can criticize Dravid and the selectors on his selection in Indian Cricket team.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge Management—Emerging Perspectives
Yes, knowledge management is the hottest subject of the day. The question is: what is this activity called knowledge management, and why is it so important to each and every one of us? The following writings, articles, and links offer some emerging perspectives in response to these questions. As you read on, you can determine whether it all makes any sense or not.

Content
Developing a Context
A Continuum
An Example
Extending the Concept
Knowledge Management: Bah Humbug!
The Value of Knowledge Management
References



Developing a Context
Like water, this rising tide of data can be viewed as an abundant, vital and necessary resource. With enough preparation, we should be able to tap into that reservoir -- and ride the wave -- by utilizing new ways to channel raw data into meaningful information. That information, in turn, can then become the knowledge that leads to wisdom. Les Alberthal[alb95]

Before attempting to address the question of knowledge management, it's probably appropriate to develop some perspective regarding this stuff called knowledge, which there seems to be such a desire to manage, really is. Consider this observation made by Neil Fleming[fle96] as a basis for thought relating to the following diagram.

A collection of data is not information.
A collection of information is not knowledge.
A collection of knowledge is not wisdom.
A collection of wisdom is not truth.
The idea is that information, knowledge, and wisdom are more than simply collections. Rather, the whole represents more than the sum of its parts and has a synergy of its own.

We begin with data, which is just a meaningless point in space and time, without reference to either space or time. It is like an event out of context, a letter out of context, a word out of context. The key concept here being "out of context." And, since it is out of context, it is without a meaningful relation to anything else. When we encounter a piece of data, if it gets our attention at all, our first action is usually to attempt to find a way to attribute meaning to it. We do this by associating it with other things. If I see the number 5, I can immediately associate it with cardinal numbers and relate it to being greater than 4 and less than 6, whether this was implied by this particular instance or not. If I see a single word, such as "time," there is a tendency to immediately form associations with previous contexts within which I have found "time" to be meaningful. This might be, "being on time," "a stitch in time saves nine," "time never stops," etc. The implication here is that when there is no context, there is little or no meaning. So, we create context but, more often than not, that context is somewhat akin to conjecture, yet it fabricates meaning.

That a collection of data is not information, as Neil indicated, implies that a collection of data for which there is no relation between the pieces of data is not information. The pieces of data may represent information, yet whether or not it is information depends on the understanding of the one perceiving the data. I would also tend to say that it depends on the knowledge of the interpreter, but I'm probably getting ahead of myself, since I haven't defined knowledge. What I will say at this point is that the extent of my understanding of the collection of data is dependent on the associations I am able to discern within the collection. And, the associations I am able to discern are dependent on all the associations I have ever been able to realize in the past. Information is quite simply an understanding of the relationships between pieces of data, or between pieces of data and other information.

While information entails an understanding of the relations between data, it generally does not provide a foundation for why the data is what it is, nor an indication as to how the data is likely to change over time. Information has a tendency to be relatively static in time and linear in nature. Information is a relationship between data and, quite simply, is what it is, with great dependence on context for its meaning and with little implication for the future.

Beyond relation there is pattern[bat88], where pattern is more than simply a relation of relations. Pattern embodies both a consistency and completeness of relations which, to an extent, creates its own context. Pattern also serves as an Archetype[sen90] with both an implied repeatability and predictability.

When a pattern relation exists amidst the data and information, the pattern has the potential to represent knowledge. It only becomes knowledge, however, when one is able to realize and understand the patterns and their implications. The patterns representing knowledge have a tendency to be more self-contextualizing. That is, the pattern tends, to a great extent, to create its own context rather than being context dependent to the same extent that information is. A pattern which represents knowledge also provides, when the pattern is understood, a high level of reliability or predictability as to how the pattern will evolve over time, for patterns are seldom static. Patterns which represent knowledge have a completeness to them that information simply does not contain.

