Personal knowledge management
Encyclopedia
Personal knowledge management (PKM) refers to a collection of processes that an individual carries out to gather, classify, store, search, retrieve, and share knowledge in his/her daily activities and how these processes support work activities . It is a response to the idea that knowledge worker
s increasingly need to be responsible for their own growth and learning and represents a bottom-up approach to knowledge management
, as opposed to more traditional, top-down KM .
PKM integrates personal information management
(PIM), focused on individual skills, with knowledge management
(KM) in addition to input from a variety of disciplines such as cognitive psychology
, management
, and philosophy
. From an organizational perspective, understanding of the field has developed in light of expanding knowledge about human cognitive capabilities and the permeability of organizational boundaries. From a metacognitive perspective, it compares various modalities within human cognition as
to their competence and efficacy . It is an underresearched area .
More recently researches have been conducted to situate personal knowledge management in the Web 2.0
and in particular trying to understand "the potential role of Web 2.0 technologies for harnessing and managing personal knowledge".
Wright’s model involves four interrelated domains: analytical, information, social, and learning. The analytical domain involves competencies such as interpretation, envisioning, application, creation, and contextualization. The information dimension comprises the sourcing, assessment, organization, aggregation, and communication of information. The social dimension involves finding and collaborating with people, development of both close networks and extended networks, and dialogue. The learning dimension entails expanding pattern recognition and sensemaking capabilities, reflection, development of new knowledge, improvement of skills, and extension to others. This model stresses the importance of both bonding and bridging networks .
In Nonaka and Takeuchi’s SECI model
of knowledge creation (see under knowledge management
), knowledge can be tacit or explicit, with the interaction of the two resulting in new knowledge . Smedley has developed a PKM model based on Nonaka and colleagues’ model in which an expert provides direction and a community of practice
provides support for personal knowledge creation . Trust is central to knowledge sharing in this model. Nonaka has recently returned to his earlier work in an attempt to further develop his ideas about knowledge creation
Personal knowledge management can also be viewed along two main dimensions, personal knowledge
and personal management
. Zhang has developed a model of PKM in relation to organizational knowledge management (OKM) that considers two axes of knowledge properties and management perspectives, either organizational or personal. These aspects of organizational and personal knowledge are interconnected through the OAPI process (organizationalize, aggregate, personalize, and individualize), whereby organizational knowledge is personalized and individualized and personal knowledge is aggregated and operationalized as organizational knowledge .
(PIM). William Jones argues that only personal information as tangible resource can be managed, whereas personal knowledge cannot. Dave Snowden
has asserted that most individuals cannot manage their knowledge in the traditional sense of “managing” and has advocated thinking in terms of sensemaking
rather than PKM . Most notably, some argue that knowledge is never an individual product - that it emerges through connections, dialog and social interaction (see Sociology of knowledge
). However, in Wright’s model, PKM involves the application to problem solving of analytical, information, social, and learning dimensions, which are interrelated , and so is inherently social.
An aim of PKM is “helping individuals to be more effective in personal, organisational and social environments” , often through the use of technology such as networking software. It has been argued, however, that equation of PKM with technology has limited the value and utility of the concept (e.g.).
PKM has also been linked to these tools:
Other useful tools include Open Space Technology
, cultural anthropology
, stories and narrative, mindmaps, concept maps and eco-language, and single frames and similar visualization
techniques. Individuals use these tools to capture and ideas, expertise, experience, opinions, or thoughts, and this 'voicing' will encourage cognitive diversity and promote free exchanges away from a centralized policed knowledge repository. The goal is to facilitate knowledge sharing and personal content management.
Knowledge worker
Knowledge workers in today's workforce are individuals who are valued for their ability to act and communicate with knowledge within a specific subject area. They will often advance the overall understanding of that subject through focused analysis, design and/or development. They use research...
s increasingly need to be responsible for their own growth and learning and represents a bottom-up approach to knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
, as opposed to more traditional, top-down KM .
