As we approach the end of the semester (and I begin making arrangements for my final four blog posts), I realize I have begun to understand concepts and vocabulary that were very difficult for me to handle at the beginning of the semester. I also see that there is a lot of material I am not going to get to! This week I found a variety of interesting-seeming literature to approach, because I don't have many more of these to write.

The bad thing about coming to Alavi this late in the term is that it's an overview of a lot of theories I've become acquainted with piecemeal, and it's hard to latch on to any ideas I consider new or interesting about them when I've already seen them through so many lenses. I think this would be a great piece for newcomers to KM-- essentially, it makes the argument that KM is complex and can fulfill many different types of roles within an organization (retrieval, sharing, and creation of knowledge both explicit and tacit).

Huber returns to what I've learned is a favorite topic of mine, knowledge exchange. Here it is framed as organizational learning-- creation and transmission of knowledge between members of an organization, which will ideally better the working processes therein. It plays around with the idea of experimentation as a method for knowledge creation (which Huber thinks does not predict long-term success), and the extent to which learning from experience can be passed along. My favorite idea in this piece is the idea of "grafting," which is acquiring new members who possess knowledge from other areas and bringing them into your organization. I've seen this happen in real life but never had the process explained this way; it seems like an elegant way of explaining a certain kind of knowledge mixing.

The Jantz piece was of particular interest to me, because I intend to work in an academic library once I'm out of school. This is one of very few KM resources which discusses libraries specifically, and exceptionally few that deal in any way with the idea of using KM to serve others. Up-and-coming KM systems seem to be improving methods for academic librarians to be effective information brokers (terminology I fell in love with in one of my classes last semester).

Less than one month to go!

~*~

Readings discussed

Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. E. (2001). Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: Conceptual foundations and research issues. MIS Quarterly, 25(1), 107-136. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3250961

Huber, G. P. (1991). Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures. Organization Science, 2(1), 88-115. URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/2634941

Jantz, R. (2001). Knowledge management in academic libraries: Special tools and processes to support information professionals. Reference Services Review, 29(1), 33-39. doi:10.1108/00907320110366778