A slight dissapointment

I finally got my copy of Wake me up when the data is over and read it on the plane between Calgary and Vancouver this week. The chapter I had reviewed and on which I blogged last month was I thought a good summary of the field. However that chapter proved to be very different from the rest of the book.

Each chapter seemed to be a list of journalistic type reporting of stories with little analytical or critical content. The final attempt to create a model of story was not wrong, but neither was it particularly insightful. However on the plus side, as a source of examples of the effective use of story, it is about the best thing I have come across in the last couple of years. It is not in the same class as the BBC Digital story site which remains outstanding. However that is a harsh standard and not a fair comparison So its worth getting if you want examples to establish a case for using narrative. However it will not provide reflective criticism or significant insight. For a multi-authored book they have done a good job of getting a cohesive style together and it reads well (looking for more positives).

I owe another apology for the absence of postings over the last few days. I have been occupied running an open space event for the BC Forestry Service for the last few days. A really great group of people who threw themselves into making the event a success. That activity has kept me away from the blog as it was an intensive event and I was already badly jet lagged from two transatlantic crossings within two days. I plan to post reflections on the open space event, and also on KM World over the next few days assuming I can connect to the internet. I am out to Caracas early Monday for a couple of days before finally settling down in the UK until after Christmas (bar a side trip to Hong Kong. Assume the regular flow will start up again by the middle of next week, possibly earlier.