History and Background
Although as early as 1998 Davenport wrote on the importance to worker productivity of understanding individual knowledge processes (cited in ), the term personal knowledge management appears to be relatively new. Its origin can be traced in a working paper by Frand and Hixon .PKM integrates personal information management
Personal information management
Personal information management refers to the practice and the study of the activities people perform in order to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use information items such as documents , web pages and email messages for everyday use to complete tasks and fulfill a person’s various...
(PIM), focused on individual skills, with knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
(KM) in addition to input from a variety of disciplines such as cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....
, management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. From an organizational perspective, understanding of the field has developed in light of expanding knowledge about human cognitive capabilities and the permeability of organizational boundaries. From a metacognitive perspective, it compares various modalities within human cognition as
to their competence and efficacy . It is an underresearched area .
More recently researches have been conducted to situate personal knowledge management in the Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
and in particular trying to understand "the potential role of Web 2.0 technologies for harnessing and managing personal knowledge".
PKM Models
Dorsey (2000) identified information retrieval, assessment and evaluation, organization, analysis, presentation, security, and collaboration as essential to PKM (cited in ).Wright’s model involves four interrelated domains: analytical, information, social, and learning. The analytical domain involves competencies such as interpretation, envisioning, application, creation, and contextualization. The information dimension comprises the sourcing, assessment, organization, aggregation, and communication of information. The social dimension involves finding and collaborating with people, development of both close networks and extended networks, and dialogue. The learning dimension entails expanding pattern recognition and sensemaking capabilities, reflection, development of new knowledge, improvement of skills, and extension to others. This model stresses the importance of both bonding and bridging networks .
In Nonaka and Takeuchi’s SECI model
The SECI Model
The theory of organizational knowledge creation developed by Ikujiro Nonaka and his colleagues The theory of organizational knowledge creation developed by Ikujiro Nonaka and his colleagues The theory of organizational knowledge creation developed by Ikujiro Nonaka and his colleagues (Nonaka 1994;...
of knowledge creation (see under knowledge management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
), knowledge can be tacit or explicit, with the interaction of the two resulting in new knowledge . Smedley has developed a PKM model based on Nonaka and colleagues’ model in which an expert provides direction and a community of practice
Community of practice
A community of practice is, according to cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, a group of people who share an interest, a craft, and/or a profession. The group can evolve naturally because of the members' common interest in a particular domain or area, or it can be created...
provides support for personal knowledge creation . Trust is central to knowledge sharing in this model. Nonaka has recently returned to his earlier work in an attempt to further develop his ideas about knowledge creation
Personal knowledge management can also be viewed along two main dimensions, personal knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
and personal management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
. Zhang has developed a model of PKM in relation to organizational knowledge management (OKM) that considers two axes of knowledge properties and management perspectives, either organizational or personal. These aspects of organizational and personal knowledge are interconnected through the OAPI process (organizationalize, aggregate, personalize, and individualize), whereby organizational knowledge is personalized and individualized and personal knowledge is aggregated and operationalized as organizational knowledge .
Criticisms of PKM
Not everyone agrees that the focus on the individual is a good thing, or that PKM is anything more than a new wrapper around personal information managementPersonal information management
Personal information management refers to the practice and the study of the activities people perform in order to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use information items such as documents , web pages and email messages for everyday use to complete tasks and fulfill a person’s various...