Wisdom arises when one understands the foundational principles responsible for the patterns representing knowledge being what they are. And wisdom, even more so than knowledge, tends to create its own context. I have a preference for referring to these foundational principles as eternal truths, yet I find people have a tendency to be somewhat uncomfortable with this labeling. These foundational principles are universal and completely context independent. Of course, this last statement is sort of a redundant word game, for if the principle was context dependent, then it couldn't be universally true now could it?

So, in summary the following associations can reasonably be made:

Information relates to description, definition, or perspective (what, who, when, where).
Knowledge comprises strategy, practice, method, or approach (how).
Wisdom embodies principle, insight, moral, or archetype (why).
Now that I have categories I can get hold of, maybe I can figure out what can be managed.

An Example
This example uses a bank savings account to show how data, information, knowledge, and wisdom relate to principal, interest rate, and interest.

Data: The numbers 100 or 5%, completely out of context, are just pieces of data. Interest, principal, and interest rate, out of context, are not much more than data as each has multiple meanings which are context dependent.

Information: If I establish a bank savings account as the basis for context, then interest, principal, and interest rate become meaningful in that context with specific interpretations.

Principal is the amount of money, $100, in the savings account.
Interest rate, 5%, is the factor used by the bank to compute interest on the principal.
Knowledge: If I put $100 in my savings account, and the bank pays 5% interest yearly, then at the end of one year the bank will compute the interest of $5 and add it to my principal and I will have $105 in the bank. This pattern represents knowledge, which, when I understand it, allows me to understand how the pattern will evolve over time and the results it will produce. In understanding the pattern, I know, and what I know is knowledge. If I deposit more money in my account, I will earn more interest, while if I withdraw money from my account, I will earn less interest.

Wisdom: Getting wisdom out of this is a bit tricky, and is, in fact, founded in systems principles. The principle is that any action which produces a result which encourages more of the same action produces an emergent characteristic called growth. And, nothing grows forever for sooner or later growth runs into limits.

If one studied all the individual components of this pattern, which represents knowledge, they would never discover the emergent characteristic of growth. Only when the pattern connects, interacts, and evolves over time, does the principle exhibit the characteristic of growth.

Note: If the mechanics of this diagram are unfamiliar, you can find the basis in Systems Thinking Introduction[bel96] .

Now, if this knowledge is valid, why doesn't everyone simply become rich by putting money in a savings account and letting it grow? The answer has to do with the fact that the pattern described above is only a small part of a more elaborate pattern which operates over time. People don't get rich because they either don't put money in a savings account in the first place, or when they do, in time, they find things they need or want more than being rich, so they withdraw money. Withdrawing money depletes the principal and subsequently the interest they earn on that principal. Getting into this any deeper is more of a systems thinking exercise than is appropriate to pursue here.

A Continuum
Note that the sequence data -> information -> knowledge -> wisdom represents an emergent continuum. That is, although data is a discrete entity, the progression to information, to knowledge, and finally to wisdom does not occur in discrete stages of development. One progresses along the continuum as one's understanding develops. Everything is relative, and one can have partial understanding of the relations that represent information, partial understanding of the patterns that represent knowledge, and partial understanding of the principles which are the foundation of wisdom. As the partial understanding stage.

Extending the Concept
We learn by connecting new information to patterns that we already understand. In doing so, we extend the patterns. So, in my effort to make sense of this continuum, I searched for something to connect it to that already made sense. And, I related it to Csikszentmihalyi's interpretation of complexity.

Csikszentmihalyi[csi94] provides a definition of complexity based on the degree to which something is simultaneously differentiated and integrated. His point is that complexity evolves along a corridor and he provides some very interesting examples as to why complexity evolves. The diagram below indicates that what is more highly differentiated and integrated is more complex. While high levels of differentiation without integration promote the complicated, that which is highly integrated, without differentiation, produces mundane. And, it should be rather obvious from personal experience that we tend to avoid the complicated and are uninterested in the mundane. The complexity that exists between these two alternatives is the path we generally find most attractive.

On 4/27/05 Robert Lamb commented that Csikszentmihalyi's labeling could be is bit clearer if "Differentiation" was replaced by "Many Components" and "Integration" was replaced by Highly Interconnected." Robert also commented that "Common Sense" might be another label for "Mundane." If the mundane is something we seem to avoid paying attention to then "Common Sense" might often be a very appropriate label. Thanks Robert.

