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Knowledge management (KM) is involved with the acquisition, storage and transfer of knowledge within an organisation; it is broader than information management. The success of knowledge management is entirely dependent on the people involved and works best where the organisational culture allows people to share and capture knowledge. Knowledge is lost through reorganisations, systems changing, data thrown away and through people leaving the organisation.
Definition of some of the main terms used in KM
Knowledge management usually contains a combination of the following:
- Recognising and building on in-house individual expertise
- Formalising to varying degrees the harnessing of knowledge through the use of appropriate systems
- Passing on knowledge
- Developing it from an individual asset into a corporate one
- Encouraging the growth of an open corporate culture in which knowledge is viewed as being central to organisational development and to the efficiency of methods of business operation (Webb, S. (1998) Knowledge Management: linchpin of change, London:Aslib)
Communities of practice enable people with common professional interests to come together and share problems and experiences.
An information audit provides a snapshot of an organization’s current use of information, and also highlights any gaps in information needs.
A knowledge audit determines and evaluates how and where knowledge is used within an organization.