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This article that I have found is very interesting. It deals with the youngest professor in history, 19 year old Alia Sabu. She has mention something that is very relevant to knowledge management which is “Knowledge is power – especially when it is shared.” Since we know that the creation of knowledge is essential to managing knowledge then we first have to share the knowledge that we have created. In sharing this knowledge we are enabling each other to have some idea about what has originally been done and how others knowledge can improve your knowledge. This may help the individual that you have shared your knowledge with go further in the specific field that they are in or in a new direction. This apparent through Sabu’s answer about her teaching career. “It’s something where you can make a difference. It’s not just what you can do, but you can enable a lot of other people to make their changes.” Remember that when you share your knowledge you are enabling others to grow in their knowledge and expertise.
This article deals with customers on the internet who want to search for specific information and their frustration with the online search. Zachary McGeary, principal analyst at Jupiter Research states that, “Customers often are not sure how to phrase their questions or search requests. In addition, over half the customers who report usability problems say that their searches offer too many results to be helpful.” The problem with asking question on the internet is when customers ask them in ways that are not considered standard. This causes many issues but as technology continues to enhance the systems that allow for the customer to ask questions are becoming more aware of natural language. This means that a customer can ask a question in any way that he or she pleases and the system will attempt to find the answer regardless of how the customer phrased the question.
http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/Feature/Web-self-service-searching-for-answers-41338.aspx
In researching information about these terms for Dr. Phelps class I have came to the conclusion that these terms are in the eye of the beholder so to speak. People may try to tie a concerte definition to these words but it really depends on what the sistuation is to dtermine the defenitions. For example, information for baking a cake is not the same as information for growing a farm. This is because as I said earlier, these terms are in the eyes of the beholder.
“KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets,” CIO defines knowledge management. The thing is that in spite of this definition they still argue that you can not truly define KM because it is too broad. It also states that technology and KM are two different things. Technology can be used in KM but technology is not KM. It continues on to say that as more of the baby boomer’s start to retire the urgency of KM in the American business system has increased. This article goes on to explain the definition more and tries to explain their position.
The place where this article is : http://www.cio.com/article/40343
Liew, A. (June 2007). Understanding Data, Information, Knowledge And Their Inter-Relationships. Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, Vol. 8, No. 2 .
http://www.tlainc.com/articl134.htm
This article deals with the terms knowledge, information, and data and how people get them confused. It includes the vagueness of these terms as they apply to the fundamental concepts of knowledge management, intellectual capital, and organizational learning. It also poses definitions for these terms while defining the relationship among these terms. This relationship is analyzed by two models with the transformation of the terms and the interaction.
As I read the various blog entries and listen to the information that we get in all the classes that we are taking I see a key use for knowledge management – sense making. A lot of the times we hear information and we do not process it. I believe that km helps the individual grasp aspects of the knowledge that they have or can obtain in day to day situations. For example, in a meeting you would have someone who writes down the notes, questions, decision, and highlights of the meeting. With this information you can now understand how productive the meeting was, wheiter it went off topic, was there something raised that interests you (or the organization), and so forth. All KM is to me is a network of transfering and processing information from various sources to a particular source where it could easily be found and managed.
In an organizational context, data represents facts or values of results, and relations between data and other relations have the capacity to represent information. Patterns of relations of data and information and other patterns have the capacity to represent knowledge. For the representation to be of any utility it must be understood, and when understood the representation is information or knowledge to the one that understands. Yet, what is the real value of information and knowledge, and what does it mean to manage it?
Without associations we have little chance of understanding anything. We understand things based on the associations we are able to discern. If someone says that sales started at $100,000 per quarter and have been rising 20% per quarter for the last four quarters, I am somewhat confident that sales are now about $207,000 per quarter. I am confident because I know what “rising 20% per quarter” means and I can do the math.
Yet, if someone asks what sales are apt to be next quarter, I would have to say, “It depends!” I would have to say this because although I have data and information, I have no knowledge. This is a trap that many fall into, because they don’t understand that data doesn’t predict trends of data. What predicts trends of data is the activity that is responsible for the data. To be able to estimate the sales for next quarter, I would need information about the competition, market size, extent of market saturation, current backlog, customer satisfaction levels associated with current product delivery, current production capacity, the extent of capacity utilization, and a whole host of other things. When I was able to amass sufficient data and information to form a complete pattern that I understood, I would have knowledge, and would then be somewhat comfortable estimating the sales for next quarter. Anything less would be just fantasy!
In this example what needs to be managed to create value is the data that defines past results, the data and information associated with the organization, it’s market, it’s customers, and it’s competition, and the patterns which relate all these items to enable a reliable level of predictability of the future.What I would refer to as knowledge management would be the capture, retention, and reuse of the foundation for imparting an understanding of how all these pieces fit together and how to convey them meaningfully to some other person.
The value of Knowledge Management relates directly to the effectiveness[bel97a] with which the managed knowledge enables the members of the organization to deal with today’s situations and effectively envision and create their future. Without on-demand access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed based on what the individual or group brings to the situation with them. With on-demand access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed with the sum total of everything anyone in the organization has ever learned about a situation of a similar nature. Which approach would you perceive would make a more effective organization?[bel97b]
from h
This youtube video suggests how simulation software might be able to help in knowledge management.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=d14fGR-_kWM