What I found really interesting was the view that resulted when I dropped this diagram on top of the one at the beginning of this article. It seemed that "Integrated" and "Understanding" immediately correlated to each other. There was also a real awareness that "Context Independence" related to "Differentiated." Overall, the continuum of data to wisdom seemed to correlate exactly to Csikszentmihalyi's model of evolving complexity.

I now end up with a perception that wisdom is sort of simplified complexity.

Knowledge Management: Bah Humbug!
When I first became interested in knowledge as a concept, and then knowledge management, it was because of the connections I made between my system studies and the data, information, knowledge, and wisdom descriptions already stated. Saying that I became interested is a bit of an understatement as I'm generally either not interested or obsessed, and seldom anywhere in between. Then, after a couple months I managed to catch myself, with the help of Mike Davidson[dav96], as to the indirection I was pursuing.

I managed to survive the Formula Fifties, the Sensitive Sixties, the Strategic Seventies, and the Excellent Eighties to exist in the Nanosecond Nineties, and for a time I thought I was headed for the Learning Organizational Oh's of the next decade. The misdirection I was caught up in was a focus on Knowledge Management not as a means, but as an end in itself. Yes, knowledge management is important, and I'll address reasons why shortly. But knowledge management should simply be one of many cooperating means to an end, not the end in itself, unless your job turns out to be corporate knowledge management director or chief knowledge officer. I'm quite sure it will come to this, for in some ways we are predictably consistent.

I associate the cause of my indirection with the many companies I have been associated with in the past. These companies had pursued TQM or reengineering, not in support of what they were trying to accomplish, but as ends in themselves because they simply didn't know what they were really trying to accomplish. And, since they didn't know what they were really trying to accomplish, the misdirection was actually a relief, and pursued with a passion­­it just didn't get them anywhere in particular.

According to Mike Davidson[dav96], and I agree with him, what's really important is:

Mission: What are we trying to accomplish?
Competition: How do we gain a competitive edge?
Performance: How do we deliver the results?
Change: How do we cope with change?
As such, knowledge management, and everything else for that matter, is important only to the extent that it enhances an organization's ability and capacity to deal with, and develop in, these four dimensions.

The Value of Knowledge Management
In an organizational context, data represents facts or values of results, and relations between data and other relations have the capacity to represent information. Patterns of relations of data and information and other patterns have the capacity to represent knowledge. For the representation to be of any utility it must be understood, and when understood the representation is information or knowledge to the one that understands. Yet, what is the real value of information and knowledge, and what does it mean to manage it?

Without associations we have little chance of understanding anything. We understand things based on the associations we are able to discern. If someone says that sales started at $100,000 per quarter and have been rising 20% per quarter for the last four quarters, I am somewhat confident that sales are now about $207,000 per quarter. I am confident because I know what "rising 20% per quarter" means and I can do the math.

Yet, if someone asks what sales are apt to be next quarter, I would have to say, "It depends!" I would have to say this because although I have data and information, I have no knowledge. This is a trap that many fall into, because they don't understand that data doesn't predict trends of data. What predicts trends of data is the activity that is responsible for the data. To be able to estimate the sales for next quarter, I would need information about the competition, market size, extent of market saturation, current backlog, customer satisfaction levels associated with current product delivery, current production capacity, the extent of capacity utilization, and a whole host of other things. When I was able to amass sufficient data and information to form a complete pattern that I understood, I would have knowledge, and would then be somewhat comfortable estimating the sales for next quarter. Anything less would be just fantasy!

In this example what needs to be managed to create value is the data that defines past results, the data and information associated with the organization, it's market, it's customers, and it's competition, and the patterns which relate all these items to enable a reliable level of predictability of the future.What I would refer to as knowledge management would be the capture, retention, and reuse of the foundation for imparting an understanding of how all these pieces fit together and how to convey them meaningfully to some other person.

