Personal knowledge management

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Personal knowledge management (PKM) is a process of collecting information that a person uses to gather, classify, store, search, retrieve and share knowledge in their daily activities Template:Harv and the way in which these processes support work activities Template:Harv. It is a response to the idea that knowledge workers need to be responsible for their own growth and learning Template:Harv. It is a bottom-up approach to knowledge management (KM) Template:Harv.

History and backgroundEdit

Although as early as 1998 Davenport wrote on the importance to worker productivity of understanding individual knowledge processes (cited in Template:Harvnb), the term personal knowledge management appears to be relatively new. Its origin can be traced in a working paper by Template:Harvtxt.

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 Template:Harv. 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 Template:Harv. It is an underresearched area Template:Harv. More recently, research has been conducted to help understand "the potential role of Web 2.0 technologies for harnessing and managing personal knowledge" Template:Harv. The Great Resignation has expanded the category of knowledge workers and is predicted to increase demand for personal knowledge management in the future Template:Harv.

ModelsEdit

Template:Harvtxt identified information retrieval, assessment and evaluation, organization, analysis, presentation, security, and collaboration as essential to PKM (cited in Template:Harvnb).

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, the 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 Template:Harv.

In Nonaka and Takeuchi's SECI model of knowledge dimensions (see under knowledge management), knowledge can be tacit or explicit, with the interaction of the two resulting in new knowledge Template:Harv. Smedley has developed a PKM model based on Nonaka and colleagues' model in which an expert provides direction while a community of practice provides support for personal knowledge creation Template:Harv. Trust is central to knowledge sharing in this model. Nonaka has returned to his earlier work in an attempt to further develop his ideas about knowledge creation Template:Harv

Personal knowledge management can also be viewed along two main dimensions, personal knowledge and personal management Template:Harv. 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 Template:Harv.

CriticismEdit

It is not clear whether PKM is anything more than a new wrapper around personal information management (PIM). William Jones argued that only personal information as a tangible resource can be managed, whereas personal knowledge cannot Template:Harv. 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 Template:Harv. Knowledge is not solely an individual product—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 Template:Harv, and so is inherently social.

An aim of PKM is "helping individuals to be more effective in personal, organizational and social environments" Template:Harv, 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., Template:Harvnb, Template:Harvnb).

In 2012, Mohamed Chatti introduced the personal knowledge network (PKN) model to KM as an alternative perspective on PKM, based on the concepts of a personal knowledge network and knowledge ecology Template:Harv.

SkillsEdit

Skills associated with personal knowledge management include:

Collaboration skills. Coordination, synchronization, experimentation, cooperation and design.
Communication skills. Perception, intuition, expression, visualization and interpretation.
Creative skills. Imagination, pattern recognition, appreciation, innovation, inference. Understanding of complex adaptive systems.
Information literacy. Understanding what information is important and how to find unknown information.
Manage learning. Manage how and when the individual learns.
Networking with others. Knowing what your network of people knows. Knowing who might have additional knowledge and resources to help you
Organizational skills. Personal librarianship. Personal categorization and taxonomies.
Reflection. Continuous improvement on how the individual operates.
Researching, canvassing, paying attention, interviewing and observational "cultural anthropology" skills

ToolsEdit

Some organizations are introducing PKM "systems" with some or all four components:Template:Citation needed

Content management: taxonomy processes and desktop search tools that enable employees to subscribe to, find, organize and publish information that resides on their desktops
Just-in-time canvassing: 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
Personal productivity improvement: knowledge fairs and 101 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:Template:Citation needed

Email, calendars, task managers
Knowledge logs (k-logs)
Social bookmarking and enterprise bookmarking
Virtual assistants
Wikis, including personal wikis and semantic wikis
Web annotations

Other useful tools include stories and narrative inquiry, decision support systems, various kinds of node–link diagram (such as argument maps, mind maps, concept maps), and similar information visualization techniques. Individuals use these tools to capture ideas, expertise, experience, opinions or thoughts, and this "voicing" will encourage cognitive diversity and promote free exchanges away from a centralized policed knowledge repository.Template:Citation needed The goal is to facilitate knowledge sharing and personal content management.

Some examples of PKM tools include:

ReferencesEdit

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