Knowledge Management Basics
Practical Action
Why do we need knowledge management?
In any human activity we use knowledge, be it the knowledge of our ancestors on how to
cultivate the land, the knowledge described in books on how to perform mathematical
calculations or the knowledge on how to govern acquired by a young prince from his father the
king. Knowledge is ultimately a human faculty and resides in human minds. It is described
and transferred in some form. In this sense we deal with a description or representation of
knowledge. The tacit knowledge that cannot be explicitly described is shared/communicated
through direct contact between people, discussions, or teaching.
The handling of knowledge is not a new phenomenon. We have been collecting, describing,
organizing and sharing knowledge for millennia. The realization that knowledge is a critical
element has been heightened in recent years by the impact of information and
communication technologies, debates on more effective methods of using academic as well
as traditional knowledge, and immense opportunities for everybody to access sources of
knowledge at all levels.
In a complex world of today one can learn and acquire knowledge from many sources, but in
most cases we are flooded with information and not gaining enough knowledge. The solution
of development problems requires knowledge from many diverse domains and sources.
Effective organization and use of knowledge assets at all levels (individual, team,
institutional) requires processes to collect, codify, create, retain and disseminate knowledge
objects (i.e. objects that represent/describe knowledge such as books, manuals, computer
programs, maps, photographs), in short knowledge management.
For example, an institution responsible for developing policies in the natural resources sector
would need mange the knowledge described in geographical atlases, biodiversity surveys,
geological surveys, census databases, economic plans, documents concerning environmental
protection, etc. The institution should also know those who are the best specialists to be
consulted on specific issues concerning the NRM policies and in general where and how the
relevant knowledge can be obtained. What we really manage are the institution’s knowledge
processes, not the knowledge itself. The organization that introduced KM approaches agree
that KM is important for facilitating better decision-making processes, building the
intellectual capital of an organization, eliminating redundant processes and improving
operations, fostering better internal and external communication.
What is the relationship between data, information and knowledge?
The terms: data, information and knowledge are usually used interchangeably. However, in
the discussion on knowledge management and its practical implementations we need some
informal definitions to understand and explain the relationships, methods and tools.
The following simple examples illustrate definitions of data, information and knowledge.
Having an entity (record) composed of three items: Maguinda, 55, 15% completely out of
context, we may see them as just pieces of data, i.e. text and numbers representing some
facts, phenomena or objects in the real world. Data can be written/produced on paper or
represented inside a computer as sequences of zeros and ones. In today’s computer systems,
a datum (data item) can be a text, a number, a string of symbols, a picture, a voice/video
recording, or a drawing.
Data are formal representations of facts, objects or phenomena existing in the real
world or abstractions created by human mind.
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