Content area
Full text
Personal knowledge management
Edited by Dr David Pauleen
Introduction
Information is considered an input to the knowledge creation process. Theorising this process, [32] Nonaka (1994) postulated that "information is a flow of messages, while knowledge is created and organized by the very flow of information, anchored on the commitment and beliefs of its holder" (p. 15). This concept suggests that the process of knowledge creation starts from questions or problems that lead to the search for information and finally ends at knowledge. Therefore, the knowledge creation process is accelerated due to the high inflow of information.
The emergence of the worldwide web has made it immensely easy to make information available to almost everybody. The easy accessibility of the internet has made it possible for individuals to carry out knowledge work "anytime and anyplace" ([35] Sauermann, 2005, p. 294). Web search engines, through their basic interfaces, have made "information search" a customary activity for almost all web users ([26] Lazarinis, 2007).
The issues related to managing information led to the concept of personal knowledge management (PKM) ([15] Frand and Hixon, 1999). It has been argued that the utilisation of proper technology tools is essential for effective PKM ([4] Barth, 2004). There are several technology tools (including electronic devices) available that facilitate the process of PKM. In fact, there are enough tools and technologies available to confuse an individual and finding the correct information, organising it and securing it for future use is still a challenge.
There is an increasing shift toward the adoption of PKM considerations within organisations. [34] Rumizen (2001), a knowledge architect at Buckman Laboratories, has highlighted the importance of PKM for corporations. Another knowledge management (KM) expert, [5] Caldwell (2002), predicted a huge increase in PKM utilisation among knowledge workers in coming years. However, business executives have reported that most firms are not fully capable of extracting personal knowledge due to poor PKM practices and they have suggested an urgent need for an alignment of personal skills and available tools ([38] TFPL, 2002). Unfortunately, not only is finding others' knowledge within the organisation an uphill task, but sometimes so too is locating personal knowledge. It has been argued that individual knowledge workers are unable to locate their own documents approximately half of...