Over time the technology of information has advanced from bulky representations on cave walls to tiny digital impulses containing libraries of content. Additionally over time, information systems have advanced from counting stones, to mechanical computers like the abacus or sliderule, to modern supercomputers. In short, Information Management (information technology and information systems) has advanced in a manner that has enabled rapidly increasing information loads to be successfully managed.
In contrast, during the same period the technology (human learning) and systems (human brains) charged with processing information into actionable knowledge have not changed at all. The technology of human learning (storytelling, reading, apprenticeship, etc.) is essentially the same today as it was thousands of years ago; and of course our brains haven’t changed much either.
The information explosion notion is derived from this great disparity between our increasing capability to capture, store, and deliver information and our nearly unchanged capability to more rapidly process that information. However, the overload view only considers one side of the coin. The information overload view takes the perspective that there is<strong> too much quantity</strong>. However, the information overload view downplays or ignores the perspective that there is <strong>too little processing capability</strong>.
Knowledge Management has become a growing emphasis, not because humanity has not been managing knowledge, because we have. Knowledge Management has become a growing emphasis because the free-flowing information environment has enabled greater competition. And thus, now desperate for any advantage, entities are being urged to overcome the issue of information quantity by developing their information-to-knowledge (i2k) conversion capabilities by any means necessary.Â
This blog is dedicated to moving us away from the information handling (capture more, store more, distribute more) approach to KM. The i2k blog’s goal is to stimulate discussion about how we create and apply knowledge more efficiently and effectively.
