Hm. So that was what Tacit knowledge meant. Reflecting back, I remember a time when my cousin was recommending that I do part-time work as a tutor. I was thinking, "What would I teach?" The first subject that came to mind was math, but I wouldn't know the first thing about teaching it. I only actually passed my math courses using two to three formulas and those things are abstracts inside my head that I couldn't explain. My methods weren't the same as my teachers and there was a time that my dad, an indignant engineer who would not accept a daughter's failure at math, went to my teacher and told her that she shouldn't fail me just because my solutions (or lack thereof) weren't the same as hers. They made us memorize theorems and I never did. There are even times when the solutions on my head were difficult to put on paper because they were not the way my teachers solved math problems. I had a completely different way of solving things, like I would use a trigonometry formula to derive a solution for some analytic geom or stat question. (Yes, I know, it's weird that I used a trig formula to acquire stat answers, which is supposedly a completely different field from trig.)

This is what I now understand as tacit knowledge. Try as I might, I never could translate the process with which those numbers came into being. Even Sir Dennis (Berino, my QUAMET prof) would try to convince me to learn how to use Excel for solving stuff, but for some reason, I find Excel quite a tedious piece of software to use -- you have to go about solving stuff in such a long, roundabout manner, when your brain can process the piece of information faster.

This also happened at work. During my early 20s, I leave the program-logic formulation to my then boyfriend, who could translate my ideas into writing. It wasn't until I began working at Level Up! that I was forced to put to use all the stuff I supposedly learned from BSIM. I guess this is what you can call Explicit-Tacit -- the process of internalization. I had to internalize program-logic formulation, in order to externalize my tacit knowledge. Wow, I just went full circle. Heh.

Now designing is poles apart from math. I noticed that what I have in my head doesn't come out quite that right when I put them together in Photoshop. Although I wouldn't think that many of my designs are ugly, they just come out...well...different. Another tacit-explicit mistranslation?

Ironically, I notice that I could translate back end to front end quite capably. From the programmer's ideas to the user's experience. It's either I'm just good at translating concepts that aren't mine or my brain's just too twisted to be translated properly...by me or anyone.

More thoughts on these on the Individual Activity...

For some reason, it seems like every session is either echoing what I'm trying to do to my career or giving answers to questions that have been trying to figure out. Like this one. It's timing, really, because I was just updating my resume so that it would indicate my "Executive Profile". In line with that, I had just decided that instead of pursuing a career in the academe later, when I'm old and decrepit and aching to leave a legacy, I should begin doing that NOW. But I was thinking, what would I teach?

At first, I was trying to figure out how to do flash files again, so that I could create an interactive CD version of my online portfolio. The Flash software being used now, however, is almost an entirely different program from what I had used before. (I remember that I used to be so disgruntled by Macromedia Fireworks in the early 2000s because whenever they'd upgrade, I would always end up tearing my hair out figuring where the old tools had been relocated.) Imagine, the last time I handled Flash was in 2002, when action scripting didn't exist and I knew exactly how to do shape tweening even with my eyes closed. Now, I felt...stumped.

After asking my sister (an MMA student at CSB) a few questions and realizing I wasn't getting anywhere, I gave up. I told Ogie (an old friend who recommended that I teach at CSB) that no, I don't think I could teach multimedia arts because I don't want my students to have a weak foundation that's caused by a teacher who doesn't know what the heck she's doing. The fields I am more familiar with are ecommerce, systems analysis and design, and marketing solutions. I may have been a web designer before but I have already evolved into something else. That's what I should teach.

Ok, now I mentioned the word "evolve". I looked at my resume and saw that I had been through so many jobs and they all had different titles.

1. Virtual Community Leader


2. Virtual Community Liaison


3. Account Officer (Marketing)


4. Web Designer


5. Web Developer


6. Systems Analyst


7. Gameplay Specialist

I may have had different jobs and positions in my entire 8 years of working, but what is it exactly that binds all those jobs together despite the differences? I searched a myriad of websites about a particular job that described exactly what I did. I even found diagrams and proposals before I found something that told me, "Oh, my gawd! This is me! This is what I do!" I figured it out: (1) they're all related to the net (*roll eyes* obviously) and (2) no matter where you put me, I manage to make use of my two degrees: IT and human relations.

