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And what about “Don’t mess with that Wasp it will sting you”, or “Don’t put your fingers in that electricity socket”…..well actually my parents didn’t say that, they said “go on put your fingers in the socket!” (I’d better point out that was actually a joke before the Child Welfare people start after my parents…

Teachers in school, stand in front of us and pass on Knowledge, ok it may not be their Knowledge, but it is Knowledge that has been collected and deemed worthy of collection and being shared.

We are bombarded with Knowledge from every angle; David Attenborough tells you that the Anaconda lies in ambush and drops out of trees onto its prey, and that it is capable of eating small humans! Try telling your seven year old son, or daughter, that Anacondas don’t frequent the local country park, well not in the UK…..and that there is no need to check every tree before walking under it.

Knowledge needs to be put into context, and in terms of business knowledge it needs to be relevant to the context of the business. The mating habits of the three toed Sloth might be very interesting, but not of value to a company that manufactures low volume, self assembled sports cars.

The History of Knowledge Sharing

The Sharing of Knowledge is essential, and it is something that we all do naturally. Think about it, you visit an area that you are not familiar with and need to find a particular place, what do we do?, we ask someone for directions and they tell us where to go, they are sharing their Knowledge of the local area. I have never had anyone say to me “I’m not going to tell you, it’s my local Knowledge!”

Knowledge sharing starts very early on in everyone’s life, from the moment we are born our parents pass on their knowledge, although it isn’t formally recognised as Knowledge Management. They teach us to talk, eat, walk, and it doesn’t stop there. Just think if they hadn’t told you things like, “Don’t touch that it’s hot!”, or “Don’t do that it will hurt!” Think about stinging nettles, did your parents ever say “Don’t touch them, they will sting you?”and it’s then up to you whether you use that knowledge, but at least it was available.

Join the Knowledge Revolutionwith Knowledge Pad

© Knowledge Pad Ltd. 2010

Knowledge Pad

However, if one of their customers has problems getting their car through the Local Testing and registration process, or has problems with assembly, then this is useful ‘Knowledge’ that can be used to drive future decisions and product improvements, etc.

Tribes in remote areas, such as the Amazon pass on Knowledge through dances, songs, Cave paintings, etc., showing representations of the knowledge, because they don’t have lap-tops, PDA’s or web based Intranet systems, however, they are practising Knowledge Management at its rawest level.

And if they didn’t share this Knowledge, and some form of disaster occurs then their specific and contextual knowledge gets wiped out; and this has happened. At the turn of the 20th Century there were dozens of tribes wiped out when western explorers introduced viruses, like the common cold, and these tribes had no immunity and their knowledge was destroyed.

Sharing Knowledge is about survival. If you think about it, we all have been practising this raw level of Knowledge Management since we were born.

Wikipedia is a free Knowledge Management capability, and in principle is very good. However, it lacks governance, and loses credibility as some of the “Knowledge” is speculative and based on opinion. Wikipedia also has a totally different focus to what a business requires.

The means of capture and storage, whether it be IT based, paper based, writing on the walls, or singing and dancing, is secondary to the main issue and that is sharing the Knowledge.