PKM or Personal Knowledge Management, definition

First of all, what is Knowledge Management? KM has been described by Davenport and Prusak as a systematic attempt to create, gather, distribute, and use knowledge. (a) Lethbridge characterizes it as the process of acquiring, representing, storing and manipulating the categorizations, characterizations and definitions of both things and their relationship. (b) 

What is Personal Knowledge Management? Linked to the Knowledge Management concept, PKM is a system designed by individuals for their own personal use. It is a conceptual framework to organize and integrate information so that it can become part of our personal knowledge. It provides a strategy for transforming what might be random pieces of information into something that is more systematic and expands our personal knowledge.

When is PKM needed? It must become part of a routine and used whenever working with information and knowledge in the processes of creating, acquiring, evaluating, assessing, organizing and storing, cataloguing and indexing, and retrieving from personal memory (whether from your mind or computer storage).

Where is PKM needed? In dealing with paper documents, electronic documents, web bookmarks, or one’s home library. One schema can be made to work for all.

How is PKM implemented? Individuals must initiate a process of developing a mental map of the knowledge with which they work. They do this by creating an organizational structure to facilitate the finding and relating of personal and professional information. They can use the storage capacity of the personal computer as a tool for initiating these processes.

Knowledge Management presents some challenges. These problems include: the issues of categorizing or classifying, the issue of naming things and making distinctions between them, the issue of evaluating and assessing. The first step in the PKM strategy entails defining and utilizing implementing a personal classification schemes, indexing and filing principles.

PKM's strength lies in the fact that it is a personalized system designed by an individual for his or her own use. This means that it is organic, growing and changing with an individual personal lifestyle and interests.

PKM is a strategy for dealing with information overload while at the same time enabling us to build upon or learn from the information we use resulting in the growth of our personal knowledge.

1. Davenport and Prusak, Working knowledge, HBS Press, 1998.

2. Lethbridge, Timothy Christian, Practical techniques for organizing and measuring knowledge, University of Ottawa, Doctoral Thesis, Canada, 1994.

Extracts from Jason Frand & Carol Hixon article, Personal Knowledge Management: Who, What, Why, When, Where, How?, 1999: http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/jason.frand/researcher/speeches/PKM.htm