The value of Knowledge Management relates directly to the effectiveness[bel97a] with which the managed knowledge enables the members of the organization to deal with today's situations and effectively envision and create their future. Without on-demand access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed based on what the individual or group brings to the situation with them. With on-demand access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed with the sum total of everything anyone in the organization has ever learned about a situation of a similar nature. Which approach would you perceive would make a more effective organization?[bel97b]

References
Alberthal, Les. Remarks to the Financial Executives Institute, October 23, 1995, Dallas, TX
Bateson, Gregory. Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity, Bantam, 1988
Bellinger, Gene. Systems Thinking: An Operational Perspective of the Universe
Bellinger, Gene. The Effective Organization
Bellinger, Gene. The Knowledge Centered Organization
Csikszentmihalyi, Miahly. The Evolving-Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium, Harperperennial Library, 1994.
Davidson, Mike. The Transformation of Management, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996.
Fleming, Neil. Coping with a Revolution: Will the Internet Change Learning?, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand
Senge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, Doubleday-Currency, 1990.
Knowledge Management ('KM') comprises a range of practices used by organisations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge for reuse, awareness and learning. It has been an established discipline since 1995 with a body of university courses and both professional and academic journals dedicated to it. Most large companies have resources dedicated to Knowledge Management, often as a part of 'Information Technology' or 'Human Resource Management' departments, and sometimes reporting directly to the head of the organisation. As effectively managing information is a must in any business, Knowledge Management is a multi-billion dollar world wide market.

Knowledge Management programs are typically tied to organisational objectives and are intended to achieve specific outcomes, such as shared intelligence, improved performance, competitive advantage, or higher levels of innovation.

One aspect of Knowledge Management, knowledge transfer, has always existed in one form or another. Examples include on-the-job peer discussions, formal apprenticeship, corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. However, with computers becoming more widespread in the second half of the 20th century, specific adaptations of technology such as knowledge bases, expert systems, and knowledge repositories have been introduced to further simplify the process.

Knowledge Management programs attempt to manage the process of creation (or identification), accumulation and application of knowledge across an organisation. Knowledge Management, therefore, attempts to bring under one set of practices various strands of thought and practice relating to:

intellectual capital and the knowledge worker in the knowledge economy
the idea of the learning organisation
various enabling organisational practices, such as Communities of Practice and corporate Yellow Page directories for accessing key personnel and expertise
various enabling technologies such as knowledge bases and expert systems, help desks, corporate intranets and extranets, Content Management, wikis and Document Management
While Knowledge Management programs are closely related to Organizational Learning initiatives, Knowledge Management may be distinguished from Organisational Learning by a greater focus on specific knowledge assets and the development and cultivation of the channels through which knowledge flows.

The emergence of Knowledge Management has also generated new roles and responsibilities in organisations, an early example of which was the Chief Knowledge Officer. In recent years, Personal knowledge management (PKM) practice has arisen in which individuals apply KM practice to themselves, their roles and their career development.



Approaches to Knowledge Management
There is a broad range of thought on Knowledge Management with no unanimous definition. The approaches vary by author and school. Knowledge Management may be viewed from each of the following perspectives:

Techno-centric: A focus on technology, ideally those that enhance knowledge sharing/growth.
Organisational: How does the organisation need to be designed to facilitate knowledge processes? Which organizations work best with what processes?
Ecological: Seeing the interaction of people, identity, knowledge and environmental factors as a complex adaptive system.
In addition, as the discipline is maturing, there is an increasing presence of academic debates within epistemology emerging in both the theory and practice of knowledge management. British and Australian standards bodies both have produced documents that attempt to bound and scope the field, but these have received limited acceptance or awareness.

Schools of thought in Knowledge Management
There are a variety of different schools of thought in Knowledge Management. For example:

The Intellectual Capital movement with Professor Nick Bontis, Professor Leif Edvinsson and Tom Stewart
A body of work derivative of information theory associated with Prusak and Davenport.
Advanced practice and leadership of tangibles & intangibles, living networks, co-creation and whole systems through value networks and value network analysis.
Complexity approaches associated with David Snowden (see Cynefin).
'Narrative' with Denning, Snowden, Boje and others.