This is what I came up with: INFORMATION ARCHITECT

No matter how many paradigm shifts I had been through, those two are constant. Much like the square that Sir Jerald asked us to modify in the classroom exercise. You may have changed the locations of the two points, but the figure still followed the basic rules that define a square.

Hay, it's just a bit amusing, though. Every time Sir Jerald would turn the page, a bullet point hits a mark that cements my stand on that discussion.

Another issue with that paradigm thingy: My cousin, Firesenshi, protested that I am not an information architect because that's her. Information architects, according to her definition, only work at the front end, while I work and connect both ends. I didn't bother addressing her issue with that because discussing it is just too silly (much like her and my brother's vehement disapproval of my taking up my masteral studies). But see, I was actually thinking about that silly discussion when the class was taking place because everything was addressed by that session about Paradigm Challenges.

Information architecture is a fairly new type of field. But like all other field, it evolves. In fact, it is said that information architects are the evolved web developers. Hm.

The simplest analogy I could think of is this: secretaries used to be experts in typewriting. Are they still using typewriters now? Furthermore, secretaries now have a number of skills that secretaries of the olden days do not have. These days, you can't tell me that information architects should only be this and this and not that. Because lately, I don't see information architects that are experts only on the front-end. As far as I am concerned I know where to draw information and how to make good use of information, coming up with ideas, concepts and solutions based on the information drawn. If I have additional skills that go beyond the scope of the job description, then they're supposed to be considered pluses and not flaws.

In addition to the last entry...

I wanted to post this thought that came up while I was listening to Sir Jerald discuss "Leadership as a Steward". I'm not Christian, but I thought that this was the perfect description for Jesus Christ (whom I admire for the kind of leadership and charisma he exuded).

Dr. William Koh's description: "Leadership turned upside down, where the leader becomes the servant to those who are led. It is the mindset of a leader who asks, What can I do for them? and not What can they do for me?"

Nothing much really. Just something that struck my mind at the moment.

The gist of the entire discussion was that there were three types of Leaders:

1. Leader as a Designer
2. Leader as a Steward
3. Leader as a Teacher


When Sir Jerald was explaining about the Leader as a Teacher, I suddenly remembered my former boss at Level Up!, Jojo Angeles. On my last day at LUG, she hosted a nice lunch at Banana Leaf and even gave me freebies stored inside this huge loot bag. Then I also remembered when I first got this "Certificate of Perfect Attendance" and a gift from HR. That actually surprised me. I just happened to be a punctual person and I never really gave punctuality that much of a thought (except that perpetually tardy people may rub me the wrong way). To be recognized for an inherent attitude that I usually take for granted is really...well, kinda heart-warming. My boss and many of the mid to upper management peeps over at LUG were actually "leaders as teachers".

I also learned during the Individual Exercise that I actually fall under the "Leaders as Designers" category. When Sir Jerald asked what vision I had for myself, the only word that had always come to mind was "legacy". As a kid, I had many things I wanted to do and I never could really see myself being in one career as a grownup. I just imagined myself being remembered for a long time over some phenomenal thing I'd do like perhaps write a book or mentor young people or come up with a smart philosophy that generations after me will be discussing in class. I wasn't one of those who wanted to be rich. I just wanted to leave an imprint behind.

The funny thing is, Lao Tzu said that little credit goes to the designer. "...The functions of design are rarely visible; they take place behind scenes. The consequences that appear today are the result of work done long in the past, and the work today will show its benefits far in the future."

Most of the imprints I have left behind in most of the companies I worked for are little concepts that I have come up with and organized; piecing together how key figures in a project or group would perform as a whole.

Truth is, I would also like to be under the "Leaders as Teachers" categories, much like the bosses I've had at LUG. There's just so much to learn, to explore and to impart. I'd just be so proud to see someone I mentored make use of the knowledge I provided and improve or expound on it with his fresh new ideas. I really hope that that would be my calling.