Knowledge Management: The Essentials.

• Author: NUNES, CYNTHIA J.
• Position: Brief Article - Review

TITLE: Knowledge Management: The Essentials

EDITOR: Priscilla Emery

PUBLISHER: Association for Information and Image Management International (AIIM International)

ISBN: 089258-364-9

PUBLICATION DATE: 1999

LENGTH: 47 pages

PRICE: $47 (AIIM member), $77 (non-member)

AVAILABLE: AIIM International: www.aiim.org or 888-839-3165

According to Karl-Erik Sveiby, a prominent practitioner of knowledge management (KM), "knowledge is a human faculty, ... so a computer can never store knowledge, it can only store information." This quotation is but one among many offered in the opening chapter of AIIM's white paper on the essentials of KM, which is described by editor Priscilla Emery as a "compendium of succinct and non-biased information about the subject" and "a handy reference guide when starting on the road toward understanding KM."

The paper's first chapter sets the context by expounding several prevailing philosophies and definitions of KM as well as theories on the nature of knowledge itself. Not surprisingly, there is disagreement among authorities cited. To its credit, the paper includes not only differing opinions but also many ideas that appear to be in direct opposition to the very basis of KM -- that knowledge can be managed.

While acknowledging the confusion -- and hype -- which surround KM, the paper explains that KM is an emerging, evolving discipline -- experiencing all the normal growing pains of new ideas -- and devotes the remaining six chapters to the less controversial, more practical, aspects of KM.

Chapter two, "What Does KM Do -- Views from Different Angles," contains very short descriptions -- five from vendors, one by the editor -- of the benefits of KM to an organization.

Chapter three, on KM technologies, contains only one page of text, one half-page graphic (the only pictorial material in the entire paper), and almost four pages of vendor listings. Given the publication's brevity (47 pages), this imbalance in coverage and its focus on vendors exemplify one of several editorial problems that plague the publication.

Three case studies are presented in the fourth chapter. The first, written by a consulting firm about its internal KM initiatives, describes how the use of KM has made its consultants better and, by extension, better able to serve its clients. This study is allotted five pages -- the longest essay in the entire paper. This allocation of limited space for coverage which does not appear to promote the reader's...