Key concepts in Knowledge Management
Dimensions of knowledge
A key distinction made by the majority of knowledge management practitioners is Nonaka's reformulation of Polanyi's distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge. The former is often subconscious, internalized, and the individual may or may not be aware of what he or she knows and how he or she accomplishes particular results. At the opposite end of the spectrum is conscious or explicit knowledge -- knowledge that the individual holds explicitly and consciously in mental focus, and may communicate to others. In the popular form of the distinction, tacit knowledge is what is in our heads, and explicit knowledge is what we have codified.

Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) argued that a successful KM program needs to, on the one hand, convert internalized tacit knowledge into explicit codified knowledge in order to share it, but also on the other hand for individuals and groups to internalize and make personally meaningful codified knowledge once it is retrieved from the KM system.

The focus upon codification and management of explicit knowledge has allowed knowledge management practitioners to appropriate prior work in information management, leading to the frequent accusation that knowledge management is simply a repackaged form of information management. (Eg Wilson, T.D. (2002) "The nonsense of 'knowledge management'" Information Research, 8(1), paper no. 144 [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html]

Critics have argued that Nonaka and Takeuchi's distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge is oversimplified and that the notion of explicit knowledge is self-contradictory. Specifically, for knowledge to be made explicit, it must be translated into information (i.e., symbols outside of our heads).

Another common framework for categorizing the dimensions of knowledge include embedded knowledge (knowledge which has been incorporated into an artifact of some type, for example an information system may have knowledge embedded into its design) and embodied knowledge (representing knowledge as learned capability of the body's nervous, chemical, and sensory systems). These two dimensions, while frequently used, are not universally accepted.

It is also common to distinguish between the creation of "new knowledge" (i.e., innovation) vs. the transfer of "established knowledge" within a group, organization, or community. Collaborative environments such as communities of practice or the use of social computing tools can be used for both creation and transfer.

Knowledge capture stages
Knowledge may be accessed, or captured, at three stages: before, during, or after knowledge-related activities.

For example, individuals undertaking a new project for an organization might access information resources to learn best practices and lessons learned for similar projects undertaken previously, access relevant information again during the project implementation to seek advice on issues encountered, and access relevant information afterwards for advice on after-project actions and review activities. Knowledge management practitioners offer systems, repositories, and corporate processes to encourage and formalize these activities.

Similarly, knowledge may be captured and recorded before the project implementation, for example as the project team learns lessons during the initial project analysis. Similarly, lessons learned during the project operation may be recorded, and after-action reviews may lead to further insights and lessons being recorded for future access.

Different organizations have tried various knowledge capture incentives, including making content submission mandatory and incorporating rewards into performance measurement plans. There is controversy over the whether incentives work or not in this field and no firm consensus has emerged.

Ad hoc knowledge access
One alternative strategy to encoding knowledge into and retrieving knowledge from a knowledge repository such as a database, is for individuals to make knowledge requests of subject matter experts on an ad hoc basis. A key benefit of this strategy is that the response from the expert individual is rich in content and contextualized to the particular problem being addressed and personalized to the particular person or people addressing it. The downside of this strategy is that it is tied to the availability and memory recall skill of specific individuals in the organization. It does not capture their insights and experience for future use should they leave or become unavailable, and also does not help in the case when the experts' memories of particular technical issues or problems previously faced change with time. The emergence of narrative approaches to knowledge management attempts to provide a bridge between the formal and the ad hoc, by allowing knowledge to be held in the form of stories.


Drivers of Knowledge Management
There are a number of claims as to 'drivers', or motivations, leading to organizations undertaking a knowledge management program.

Perhaps first among these is to gain the competitive advantage (in industry) and/or increased effectiveness that comes with improved or faster learning and new knowledge creation. Knowledge management programs may lead to greater innovation, better customer experiences, consistency in good practices and knowledge access across a global organization, as well as many other benefits, and knowledge management programs may be driven with these goals in mind. Government represents a highly active area, for example DiploFoundation Conference on Knowledge and Diplomacy (1999) outlines the range of specific KM tools and techniques applied in diplomacy.

