Stan, no one wants to look like they don’t know something that at some level, they wish they knew.  IF the questioner’s post could be anonymous, I bet more people would post questions both internally and externally.

Barbara

Not sure if I can offer a solution, but I can offer insight into why I would post, or hesitate to post.  In my case, it doesn’t matter much to me whether the forum is public or private.  That has been one of the interesting phenomena of social networking over the last decade…  people becoming more willing to communicate and reach out to others virtually, when they might not be inclined to do so in a face-to-face manner.  Sort of a shift of inhibitions, I guess.  Anyway, I don’t worry about how others might perceive my question, whether I look weak or ignorant.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever given a person a second thought, in regards to their competence, if he/she posted a question to a forum I frequent.  So, by extension, I guess I don’t expect that behavior from others.  Perhaps I’m naive…

I am active in three or four forums.  I have visited and registered with many forums, but I regularly go back to those three or four for a few of reasons.  First, when I do venture to ask a question, I get multiple responses.  Occasionally, I get personal responses (via PM or email).  The willingness of forum members to respond to my query has a large impact on my decision to post again.  So much so, that when I find a new forum, I often look at how many posts go unanswered, or have only a single answer in the archives.  If it isn’t active, then I don’t bother too much with it.

The second reason I am active in those communities is because there are good, accessible archives for searching information.  I’ll usually search archives before I’ll post a question.  So, evidence of past activity is critical to me.

And, if there is a third reason, it is because there is a sense of community in the forums I frequent.  They are more than just repositories of information.  I have gotten to know people on those forums, have learned to trust their opinions, and I may never meet them in person or speak to them directly.  I suppose this is an intangible type of feature that is kind of organic in nature.  I don’t know if you can build “community” into a forum.  But, with active people, who care about the topic, responding to the needs of others, community happens.  In essence, a wider group of people become my trusted cabinet of advisors.

I’m not sure how this addresses your query, though.  It doesn’t really respond to HOW to get people to post in the first place.  My response makes it seem like a chicken and egg issue.  It might boil down to content as the primary, or first motivator.  If there is a generous amount of content, even if it doesn’t address my concern specifically, then I’ll linger and maybe post.   

Kate, do you find that people are most likely to discuss topics brought up by a moderator, such as yourself?  Or do you find that people are willing to ask questions?  Has it been your experience that starting threads and moderating events “primes the pump” for people, so that they are more willing to ask questions?  If that is the case, how do you choose topics?  In my organization I tried to champion monthly professional development seminars for our discipline group.  For a few months it worked, but people eventually stopped participating, and wouldn’t volunteer to lead future discussions.  I wondered if it was the choice of topic…

One thing I thought about last night as I was posting a question on another forum is that in some cases I might be hesitant to ask a question if I feel like I’ve never really contributed to the community with responses.  I guess it might be sort of a feeling of being a burden, rather than sharing the load. 

Steve,

Well put, which proves once again, that groups/communities/chats. etc. all have different characteristics and “what’s in it for me” characteristics – (WIIFM), which must be considered.

If not considered, result can fall far short of hoped-for expectations.

Douglas Weidner

Chairman, KM Institute

Stephen,

I agree with your comments about what you can expect from an on-line community in principle.  My own experiences with bouncing ideas and concepts with forums like SIKMLeaders and actKM have been generally quite positive.  However, the volume of content I have been trying to collate/get feedback on has been much less.  A couple of years ago we collated a good role description for a KM leader from actKM and more recently we had a good exchange about the impact of using metaphor to enhance story and communication between people.  I am using the outputs of these to support some of my research (with attribution).  I have for some time been interested in the different responses from different forums.  What motivates people to watch versus become involved in quite complex I believe.  Many will watch to learn, but are reluctant to contribute through fear of being judged in a forum with well known professionals.

I believe that many people will make an effort to provide feedback on a reasonably short request, but there is only a minority that will commit to a significant task.  This is mainly a time issue as you state.  Your approach using one forum to recruit for another larger activity is a good method as people are aware of what they are signing up for.  It would be interesting to see the proportion of people that “watch” verses “participate” in such an initiative as the purpose of such a group is to solicit feedback.  I see a higher proportion of participation in the specific task sites/groups used through social media sites for the same reason.  They are more task orientated that general sharing, for example KM4Dev and a variety of LinkedIn groups (or even Facebook groups) and as such they are often smaller and more active.