Knowledge management: A careful look

Abstract

During the past three decades, corporations, governments, and educational institutions in industrialized nations have adopted information technology to run their daily operations. Information technology, both computer hardware and software and communications technologies, is at the core of knowledge-based economy. Knowledge-based economy is a major driving force for the economy and society of industrialized nations [www.wkforum.org]. Knowledge management has become an important subject in this context. However, the term "knowledge management" is vaguely understood. One reason is that the term "knowledge" itself has been both overused and loosely used. To understand the technical issues and challenges in knowledge management, one must first understand the term knowledge better. In this article we will take a careful look at the term "knowledge", and on that basis shed some light on the concept of knowledge management, and then in turn point out some major issues and challenges in knowledge management.