Ah, nice that they are thinking of improving the platform. I always liked the idea, but very much not the execution of it. But I am cautiously optimistic that it will be improved significantly.

On the other hand... maybe I have to somewhat revise my plans for creating a similar alternative (which is already half done)

For those of you using Knowledge Point, they are currently running a survey about Knowledge Point, see here:
www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KP-UX

They're saying: "We are upgrading KnowledgePoint in several areas, as part of a six-month Humanitarian Innovation Fund-supported project." More information about that is here:
www.redr.org.uk/News/2017-June/HIF-suppo...mp-of-KnowledgePoint

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Online humanitarian Q&A forum KnowledgePoint is modernising in its user experience, data security and use of gaming technology, among other areas, over the next six months.

The forum was set up in 2012 to give aid workers in remote locations access to free and fast expert advice, supporting aid agencies in exchanging and storing key technical knowledge.
KnowledgePoint has now gained more than 105,000 new and returning users across 183 countries*, with a global network of more than 150 technical experts answering questions in topics ranging from public health to security and logistics.
KnowledgePoint Coordinator Harriette Purchas said: "KnowledgePoint is like having an expert 'in your back pocket'. You can now have access to leading specialists across all sectors, regardless of where they are, and tap into the vast wealth of experience that exists in the humanitarian, development, academic and private sectors.
For an aid worker in the field that is a powerful resource."

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For your information, in the background we have looked into how to interlink the SuSanA discussion forum with Knowledge Point in a useful way. A simple idea from my side was to make a link from one to the other saying "haven't found your answer yet? Try this other resource..." but this hasn't yet been possible either.

Any bright ideas or suggestions from our members, particularly those who use both platforms? Or is there no need to interlink them as they have totally different clientele, topic, reach and intentions?

Regards,
Elisabeth

P.S. Please ensure you take our SuSanA member survey ("Survey on Knowledge Exchange in the Sanitation Sector") which was sent to your e-mail inbox on 27 July by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . If you are a SuSanA member but didn't get the e-mail please let me know. We'll also make a separate forum post about this in the next few days.

Elisabeth back to your point on how tools for knowledge management, dissemination and sharing out there can complement each other, i think it will be interesting to see if there is any cross-fertilization of ideas between Knowledge Point and other forums and networks in the sector and how this can be encouraged. I would imagine that we have lots of members of this forum who are also very active on Knowledge Point.

I can answer my own question now about the funding for Knowledge Point:

The KnowledgePoint initiative that started in 2009 has been funded by the Humanitarian Innovation Fund, and already has over 600 professionals in the network. Discussions today range from solar pumps and water filters for individual households to data on functionality and reliability of water and sanitation systems in countries.

I read this information and more about Knowledge Point in IRC's recent newsletter here:
www.ircwash.org/news/knowledgepoint-plac...-df9f5227e6-32571369

Some more information about Knowledge Point from the same article:

There are already some fantastic forums in the sector, but KnowledgePoint is particularly focussed on finding solutions to enquiries coming from the community. The growing network is also helping to create connections beyond the WASH sector. For example, our support to the Global WASH Cluster’s Ebola response involved connecting WASH and Health specialists. It's often in times of crises that the linkages between WASH and health become most clear.

"It's been an incredibly positive experience," says Timothy Kent, Project manager of KnowledgePoint. "In the times of the Ebola outbreak professionals could for example ask questions and get real time answers from specialists to provide guidance to those fighting the epidemic in the worst affected countries."

This is interesting, as I always like to know what other tools for knowledge management, dissemination and sharing are out there and how they can complement each other.

How is Knowledge Point actually funded? I tried to find this information on the website (knowledgepoint.org/en/questions/). Do all the organisations listed at the bottom of the page provide a certain financial contribution?

(if anyone wants to know the same question about this forum, they can find the answer here: forum.susana.org/about)

IRC was one of the initiators of Knowledge Point and now we will test how to best to role it out. Just like Remi we intend to use it both for private and public query handling.

We hope that Knowledge Point will lead to better management and monitoring of query handling and help profile of our expertise (through public queries).

Besides the differences that Remi aleady mentioned, the scope of Knowledge Point is broader (humanitarian development) that the SuSanA Forum and answers can only assigned staff of member organisations can respond to queries.

Note by moderator: this post was originally in this thread:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/53-fae...-emptying-pumps-last

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Hi Elizabeth,

KnowledgePoint (knowledgepoint.org/en/questions/)* is very useful for us in the sense that we can have "private" questions, visible only internally to specific organisations, which allows asking questions between colleagues in a very practical manner for a global organisation. This is also how Practical Action and RedR are using it.

Then, if a question could be better answered by outside people and is not confidential, then it is opened up to the public and placed on the front page (the one you can see, along with questions asked publicly from the start). For example: knowledgepoint.org/en/questions/2250/fae...n-in-urban-settings/

I personally like that KP is very focused on questions/answers, and therefore at solving particular problems. It clearly does not feel like a place for debate, for instance, something best left to SuSanA. This is also due to the interface used. For instance, another group I look at, Experts Solidaires (www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4368665), despite supposedly being a group of experts answering questions on development, is now very much an open discussion forum with contributions of varying quality (lots of opinions).

You may want to ask people from Practical Action how they feel about it!

Rémi


* A Q&A Forum for shared knowledge in humanitarian development