Posted by DBogosian on April 08, 2002 at 12:15:08:

In Reply to: A TOOL? OR A FOUNDATION? THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT posted by Piotr Sochocki on April 06, 2002 at 19:35:51:

My first reaction is to say IT is a tool, one of many used to build a solid house, not a foundation that the entire structure relies upon to hold it up. Then again, I would say IT has become the foundation for a lot of KM, whether it is wise or not.

But I wonder if the metaphor is too limiting. My next reaction is to compare IT to a newspaper. A lot depends on its content, its distribution, its accessibilty, the faith its readers has in the information it delivers, and so on. There is always more knowledge than any newspaper can contain, and in KM I am always afraid we will end up believing that the knowledge we manage is all the knowledge there IS. IT is limited in that there is so much knowledge that IT cannot capture or communicate that is nonetheless critical to so many of our outcomes.

I wonder if there isn't a better metaphor out there from which to begin. Do we need to see KM as something to be contained, collected, herded and rounded up? Must IT be the container, the plumbing as it were?

If KM were a ship, would IT be the water, the wind, the rudder or the sail?

d

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• Re: A TOOL? OR A FOUNDATION? THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Abhay 15:23:13 04/09/02 (0)

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