Knowledge Centers—
A Concept that PTTC Is Exploring

Just what is a knowledge center? The concept is simple. For a given topic, say hydraulic fracturing, PTTC would identify a few respected, unbiased individuals, universities or organizations that are recognized as leaders in the field. We listen to those experts, letting them help define what content needs to be captured within a knowledge center. We then retain them to develop the knowledge center and make information available through the Internet and workshops. It is not really research; it's gathering all that is relevant (as determined by experts). They are available only to those who "pay to play." Those willing to pay are a self-qualified audience—they are coming with a need and an application requiring services. This creates the incentive for vendors and service providers to provide funds to demonstrate their capabilities. Everybody wins: producers, vendors and service providers, PTTC and ultimately the country, as more domestic oil and gas is discovered and produced.

What would a knowledge center contain? Many elements are envisioned. To start, there would be a white paper that crisply summarizes the science, the remaining issues and the directions industry is pursuing to solve those issues. Hearing this from acknowledged experts will save days or weeks of digging for reliable information. There also would be case studies demonstrating how technology solved real world problems. Vendors and service providers would have a place to show how their solutions matched problems. A "links" section would enable users to quickly connect with those vendors. There would be an annotated bibliography directing individuals to the papers/articles publicly available that the experts considered to be seminal works. Active research consortia would be described along with their research thrusts and who to contact to get directly involved. A calendar would alert users to upcoming workshops across the country that were focused on the topic, or to proceedings from past workshops that might be available. Each year the experts would develop a top-notch workshop, which would be videotaped. Local workshops combining videotape and live presentations of regional case studies could be made available.

What will it take for the knowledge center concept to work?

• You the audience must prioritize the topics that PTTC pursues for knowledge centers. To that end, this article directs you to an online survey. In addition to the obvious prioritizing of topics, the number of people who actually respond to this survey will help PTTC assess the level of industry interest.

• Experts, those knowledgeable in the field, must agree to participate for compensation that a non-profit can afford. The reality is that participating experts will do so for reasons other than compensation.

• Vendors relevant to a topic must provide significant sponsorships. For this to happen, PTTC and the experts must present them with a "prospectus" of the knowledge center—a picture of what it will actually contain and what will happen within the knowledge center—and some indicator of industry interest and participation. Keep in mind that with a "self-qualified" audience it doesn't require thousands, but rather just a few hundred individuals, for sponsorship to be attractive for the service community.

Do PTTC A Favor—Complete this survey online at www.pttc.org/knowledge_center_survey.htm.  It will save us time and money and allow us to analyze your input in real-time.