Welcome to the Gnowledge Karden

The idea for a knowledge garden came to mind as I was reflecting on how we need to process and use information in new ways. In today's world, it's not enough to study smartly and work hard. I began clarifying my foundational beliefs and documenting my foundational approaches to consuming and generating content. I felt compelled to do so not just for myself, but for my grandchild. (Karden would be a kind of synonym of his name.) I believe we need to bring different ways of processing information into content creation. So I swapped a couple of letters around and came up with the site name: Gnowledge Karden.

The advent of artificial general intelligence requires us to define what is acceptable in the production of content – and by extension, information and knowledge. But it also requires us to look at how humans receive and produce meaning. In a sense, I want to imagine a new epistomology that includes both humans and AI — with an emphasis on activating human capacity to meet the moment.

I'm particularly interested in four areas of knowledge production: content generation, applied AI, developer experience, and civics.

Content generation

With many years experience in content strategy, engineering, and development, my call to everyone who participates in content production — and leadership in particular — is to know your data, what it's informing, and how quality content is actually generated. It is imperative to acquire new practices around knowledge modelling, graphing, and stewardship for immediate effect in efficiency, optimization, and reach.

You must also feel — like in your bones, like you gnow — that the very structure of your world is being re-org'd based on the changes in knowledge production happening now. What you might not have been invited to consider is that you are part of the creative force of change.

Applied AI

All critical nodes in AI production are human-centric. (When and if this changes, humans should be involved in those designs, at least to introspect on them.) The way we use and design AI matters for us and for the future. Certain practices are more ethical, effective, and protective of unique value. Other practices should be studied when they fail to meet the moment. When we collaborate with, implement, or support AI efforts, we are influencing its development.

It all matters: how we build out technical requirements, translate ethical designs, and ensure safety. And there's also the feedback loop. Humans-in-the-loop (HITL) doesn't just entail verification and validation. It means being not just the canary in the coal mine, but a steward for your organization, your mission, your community, and the larger project of developing human value(s).

Developer Experience

It has always been the case that engineers, designers, technical experimenters, and analysts need the right resources. The best tools, workflows, and communities of practice (CoP) generate innovation and increase the number of people who can be part of technical transformations.

Developers can also make anything work given a stick and spit. Engineering teams are wired to deliver solutions, but leadership often can't see what good development practices actually look like under the hood. Also, there's a disconnect in what "scaling up" entails. When critical development resources are regularly deprioritized in favor of immediate business needs, teams end up moving slower and delivering lower quality—harming both velocity and outcomes.

This is not the time to weigh developer experience against other quantifiable resources. What made devs great was never about volume. As stakeholders try to quantify AI's engineering productivity gains, it's exactly the moment to give that time and space back to the developer-engineer-maker.

This revolution won't require blood, sweat, and tears. It will require the space for paradigm shifting, collaboration, feedback, and reflection. I help build the scaffolding to support developers who create the future.

A civics that meets the moment

I believe in duty. I come from a long line of iconoclast, entrepreneurs, activists, and artists. The civic duties instilled in me are to be active, creative, impactful, and civil in the planning of and service to my neighborhood, city, state, country, and world. Not a typical liberal, I believe in both democracy and that capital can be a catalytic force for good. I hope my civic tech projects contribute to the continued expansion of human rights and facilitates the ability to fulfill our responsibilities to each other and our Earth.

Those are the four areas I'm focused on right now. I'm putting my thoughts out about these topics in the hopes that you might find it interesting enough to discuss further. Let's chat.

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