> Richard Li wrote: > > You should also watch for the latest and greatest > > misnomer: Knowledge Management Systems. "CMS" > > seems to be more and more uncool in marketese. > > <snip>
James Robertson replied: > As a "knowledge management consultant", this is my > somewhat pragmatic view on these terms: > > * You can't have a "knowledge management system". > Doesn't exist. > > * We help in implementing "content management > systems" to meet specific business needs. > > * "Knowledge management" is then the supporting > non-technological activities (people, processes) > around the CMS implementation. > KM also looks to the broader strategic and > cultural contexts. Thank you, James. I'd like to buy you a drink for saying that so clearly. While I must admit that I don't "own" these terms, I'm pretty anal when it comes to term usage. I just want terms to make sense and be used consistently, or I get all confused (sadly, I get confused very easily). Yes, it's true these terms are constantly being redefined by industry (it's a young industry and a hard problem, and we don't all share the same Venn diagram for agreement on what these terms *should* mean). However, I feel compelled (in my anal way) to assert: *Content* is measurable, and *knowledge* is not. *Content* is tangible, and *knowledge* is not. *Content* is reviewable by diverse interested parties, and *knowledge* is not. *Content* can be agreed upon by two or more people, and *knowledge* can not. The key issue is that *content* is an expression of understanding, while *knowledge* is an internalization of understanding by ONE person (and WITHIN one person). Therefore, no software system can "manage" *knowledge*, but rather, it *can* manage *content*. To say otherwise would be to defy so much theory in so many fields far beyond what we geeks here like to consider when discussing solution pragmatics. Even if we go deep into the field of "Test Psychology" with the guys that bring us the GRE and SAT, we're talking about _measuring_ *knowledge of content*. Moreover, we're talking about *specific content*. Even after a few hours of answering chemistry questions, we *did not* measure your knowledge of *chemistry*, but rather measured (with some degree of error) your specific understanding of specific content, which we hope is sufficiently representative to extrapolate an overall assessment of your overall understanding of the field. Thus, I agree with James that there is no such thing now or ever that could legitimately be considered a "knowledge management system", unless your use of "system" does NOT mean "software", but rather represents a web of processes, like, "the human digestive system" (don't forget to include enzyme regulation through genetic and environmental factors). ;-) However, on the more promising front of "content management systems", it's quite possible to do the document management thing (100 Word docs and 200 PDF files) and digital asset management thing (300 high-resolution images and videos, plus 2200 derived images and videos in different resolutions and formats) and e-learning thing (chemistry database with 1300 questions and 212 assembled tests) and forum thing (emails logged by person, date, thread, and discussion group) and publishing thing (pages updated once a week with a "mailto:"; link automatically inserted at the bottom of each), and whatever. I don't *at all* disagree with vendors using the term "knowledge management", as I completely agree with James' use. Knowledge management is real; it just applies to something much bigger and less tangible than content management. I just don't believe "knowledge management" is reasonably applied to software products. As Richard seems to be correct that "knowledge management" is applied to software with increasingly popularity, I must dare to hold out say, "Nee!" in that general direction. If somebody out there can give me a quantitative measure of "tacit knowledge", I'll drop my assertion. ;-) --charley [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com -- http://cms-list.org/ more signal, less noise.
