A paper by T.D. Wilson at the University of Sheffield tackles The nonsense of ‘knowledge management’.
Quote: “‘Knowledge’ is defined as what we know: knowledge involves the mental processes of comprehension, understanding and learning that go on in the mind and only in the mind … . Whenever we wish to express what we know, we can only do so by uttering messages of one kind or another … . Such messages do not carry ‘knowledge’, they constitute ‘information’, which a knowing mind may assimilate, understand, comprehend and incorporate into its own knowledge structures.”
This is why I’m more interested in ‘information management’ than ‘knowledge management’ — because knowledge can’t, strictly speaking, be managed. It’s inside your head.
The late Michael Dertouzos once quipped, upon meeting someone who said she was in charge of managing her company’s “knowledge assets” — So, do you also manage the company’s knowledge liabilities? And can you account for them on a knowledge balance sheet?
(thanks to Weinberger for the link)