This article has been published in Knowlative Blog the 28th of October 2017.
When people ask me to explain what Knowlative.com will look like when it is fully developed, it usually takes me a long time to explain the concept of what we are building.
Let’s compare how things are in the Kinesiology world now, to how things could be with Knowlative.
Let’s say that I am a student that already knows how to perform a Muscle Response Test, and I have completed one of the “core” specialized or applied kinesiology courses available. My goals are:
- To constantly upgrade my skills with the most effective procedures available;
- To store my client’s records in a safe and usable way and to access them easily in my work;
- To keep an eye on how my activity is evolving by tracking the number of sessions I give and the procedures I use most;
- To write a scientific paper.
Before Knowlative
- To upgrade my skills, I have to look for new courses available but that isn’t always a simple task. Sometimes what seems to be a very promising course is actually a waste of time and money. Sometimes a very useful procedure is impossible to learn in my country or in my geographic region or it is not advertised at all in my area so I do not even know it exists. So, I have to settle for what is available in my region; and sometimes this is not sufficient to progress in my profession.
- Storing my client’s records can be another time consuming and quite frustrating task. If I write down the results of what I am testing this process slows down my work. And then, if I keep confidential and sensitive data the time (and money) required to keep them safe and to adhere to Data Protection Laws can be significant. If I do not track anything to avoid these problems I will never be able to see the evolution of my practice and notice which techniques I tent to skip or ignore. Furthermore, I will never be able to write a scientific paper on the effectiveness (or not) of my balances (See point 4).
- What happens if I want to see how I am progressing over time: how many procedures I use in a session with my clients, how long it takes to perform a given procedure, which month do I work most (and least), what is the age group of my clients, what are the most common complaints or goals, and much more? This data, which would be very useful to improve my practice, target my advertisements, see what areas I need to strengthen, is nearly impossible to get if I do not invest a huge amount of time in tracking and calculating it.
- To write a scientific paper I have to expect to spend a huge amount of time (and money) planning the study carefully, collecting all the data (and for my study to be relevant I have to collect huge amounts of data), analyzing all the data and writing it. All these tasks are very specific and the majority of us do not have any idea how to achieve even the most basic skills needed to go through all the process. So, basically, I cannot do any scientific study… and as a result, Specialized Kinesiology will never be taken seriously.
In short, without Knowlative I am still traveling with a steam engine while my competitors are testing a Hyperloop trip.
With Knowlative
- Logging in, I have a showcase of Kinesiology Courses available from all over the world with the option to directly contact the author for more details. The basic procedure of every course is available inside my “Wikipedia-style” learning pages just a few clicks away and I can try it immediately with a test client to see if I like it or not and if I’m interested in the “real” content of the course. I can see how often the procedure is utilized in their practice by users that already took that class and the feedback they give of the lessons. If I decide to take that course I can (only for selected courses) attend online in the Knowlative platform or be redirected to a webinar of the author or, if I prefer to meet the creator of the procedure in person, I have all the dates and locations of his/her next classes.
- While I am working, I can browse for the appropriate technique for my client in Knowlative. The “manual” is adaptive (it shows me step-by-step what I need in real time) and I can easily record all the results of my testing. Without paper manuals, I do not waste time searching for the right page, and by recording all data in the “manual” Knowlative page directly I do not need to worry about storing data in a usable way. And if I do not remember a step of a certain procedure, with one click I can see its complete description.
- When I am finished working I can immediately access all the updated statistics of my practice with intuitive graphs and suggestions. I do not need to do anything for this; Knowlative does all the boring jobs for me.
- Experienced statistic experts analyze the collective data of Knowlative and build up observational studies. With the information gathered they design specific studies and I can decide to add an appropriate client with a few clicks. In fact, Knowlative matches my client’s parameters with the studies available in real time and, if appropriate, it asks me if I want to participate. This process will only add a few selected additional questions to my standard session and only 2 minutes of my (and my client’s) time. And my name will appear as a contributor in the scientific papers produced with my help. Without needing to spend of huge amount of money, we build strong evidence that Kinesiology is the essential tool for the medicine of the future.
And with Knowlative I have an additional bonus: if I add my findings, procedures and experience to Knowlative Database I am rewarded with a part of the project’s income in relation with how much my materials are used by other members of Knowlative and the advancement in manual response testing is much faster.
Without needing to spend of huge amount of money, we build strong evidence that Kinesiology is the essential tool for the medicine of the future.
How Knowlative will develop
To achieve the big picture, we have been working since December 2015. You can see the next phases of Knowlative in the picture. We are assembling the software and managing all the issues building a company brings up. Every one of us is working for free in evenings, weekends, vacations, …
Soon we will have to absorb more expenses to make this vision came true. The most problematic aspects are the legal issues involved in Knowlative. We have an estimation of expenses for 20000 Euros for this area alone.
We have done a lot of work so far, but now we need your help.
So, if you like what Knowlative will bring to your professional practice register to this site and visit our crowdfunding at www.indiegogo.com/projects/knowlative-cooperative-knowledge#/
If you, as a client, see how Knowlative can improve the quality of your Kinesiologist, help us with the crowdfunding!
And do not forget to spread the message to your friends.