(PIM). William Jones argues that only personal information as tangible resource can be managed, whereas personal knowledge cannot. Dave Snowden
Dave Snowden
David John Snowden is a Welsh lecturer, consultant and researcher in the field of knowledge management.He has been described as an expert on tacit knowledge, and "One of the most perceptive observers of the way in which knowledge is used in organizations." In 2008 he won the Academy of Management...
has asserted that most individuals cannot manage their knowledge in the traditional sense of “managing” and has advocated thinking in terms of sensemaking
Sensemaking
Sensemaking is the process by which people give meaning to experience. While this process has been studied by other disciplines under other names for centuries, the term "sensemaking" has primarily marked three distinct but related research areas since the 1970s: Sensemaking was introduced to...
rather than PKM . Most notably, some argue that knowledge is never an individual product - that it emerges through connections, dialog and social interaction (see Sociology of knowledge
Sociology of knowledge
The Sociology of knowledge is the study of the relationship between human thought and the social context within which it arises, and of the effects prevailing ideas have on societies...
). However, in Wright’s model, PKM involves the application to problem solving of analytical, information, social, and learning dimensions, which are interrelated , and so is inherently social.
An aim of PKM is “helping individuals to be more effective in personal, organisational and social environments” , often through the use of technology such as networking software. It has been argued, however, that equation of PKM with technology has limited the value and utility of the concept (e.g.).
PKM Skills
Skills associated with personal knowledge management.- Reflection. Continuous improvementKaizen, Japanese for "improvement", or "change for the better" refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, game development, and business management. It has been applied in healthcare, psychotherapy, life-coaching, government,...
on how the individual operates. - Manage learning. Manage how and when the individual learns.
- Information literacyInformation literacyThe National Forum on Information Literacy defines information literacy as “...the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand.” This is the most common definition; however,...
. Understanding what information is important and how to find unknown information. - Organizational skills. Personal librarianLibrarianA librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
ship. Personal categorizationCategorizationCategorization is the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Categorization implies that objects are grouped into categories, usually for some specific purpose. Ideally, a category illuminates a relationship between the subjects and objects of knowledge...
and taxonomiesTaxonomyTaxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
. - NetworkingSocial networkA social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
with others. Knowing what your network of people knows. Knowing who might have additional knowledge and resources to help you - Researching, canvassingCanvassingCanvassing is the systematic initiation of direct contact with a target group of individuals commonly used during political campaigns. A campaign team will knock on doors of private residences within a particular geographic area, engaging in face-to-face personal interaction with voters...
, paying attentionAttentionAttention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....
, interviewing and observationObservationObservation is either an activity of a living being, such as a human, consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments. The term may also refer to any data collected during this activity...
al 'cultural anthropology' skills - Communication skills. PerceptionPerceptionPerception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
, intuitionIntuition (knowledge)Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason. "The word 'intuition' comes from the Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning 'to look inside'’ or 'to contemplate'." Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify...
, expressionEmotional expressionIn psychology, emotional expression is observable verbal and nonverbal behaviour that communicates emotion. Emotional expression can occur with or without self-awareness...
, visualizationMental imageA mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of perceiving some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses...
, and interpretationInterpretation (logic)An interpretation is an assignment of meaning to the symbols of a formal language. Many formal languages used in mathematics, logic, and theoretical computer science are defined in solely syntactic terms, and as such do not have any meaning until they are given some interpretation...
. - Creative skills. Imagination, pattern recognitionPattern recognitionIn machine learning, pattern recognition is the assignment of some sort of output value to a given input value , according to some specific algorithm. An example of pattern recognition is classification, which attempts to assign each input value to one of a given set of classes...
, appreciation, innovation, inference. Understanding of complex adaptive systems. - CollaborationCollaborationCollaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
skills. Coordination, synchronizationSynchronizationSynchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
, experimentation, cooperationCooperationCooperation or co-operation is the process of working or acting together. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony, side by side, while in its more complicated forms, it can involve something as complex as the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a...
, and designDesignDesign as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
.
PKM Tools
Some organizations are now introducing PKM 'systems' with some or all of four components:- Just-in-time CanvassingCanvassingCanvassing is the systematic initiation of direct contact with a target group of individuals commonly used during political campaigns. A campaign team will knock on doors of private residences within a particular geographic area, engaging in face-to-face personal interaction with voters...
