Knowledge Management

After checking out information on knowledge worker, knowledge management, knowledge management systems, and information management, I saw a few things that interested me.

I have never heard of a knowledge worker, anyone who works for a living at the tasks of developing or using knowledge. Because of their ability to act and communicate with knowledge, they usually advance the overall understanding of that subject through focused analysis, design and/or development. The demand for knowledge workers is increasing, and they are estimated to outnumber all other workers in the US by a minimum of four to one. You would think that the term would be more familiar with the demand. They are extremely beneficial to organizations in a variety of ways.

A knowledge management (KM) system’s name basically explains itself. The idea of it is to enable employees to have ready access to the organization's documented base of facts, sources of information, and solutions. Because they deal with information, they are considered to be a class of information system. Its name can be associated to Open Source Software, and Open Standards, Open Protocols and Open Knowledge licenses, initiatives and policies. Although there are multiple advantages, the avoiding of reducing redundant work I think would be one of the highest ranked advantages.

Information management how I understand is basically the managing of the collection and distribution of information. The most interesting fact about information management is in its history. Throughout the 1970s, info management was limited to files, file maintenance, and the life cycle management of paper-based files, other media and records, but with increasing information technology, the job of information management took on a “new light” and began to include the field of Data maintenance. Therefore, the job was no longer a simple job that could be performed by almost anyone.

Wikipedia states that “Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences.” It has a history of including on-the-job discussions, formal apprenticeship, discussion forums, corporate libraries, professional training and mentoring programs. Recently, there technological adaptations have occurred including knowledge bases, expert systems, knowledge repositories, group decision support systems, intranets, and computer supported cooperative work have been introduced to further enhance such efforts. Knowledge management programs can produce extraordinary benefits to individuals and organizations if they are purposeful, concrete, and action-oriented.