Knowledge Management

 

Data, Information and knowledge | Personal Memory Extenders  (PEMEX) 

The Threshold of BIC & The Adult Learner Model

Information Age Paradox

Though Leadership - Knowledge management Literature

Links

Cite This/link this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Information Age Paradox

"Despite the existence of more and better information than ever before, time pressure prevents decision makers from gathering all that they need and from sharing it,“

--  Peter Tobia, author, "Decision Making in the Digital Age: Challenges and Responses,"

 

 

 

 

 

Data, Information and knowledge

Invariable when the subject to  time management comes up, it is along the lines of good time management or need to improve time management.  When we then ask about how much time there is to manage, we get blank stares.  The point is that if we do not have any discretionary time, then a discussion on time management is moot.  Likewise when it comes to knowledge management.  The first question we ask is, how much knowledge do we have?  

To answer this question, it is a good idea to define terms that in a casual conversation are used interchangeably: Data, information and knowledge.

Processed data subjected to transfer function i is defined as Information.  Transfer function i adds quality, relevance, timeliness and context to the unprocessed data, whereas transfer function k  makes the information actionable, including what we refer to as a "resonating" attribute that actuates a person's threshold of belief - click here for threshold of belief (TOB) SlideShare presentation  That is, if the information obtained is not compelling enough, the recipient may decide that is not worth doing anything with it, and hence results in no action. Authors offering similar definitions include Turban  and Ackoff.  In his piece titled From Data to Wisdom, Ackoff provides the following definitions:

 

Data - data is raw. It simply exists and has no significance beyond its existence (in and of itself). It can exist in any form, usable or not. It does not have meaning of itself. In computer parlance, a spreadsheet generally starts out by holding data.

Information - information is data that has been given meaning by way of relational connection. This "meaning" can be useful, but does not have to be. In computer parlance, a relational database makes information from the data stored within it.

Knowledge -  knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, such that its intent is to be useful. Knowledge is a deterministic process. When someone "memorizes" information (as less-aspiring test-bound students often do), then they have amassed knowledge. This knowledge has useful meaning to them, but it does not provide for, in and of itself, integration such as would infer further knowledge.

 

Data, information and knowledge

Also illustrated below as:

Getting to knowledge

 

 

An alternate illustration of the transfer function used to transform information to knowledge is shown below:  The notion is that that if the information we review does not match our concepts, beliefs and ideas, we will simply reject it as useless information and will not turn it into knowledge

Obstacle in transforming information to knowledge- a variant of the self-bounded rationality concept - information received must exceed the threshold of belief to become knowledge- Click here for threshold of belief (TOB) presentation

 

Ackoff, R. L., "From Data to Wisdom",

Supply chain management applications are now ubiquitous in an attempt to manage some 4 trillions dollars worth of inventory.  A metric often use to determine supply chain efficiency is inventory turns.  Inventory turns of 365 means that an organization only needs to invest in one day's worth of inventory to maintain the business.  A significant difference in the cash flow required if the inventory turns were 1 for instance.  Similarly, if an organization can achieve high knowledge turns, such organization will be better shape than the competition.

 

 

 

 

 

Links

The Balanced Scorecard and Knowledge Management
An article on how knowledge management feeds the balanced scorecard, a leading tool for measuring organizational success. This, in turn, can be used to measure the success of a knowledge management program tied to business objectives.

Assessing to Learn and Learning to Assess
This is an organized transcript from the proceeding of the Society for Organizational Learning’s conference on “Assessing to Learn and Learning to Assess”.


Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management
Quick and concise overview article on how to measure intellectual capital.

7 Steps for Creating a Web Analytics Culture

Help Management Understand the Importance - You may recall Feras Alhlou, who chatted with WebProNews earlier this year after contributing a guest post to Google's Analytics Blog about using advanced segments in Google Analytics. Alhlou is the president of E-Nor, and he prese

 

 

 

REFERENCES

Ackoff, R. L., "From Data to Wisdom", Journal of Applies Systems Analysis, Volume 16, 1989 p 3-9.

 

 

 

 

Cite This

 

 

 

MLA Style
"Page_title.”  @WEBO, year

@WEBO, day, month,  year
<http://www.atwebo.com/page.htm>

APA Style
Page._title.  (year)

Retrieved day, month,  year, from http://www.atwebo.com/page.htm

Link to this page:

<a href=http://www.atwebo.com/page_.htm>page_title</a>

 

Send mail to webperson@atwebo.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2001-2011 @WEBO: Increasing Social Capital - Thought leadership, best business practices and innovation in information technology outsourcing
Last modified: May 22, 2011