- templates and e-mail canvassing lists that enable people to identify and connect with the appropriate experts and expertise quickly and effectively - Knowledge harvesting - software tools that automatically collect appropriate knowledge residing on subject matter experts' hard drives
- Content managementContent managementContent management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...
tools - taxonomy processes and desktop search tools that enable employees to subscribe to, find, organize, and publish information that resides on their desktops - Personal Productivity Improvement - knowledge fairs and one-on-one training sessions to help each employee make more effective personal use of the knowledge, learning, and technology resources available in the context of their work
PKM has also been linked to these tools:
- social bookmarkingSocial bookmarkingSocial bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
and enterprise social bookmarking - knowledge logs (K-logs)
- e-mailE-mailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, calendars, task managerTask managerA task manager is a program used to provide information about the processes and programs running on a computer, as well as the general status of the computer. It can also be used to terminate processes and programs, as well as change the processes priority...
s - Online Web Assistants
- WikiWikiA wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
s- Desktop wikis
- Personal wikiPersonal wikiA personal wiki is a wiki maintained primarily for personal use. Personal wikis allow people to organize information on their desktop or mobile computing devices in a manner similar to community wikis, but without the need for collaboration by multiple users....
s - Semantic WikiSemantic WikiA semantic wiki is a wiki that has an underlying model of the knowledge described in its pages. Regular, or syntactic, wikis have structured text and untyped hyperlinks...
s
Other useful tools include Open Space Technology
Open Space Technology
Open-space technology is an approach for hosting meetings, conferences, corporate-style retreats, and community summit events, focused on a specific and important purpose or task—but beginning without any formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme.- Law of two feet :If at any time you find...
, cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
, stories and narrative, mindmaps, concept maps and eco-language, and single frames and similar visualization
Mental image
A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of perceiving some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses...
techniques. Individuals use these tools to capture and ideas, expertise, experience, opinions, or thoughts, and this 'voicing' will encourage cognitive diversity and promote free exchanges away from a centralized policed knowledge repository. The goal is to facilitate knowledge sharing and personal content management.
See also
- Adaptive hypermediaAdaptive hypermediaIn contrast to traditional e-learning/electronic learning, e-business, and e-government systems, whereby all users are offered or even directed a standard series of hyperlinks, adaptive hypermedia tailors what the user sees to the learner's goals, abilities, interests, knowledge, etc...
- Commonplace book – pre-computer technique
- Comparison of knowledge base management software
- Knowledge managementKnowledge managementKnowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
- Personal information managementPersonal information managementPersonal information management refers to the practice and the study of the activities people perform in order to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use information items such as documents , web pages and email messages for everyday use to complete tasks and fulfill a person’s various...
- Personal wikiPersonal wikiA personal wiki is a wiki maintained primarily for personal use. Personal wikis allow people to organize information on their desktop or mobile computing devices in a manner similar to community wikis, but without the need for collaboration by multiple users....
- Semantic desktopSemantic desktopIn computer science, the Semantic Desktop is a collective term for ideas related to changing a computer's user interface and data handling capabilities so that data is more easily shared between different applications or tasks and so that data that once could not be automatically processed by a...
- User modelingUser modelingUser modeling is a subdivision of human–computer interaction and describes theprocess of building up and modifying a user model. The main goal of user modeling is customization and adaptation of systems to the user's specific needs. The system needs to "say the 'right' thing at the 'right' time in...
External links
- Personal Toolkit: Three thousand communities of practice, article by Steve Barth in KMWorld
- Climbing the Personal Knowledge Mountain by James Dellow - a goal-based approach to PKM focused on Relationships & Networks, Information and Technology posted on ThinkingShift.com
- Personalknowledge.org, First International Workshop on Personal Knowledge Management at the 5th Conference on Professional Knowledge Management, 25–27 March 2009, Solothurn, Switzerland.
- Knowledge-management-online.com, Effective Personal Knowledge Management in a Global Knowledge Economy