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KnowledgemanagementtechnologybyA.D.MarwickSelectedtechnologiesthatcontributetoknowledgemanagementsolutionsarereviewedusingNonaka’smodeloforganizationalknowledgecreationasaframework.Theextenttowhichknowledgetransformationwithinandbetweentacitandexplicitformscanbesupportedbythetechnologiesisdiscussed,andsomelikelyfuturetrendsareidentified.Itisfoundthatthestrongestcontributiontocurrentsolutionsismadebytechnologiesthatdeallargelywithexplicitknowledge,suchassearchandclassification.Contributionstotheformationandcommunicationoftacitknowledge,andsupportformakingitexplicit,arecurrentlyweaker,althoughsomeencouragingdevelopmentsarehighlighted,suchastheuseoftext-basedchat,expertiselocation,andunrestrictedbulletinboards.Throughsurveyingsomeofthetechnologiesusedforknowledgemanagement,thispaperservesasanintroductiontothesubjectforthosepapersinthisissuethatdiscusstechnology.Thegoalofthispaperistoprovideanoverviewoftechnologiesthatcanbeappliedtoknowl-edgemanagementandtoassesstheiractualorpo-tentialcontributiontothebasicprocessesofknowl-edgecreationandsharingwithinorganizations.Theaimistoidentifytrendsandnewdevelopmentsthatseemtobesignificantandtorelatethemtotech-nologyresearchinthefield,ratherthantoprovideacomprehensivereviewofavailableproducts.Knowledgemanagement(see,forexample,Daven-portandPrusak1)isthenamegiventothesetofsys-tematicanddisciplinedactionsthatanorganizationcantaketoobtainthegreatestvaluefromtheknowl-edgeavailabletoit.“Knowledge”inthiscontextin-cludesboththeexperienceandunderstandingofthepeopleintheorganizationandtheinformationar-tifacts,suchasdocumentsandreports,availablewithintheorganizationandintheworldoutside.Effectiveknowledgemanagementtypicallyrequiresanappropriatecombinationoforganizational,so-cial,andmanagerialinitiativesalongwith,inmanycases,deploymentofappropriatetechnology.Itisthetechnologyanditsapplicabilitythatisthefocusofthispaper.Tostructurethediscussionoftechnologies,itishelp-fultoclassifythetechnologiesbyreferencetothenotionsoftacitandexplicitknowledgeintroducedbyPolanyiinthe1950s2,3andusedbyNonaka4,5toformulateatheoryoforganizationallearningthatfocusesontheconversionofknowledgebetweentacitandexplicitforms.Tacitknowledgeiswhattheknowerknows,whichisderivedfromexperienceandembodiesbeliefsandvalues.Tacitknowledgeisac-tionableknowledge,andthereforethemostvaluable.Furthermore,tacitknowledgeisthemostimportantbasisforthegenerationofnewknowledge,thatis,accordingtoNonaka:“thekeytoknowledgecreationliesinthemobilizationandconversionoftacitknowl-edge.”5Explicitknowledgeisrepresentedbysomeartifact,suchasadocumentoravideo,whichhastypicallybeencreatedwiththegoalofcommunicat-ingwithanotherperson.Bothformsofknowledgeareimportantfororganizationaleffectiveness.6Copyright2001byInternationalBusinessMachinesCorpora-tion.Copyinginprintedformforprivateuseispermittedwith-outpaymentofroyaltyprovidedthat(1)eachreproductionisdonewithoutalterationand(2)theJournalreferenceandIBMcopy-rightnoticeareincludedonthefirstpage.Thetitleandabstract,butnootherportions,ofthispapermaybecopiedordistributedroyaltyfreewithoutfurtherpermissionbycomputer-basedandotherinformation-servicesystems.PermissiontorepublishanyotherportionofthispapermustbeobtainedfromtheEditor.MARWICK0018-8670/01/$5.00©2001IBMIBMSYSTEMSJOURNAL,VOL40,NO4,2001814Theseideasleadustofocusontheprocessesbywhichknowledgeistransformedbetweenitstacitandexplicitforms,asshowninFigure1.5Organizationallearningtakesplaceasindividualsparticipateintheseprocesses,sincebydoingsotheirknowledgeisshared,articulated,andmadeavailabletoothers.Creationofnewknowledgetakesplacethroughtheprocessesofcombinationandinternalization.AsshowninFigure1,theprocessesbywhichknowl-edgeistransformedwithinandbetweenformsus-ablebypeopleare●Socialization(tacittotacit):Socializationincludesthesharedformationandcommunicationoftacitknowledgebetweenpeople,e.g.,inmeetings.Knowledgesharingisoftendonewithouteverpro-ducingexplicitknowledgeand,tobemosteffec-tive,shouldtakeplacebetweenpeoplewhohaveacommoncultureandcanworktogethereffec-tively(seeDavenportandPrusak,1p.96).Thustacitknowledgesharingisconnectedtoideasofcommunitiesandcollaboration.Atypicalactivityinwhichtacitknowledgesharingcantakeplaceisateammeetingduringwhichexperiencesarede-scribedanddiscussed.●Externalization(tacittoexplicit):Byitsnature,tacitknowledgeisdifficulttoconvertintoexplicitknowl-edge.Throughconceptualization,elicitation,andultimatelyarticulation,typicallyincollaborationwithothers,someproportionofaperson’stacitknowledgemaybecapturedinexplicitform.Typ-icalactivitiesinwhichtheconversiontakesplaceareindialogamongteammembers,inrespond-ingtoquestions,orthroughtheelicitationofsto-ries.●Combination:(explicittoexplicit):Explicitknowl-edgecanbesharedinmeetings,viadocuments,e-mails,etc.,orthrougheducationandtraining.Theuseoftechnologytomanageandsearchcol-lectionsofexplicitknowledgeiswellestablished.However,thereisafurtheropportunitytofosterknowledgecreation,namelytoenrichthecollectedinformationinsomeway,suchasbyreconfiguringit,sothatitismoreusable.Anexampleistou