USAF Needs Knowledge, and It Needs It Now
Mar 21, 2010 14:26 EDT
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As the saying goes, knowledge is power. And for one US airman it proved to be the key to carry out a challenging task in a difficult environment – to set up an armory in Baghdad in the months following the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
He had no idea how to begin. So he logged onto the US Air Force Knowledge Now site, an online community for USAF personnel to share information on a wide variety of topics. He sent out an SOS to the community on security forces for help.
Low and behold, he received a reply from a senior master sergeant in the US who had lots of experience setting up armories in the field. The sergeant gave him detailed instructions on how to do it, along with instruction manuals. The airman was able to get the armory up and running quickly.
The Air Force Knowledge Now site was launched in 1999 by the USAF and software developer Triune Group of Dayton, Ohio. Triune recently received a $48.5 million contract to continue to operate and maintain the site…
The Knowledge Now site, which can be accessed through the Air Force Portal but is a seperate system, has over 320,000 users and thousands of communities of practice – subject areas where users share information on a particular topic. The list of subjects covered includes everything from space tactics to special weapons to system management to B-2 radar modification.
The site has 100,000 visitors viewing 12 million pages a month, making it the largest knowledge management site in the US federal government, according to the USAF. The site adds 1,000 new users and 100 new communities every week.
Under the $48.5 million contract announced March 19/10, Triune Group will provide Air Force Knowledge Now with operations and maintenance, development, knowledge engineering and functional support services. The Air Force Material Command’s Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB manages the contract (FA8604-10-D-7045).
