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(U) A New Day... Intellipedian Pioneers Speak at NSA
FROM:
of the Reporting Board (S12R)
Run Date: 01/05/2007
(U//FOUO) The CIA's "Intellipedia Sabbatical" program introduces students to a new range of
collaborative tools that will be critical to the future of the Intelligence Community. Some of these
tools are already available, while others are under development. Dave Fountain, the NSA
Reporting Board's (S12R) Technical Lead for Interactive Sharing, has been cultivating a
relationship with the folks who run the sabbatical program, Sean Dennehy and Don Burke. We'd
heard rave reviews from others who took the course, so we invited Sean and Don to visit NSA to
share insights from the training.
(U//FOUO) About the "Intellipedia Sabbatical"
(U//FOUO) The CIA program started in June 2006 and they began their eleventh class in early
December. In light of the direction Intellipedia is taking, we believe this training could easily be
adapted to support the NSA workforce (NSA analysts assigned to CIA are already receiving the
training). The training includes time for students to practice using those tools on intelligence
projects of their choosing. The course also incorporates guest speakers who focus on issues such
as innovation, leadership and change management. Graduates return to their office with a new
set of tools to integrate into their existing workflows. As more students progress through the
class, they in turn serve as mentors to others by promoting the use of collaborative tools and
practices.
(U//FOUO) Wide IC Interest in Intellipedia
(U//FOUO) Intellipedia has attracted a lot of attention around the Intelligence Community. Dave
heard Sean and Don speak at the DNI's Information Sharing Conference this past summer in
Denver. Theirs was one of the most talked-about sessions during the week. Most of the
presentations on Intellipedia were standing room only (and the rooms had seating for 170
people!). The briefing on Intellipedia "Success Stories in Collaboration and Capturing Intellectual
Capital" was so popular that over 50 people had to be turned away at the door. The conference
organizers asked that a second running of the briefing be given the following day, which also
drew a large crowd.
(U) Program Leaders Visit NSA
(U//FOUO) Prior to the conference, Dave had been corresponding with Sean via Intellipedia. His
original question to Sean was to determine if the sabbatical was open for anyone to attend in
the Intelligence Community. They went back and forth about the sabbatical (using the
Intellipedia interface, not e-mail) and then Sean mentioned that he would be willing to come out
and talk with us about it. He ran the idea past me and we immediately started thinking about
setting this up. I floated the invite through an extensive network of contacts here at the Agency
and before we knew it, in less than 2 days we had about 40 people scheduled to attend the two
sessions.
(U//FOUO) The two sessions at NSA had very different feels to them. The first was more of an
overview of Intellipedia and ran through a good portion of the brief that they had prepared. They
wrapped up the first session touching on their sabbatical training and took some questions. In
the second session, they decided to start with an overview of their sabbatical course and then
get to Intellipedia. This session was very rich with conversation and interaction. Sean even
mentioned one of the comments from that session in his blog on Intelink.
(U//FOUO) The relationship with CIA began over Intellipedia, the briefings for the sessions were
accessed and presented through Intellipedia, and the follow-on discussions continue... over
Intellipedia. A new day has come for this old reporter, but it is the normal course of business for
Dave.
(U//FOUO) Dave Fountain contributed to this article.
(U//FOUO) For background, see the earlier article Intellipedia -- It's for Analysts .
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108