Considerations driving a Knowledge Management program might include:

making available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of products and services
achieving shorter new product development cycles
facilitating and managing organizational innovation and learning
leverage the expertise of people across the organization
benefiting from 'network effects' as the number of productive connections between employees in the organization increases and the quality of information shared increases, leading to greater employee and team satisfaction
managing the proliferation of data and information in complex business environments and allowing employees rapidly to access useful and relevant knowledge resources and best practice guidelines
managing intellectual capital and intellectual assets in the workforce (such as the expertise and know-how possessed by key individuals) as individuals retire and new workers are hired

Knowledge Management Technologies
The early Knowledge Management technologies were online corporate yellow pages (expertise locators) and document management systems. Combined with the early development of collaborative technologies (in particular Lotus Notes), KM technologies expanded in the mid 1990s. Subsequently it followed developments in technology in use in Information Management. In particular the use of semantic technologies for search and retrieval and the development of knowledge management specific tools such as those for communities of practice.

More recently social computing tools (such as blogs and wikis) have developed to provide a more unstructured approach to knowledge transfer and knowledge creation through the development of new forms of community. However, such tools for the most part are still based on text, and thus represent explicit knowledge transfer. These tools face challenges distilling meaningful re-usable knowledge from their content.

Knowledge mapping is commonly used to cover functions such as a knowledge audit (discovering what knowledge exists at the start of a knowledge management project), a network survey (Mapping the relationships between communities involved in knowledge creation and sharing) and creating a map of the relationship of knowledge assets to core business process. Although frequently carried out at the start of a Knowledge Management programme, is not a necessarily pre-condition or confined to start up.


Knowledge Management enablers
Historically, there have been a number of technologies 'enabling' or facilitating knowledge management practices in the organization, including expert systems, knowledge bases, various types of Information Management, software help desk tools, document management systems and other IT systems supporting organizational knowledge flows.

The advent of the Internet brought with it further enabling technologies, including e-learning, web conferencing, collaborative software, content management systems, corporate 'Yellow pages' directories, email lists, wikis, blogs, and other technologies. Each enabling technology can expand the level of inquiry available to an employee, while providing a platform to achieve specific goals or actions. The practice of KM will continue to evolve with the growth of collaboration applications, visual tools and other technologies. Since its adoption by the mainstream population and business community, the Internet has led to an increase in creative collaboration, learning and research, e-commerce, and instant information.

There are also a variety of organisational enablers for knowledge management programs, including Communities of Practice, before-, after- and during- action reviews (see After Action Review), peer assists, information taxonomies, coaching and mentoring, and so on.

Another aspect would be the creation of an incentive-system not only to provide the organisation with knowledge but also to manage and handle ideas of employees.

Knowledge Management roles and organizational structure
Knowledge management activities may be centralized in a Knowledge Management Office, or responsibility for knowledge management may be located in existing departmental functions, such as the Human Resource (to manage intellectual capital) or IT departments (for content management, social computing etc.). Different departments and functions may have a knowledge management function and those functions may not be connected other than informally.


Knowledge Management lexicon
Knowledge Management professionals may use a specific lexicon in order to articulate and discuss the various issues arising in Knowledge Management. For example, terms such as intellectual capital, metric, and tacit vs explicit knowledge typically form an indispensable part of the knowledge management professional's vocabulary.


Knowledge Management Reasons of Failure or Success
There is no established evidence as to the reasons behind failure and success of Knowledge Management initiatives in organizations. Some argue that a failure to sustain investment is one factor, but it can equally be argued that if knowledge management delivered on its promises investment would continue. As with many management initiatives, particularly those with a heavy IT basis (as is the case in Knowledge Management), frequent questions are raised about the level of consultation necessary before a program is started; these questions are linked to issues of cultural change and a willingness to share and collaborate with colleagues There is no evidence that Knowledge Management, in all these respects, is any different from other management initiatives.

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