intentionality

We recently finished a PKM workshop and in one of our discussions we talked about intentionality — “The fact of being deliberate or purposive, or the quality of mental states (e.g. thoughts, beliefs, desires, hopes) which consists in their being directed towards some object or state of affairs.” This is the core of personal knowledge mastery. It is a discipline built on many small practices, such as:

narrating our work

adding value before sharing information

helping make our networks smarter and more resilient

network weaving and closing triangles

seeking diverse perspectives

sharing half-baked ideas

Together, these practices can develop into an intentional sense-making discipline.

Image: Twitter

Personal knowledge mastery is a set of processes, individually constructed, to help each of us make sense of our world and work more effectively. PKM keeps us afloat in a sea of information — guided by professional communities and buoyed by social networks.

In an age of misinformation, we need to increase human engagement through trusted relationships. These can be built online but it takes time and effort — intentionality. For example, even with public health during a pandemic we are seeing government agencies opting out of their responsibility to inform citizens and telling us to ‘do your own research‘. PKM is an approach that can help us do what the Canadian government calls individual public health measures, an oxymoron if there ever was one. With PKM, we develop personal practices but it’s all about how we connect and make sense with others — intentionally.