Taking it personally: personal knowledge management
| Published date | 01 January 2006 |
| Pages | 35-37 |
| Date | 01 January 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/03055720610667345 |
| Author | Theresa L. Jefferson |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
KNOWLEDGE/INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING
MANAGEMENT
Taking it personally: personal
knowledge management
Theresa L. Jefferson
Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering,
George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Abstract
Purpose – Aims to discuss personal knowledge management along with its potential benefits and
challenges.
Design/methodology/approach – Provides a summary of personal knowledge management.
Findings – Personal knowledge management is aimed at helping the individual to overcome the
frustrations associated with information overload and allowing them to improve their personal
effectiveness.
Originality/value – Contains useful information on personal knowledge management.
Keywords Knowledge management, Information management
Paper type General review
With the continued convergence of communication and computer technologies, we are
moving from the information explosion to the equivalence of an information atomic
blast. Utilizing mobile devices, individuals not only exchange dialogue, but e-mail,
instant message, access web sites, retrieve, modify and send documents, and more.
Individuals are constantly being barraged by information from previously
unimaginable sources. Further exacerbating this problem is their own ability to
create more information and knowledge faster than ever before. The ability for
workers, in particularly knowledge workers, to process, store and retrieve information
they encounter is an ever-growing challenge.
Over the past decade corporate spending on organizational knowledge management
has increased substantially. Armed with the objectives of identifying, exploiting, and
sharing knowledge assets, many organizations have taken the arduous journey of
implementing knowledge management systems (KMs). Utilizing increasingly
sophisticated technologies, corporations look toward KMs to improve
decision-making, increase productivity, and encourage innovation on an
organizational level.
However, few companies have pursued the initiative of enabling individuals to
support their personal knowledge management needs. The idea behind personal
knowledge management (PKM) is to provide the individual with the tools and
techniques they need to surmount the overwhelming information they encounter at the
work place and to enable them to increase their own productivity. While traditional
organizational KM initiatives take a top-down approach, imposing the objectives of the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0305-5728.htm
Personal
knowledge
management
35
VINE: The journal of information and
knowledge management systems
Vol. 36 No. 1, 2006
pp. 35-37
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0305-5728
DOI 10.1108/03055720610667345
To continue reading
Request your trial