Knowledge vs. Technology

John David Balla presented a three-part series, I. Memoirs of a Technocrat, II. A Sorcerer's Perspective, III. The "Other" Knowledge, in the KM Communicator from Destination KM. In the series, he talks about the conflict between traditional IT solutions and what we really need from knowledge management.

He says that traditional IT treats knowledge as the artifact, such as a document or a set of data in a database. In reality, knowledge is the stuff that was used to create the final artifact. And that artifact, once created, is no longer fully representative of what really was happening with the person or people who created it. And the next person to see the artifact will bring a different perspective (context) to the reading that will change its meaning once again. The third piece goes into the realm of discussing conscious vs. unconscious and how the knowledge we hold in our heads might work.