What is a PLE?

In the last few days there has been lots of posts flying around about PLEs. Some of the subject matter has reflected on whether the content of PLEs including blogs is actually the intellectual property of a company....that is if you are blogging on company time. With that in mind did the P even stand for Personal?

Okay, so I read all these posts and I think I get it all, but maybe not. I need to rewind and try to find some info on what the heck a PLE really is. Then I find I need to know what a PKM is and some kind of new whale species called (I joke, I kind of like the sound of it) a p-Whale (PWLE).

So PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) I found nicely from Knowledgeboard via Tony Karrer as:

"PKM is a conceptual framework to organize and integrate information that we, as individuals, feel is important so that it becomes part of our personal knowledge base. It provides a strategy for transforming what might be random pieces of
information into something that can be systematically applied and that expands our personal knowledge."

(Look I finally figured out how to create a block quote...neat)

A PWLE (Personal Work and Learning Environment) (pronounced p-Whale, a tentative term from Tony, but is cool, catchy and will probably stick) I also found on Tony's blog.

orking backwards to my original question what really is a PLE? I've got the general idea that it currently seems to be more of a concept then one simple thing. It is different for different people and is a collection of learning pieces, tools and experiences. Anything that assists or furthers you in learning is actually a part of your PLE. There doesn't seem to be one particular tool or formula that would be right for every person.

I found a diagram by Jeremy Hiebert that "works" for me in helping to visualize the whole idea. It's from Feb. 2006, so maybe there is something better that I haven't stumbled on yet.

It's really interesting to see a concept/tool being discussed and developed. I've never experienced anything like this and to read around through various posts discussing the notion is fascinating. One person comes up with one idea, another gives it a name, someone else draws a diagram. I'm excited to see where the topic will be in a year from now.

If I've misunderstood the terms I'd love to be corrected or pointed in a better direction (even if that is 1.0 of me).