How do you know?
Do you believe that knowledge exists, on its own, waiting for us to discover it? Or do you believe that knowledge is created by people and exists only in our heads? Maybe you believe that knowledge is created socially, based on our experience of the world. And what about the knowledge of a profession? How does that work?
If you believe that knowledge exists on its own, then it’s easy to manage it – right? You just get people to write down what they know. Then we can all read it and become instantly knowledgeable. Try it for yourself. Sit down with a piece of paper and a pen. Or your iPad. Whatever. Write down everything you know.
Why are you laughing?
You’re right, of course. It isn’t that simple. Welcome to the world of the Knowledge SIG...
Whatever your beliefs about knowledge, you probably think it’s important. And it is! There are some fairly obvious reasons for managing knowledge – to make sure mistakes aren’t repeated and to avoid reinventing the wheel, to name just two. A rather less obvious reason for caring about knowledge is that projects exist to combine the knowledge of individuals and organisations, and to create new knowledge. But how many projects really pay attention to knowledge? It’s more likely that your projects focus on goals and deliverables.
That’s why we’ve created the Knowledge SIG. Organisations that are good at managing knowledge have one thing in common – they recognise that it’s important and do something about it. The question, of course, is what?
There is, unfortunately, no one-size-fits-all recipe for managing knowledge. There are some basic principles and there are hundreds of tools and techniques. You’re probably using some of them already. Over the next few months the Knowledge SIG will be running events that cover the basic principles and explore some of the tools and techniques. We will cover knowledge management AND information management (and yes, they are different – but we’ll try not to get too hung up on definitions). We’ll delve into the world of collaboration and co-operation, and touch on social media and social networking. We also hope to get involved with the development of APM’s own knowledge strategy and contribute to discussions about managing the knowledge of the profession.
Beyond that, it’s up to you. In the words of Samuel Johnson:
“Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.”
Unlike Dr Johnson, though, we will do our best to help you find an understanding. What do you want to know?
"With thanks to Victor Newman for the ‘write down everything you know’ idea".
Judy Payne
Judy is a practitioner, consultant and reluctant academic specialising in knowledge management, collaborative working and learning. She chairs the Knowledge SIG.
Comments
Things are out there.Other
Things are out there.
Other people’s interpretation of the meaning of the ‘thing’ is information, including everything written or spoken about ‘things’.
Knowledge is our understanding of the information in the context we are living in.
We may know what we know but it is not real, just useful. Making this available to others as potentially useful information is valuable.
However, it is virtually impossible to prove any theorem and totally impossible to prove a negative concept so information and knowledge always has to be questioned.
The value of knowledge
The value of knowledge (leading to business 'edge', competitve advantage etc) is increasingly something I hear spoken about, although that doean't translate often enough into people - including (perhaps mainly) organisationally - really demonstrating that they actively value it by how it is treated, or 'spent'.
It's common to talk about Knowledge Assets (within which crucial distinctions must be made, e.g. between knowledge stocks and knowledge flows...) and I often find myself talking about the essence of KM simply being about recognising that knowledge is a key business asset, not just something that is 'incidentally' created and sloshes around an organisation while the 'real work' gets done - creating, sharing & synthesising (etc) Knowledge is the Real Work!
When we achieve effective sharing of knowledge, say within an organisation, this does make us conscious of finding a shortcut, often taking advantage and reaping the benefits of others' experiences. So, yes, a highly tradeable commodity.
But most valuable of all - irrespective of what particular kinds of knowlgede we're talking about - is the ability to recognise the value in knowledge and to create the conditions in which people devleop and share active appreciation of that value, rather than simply owning, capturing and trading it. It's about usefulness and purpose and not about ownership.
Great question there from
Great question there from @SteveK!
My personal view (the other members of the SIG team can add theirs) is that information, which can be a representation of knowledge, is a commodity that can be traded - books are an example. But information is everywhere, and I wouldn't call it 'precious'.
Trading the knowledge in our heads kind of leads to the question of whether people are a commodity, doesn't it? In one sense we do trade this knowledge - through employment and other working relationships.
Taking this in a slightly different direction, what if knowledge was the global currency, instead of money? How might that work?
Interesting new SIG. Four
Interesting new SIG. Four hundred years ago Sir Francis Bacon said knowledge is power.
I subscribe to the "it is in our heads" rather than "it is out there on its own".
A very laudable objective to explore how to define knowledge, capture and share knowledge. What is the SIGs view on knowledge as a commodity that has value, is precious and is something that will be traded at a cost?
Thank you Stephen. What are
Thank you Stephen. What are your beliefs about knowledge?
Great Post Judy. Looking
Great Post Judy. Looking forward to participating from the other side of the globe.
Regards, Stephen