Tutorial. 9. Technology in KM

9. Technology in KM
ETL525 Knowledge Management
Tutorial Four
16 January 2009
K.T. Lam
lblkt@ust.hk
Last updated: 15 January 2009Technology is KM Enabler
• Technology is one of the Four Pillars of KM, which
supports and enables KM strategies and operations.
(Stankosky 2005)
• KM is to coordinate an organization‟s people, technology,
processes and organizational structure. (Dalkir 2005)
• Trying to implement a KM systems without technology is
extremely difficult but the technology of itself does not
make the KM system work; it can facilitate and enable
connections and communications but it will not make
them happen. (Gamble and Blackwell, 2001)Technology is KM Enabler
(cont.)
• If the culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing
does not exist, adopting more technologies will not
yield much benefit to a KM implementation. (Park
2005)
• Too much emphasis on technology without
incorporating the other critical elements (i.e.,
business strategy under leadership, organizational
structure, and learning) can easily result in failed KM
implementation. (Park 2005)List of Technologies mentioned
in KM literature
Abstracts Database management systems
Annotation Decision support systems
Archiving Digital libraries
Artificial intelligence Discussion forums
Authoring tools Document management systems
Automated reasoning systems Document imaging
Blogs E-learning systems
Business modeling systems Electronic publishing
Business intelligence tools Email
Chat rooms Expert systems
Classification Expertise location systems
Communication technologies Extranets
Collaboration tools Folksonomies
Content management systems Geographic location management
Customer relations management Groupware
Data analysis Help desk applications
Data mining Indexes
Data warehousing Information retrieval systemsList of Technologies mentioned
in KM literature (cont.)
Information technology RSS Feeds
Instant messaging Search engines
Intelligent Agents Search technologies
Internet SMS
Intranet Social bookmarking
Knowledge-based systems Social networking
Knowledge discovery systems Social software
Knowledge mapping tools Tagging
Knowledge repository Taxonomies
Knowledge management systems Text analysis
Metadata Text mining
Mind mapping Text retrieval
Neural networks Time/proximity management social tools
Ontology Video-conferencing
Optical character recognition Visualization tools
Personalization technologies Web-based training
Portals Wikis
Robots Workflow systemsList of Technologies mentioned
in KM literature (cont.)
• Observations:
– A diversity of technologies are involved in KM.
• Why?
– Some of the technologies listed above can be
more accurately regarded as tools for information
management.
• How do we differentiate tools for IM and for KM?
– As new technology is ever emerging, tools and
systems for KM can become obsolete very quickly.
• Any implication to an organization?Discussion
• Identify technologies and tools that are used in your
organization that help in the following KM activities:
– Knowledge creation
– Knowledge capture
– Knowledge sharing
– Knowledge dissemination
– Knowledge application
• Name the software used, if possible.
• Are they for Information Management or for KM?Roles of Technology in KM
• KM technology provides a seamless pipeline for
the flow of explicit and tacit knowledge through
four modes of knowledge conversion
(socialization, externalization, combination, and
internalization) to enable the following:
– Capturing knowledge.
– Defining, storing, categorizing, indexing, and linking
digital objects corresponding to a knowledge unit.
– Searching for and subscribing to relevant content.
– Presenting content with sufficient flexibility to render
it meaningful and applicable across multiple contexts
of use.
Source: Park (2005)Intranets
• Internet, Intranet and Extranet
– Internet is for the public.
– Intranet is available only to the staff of the
organization.
– Extranet is an intranet that is also partially
available to outsiders.Intranet (cont.)
• Intranet is a “must have” platform for implementing
KM initiatives.
• Intranet can be utilized to achieve the following
purposes:
– Drive organization efficiency and productivity
– Support the sharing of best practices
– Lead to more-informed decisions
– Serve as a channel for internal communications
• Intranet is a strategic investment made by an
organization to capture and disseminate intellectual
capital, and in the process, remain competitive.
Source: Sarnoff & Wimmer (2003)