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as the know-how that has been tried, tested, and found to be successful in work
situations.
Davenport et al. (1998) makes a distinction between repositories that store external
knowledge such as that gathered from competitive intelligence, demographic or sta-
tistical data from data resellers, and other public sources, and internal knowledge
repositories that store informal information such as transcripts of group discussions,
e-mails, or other forms of internal communications. Internal knowledge repositories
will have a less constraining or less formal structure in order to be able to better
accommodate the fl uid and subjective knowledge content required.
Zack (1999) classifi es repositories based on the type of content they contain such
as general knowledge (e.g., published scientifi c literature) and specifi c knowledge
(which includes knowledge of the local context of the organization). This distinction
is most useful, as knowledge reusers need to know whether the credibility of the
knowledge comes from general or common knowledge, or whether this is something
that was discovered by their colleagues.

E-Learning and Knowledge Management Application
Many organizations have integrated KM applications with e-learning or technology-
mediated learning (as opposed to traditional classroom-based teaching). There are a
number of ways in which KM can intersect with e-learning ( Khan 2005 ): one is as a
major part of the KM cycle where knowledge is reused and applied — and, in order to
do so, knowledge must be understood, learned, and/or internalized. E-learning can
therefore be seen as another type of knowledge-sharing channel, one that makes use
of technologies such as computers or the Web and one that also requires a very high
degree of social presence and media richness (as discussed in chapter 5). The major
advantage of traditional in-class learning is that the interaction is face-to-face. The
corresponding disadvantage is that time and space constraints do not allow for in-
depth one-on-one interactions. With online learning, students have the ability to
relearn through replaying a video, viewing the lecture slides, and asynchronously
interacting with both classmates and instructors. The major advantage of e-learning
is the time and travel cost saved by not having people go off-site for a period of time.
More students can be registered in the same course. The major drawback is the lack
of face-to-face interaction, which is often compensated for through the use of a
blended learning model (a combination of some e-learning with some face-to-face
instruction, tutoring, or discussion).
E-learning has developed an innovative approach to learning through the use of
technologies such as the computer and the Web: learning objects. A learning object