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8 Knowledge Management Tools

Any suffi ciently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic
— Arthur C. Clarke (1917 – 2008)

This chapter provides an overview of knowledge management (KM) tools, which are
all too often treated as black boxes (data goes in and knowledge magically comes out
the other end) by the majority of users. The new generation of millennials however
appear to have developed different technology skills and have differing expectations
of these new tools. New technologies are continually emerging, and many will have
some intersection with KM. Knowledge management implementations require a wide
range of quite diverse tools that come into play throughout the KM cycle. Technology
is used to facilitate primarily communication, collaboration, and content management
for better knowledge capture, sharing, dissemination, and application. The major
categories of KM tools are presented and described together with a discussion on how
they can be used in KM contexts.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the key communication technologies that can be used to support knowl-
edge sharing within an organization.
2. Illustrate the major advantages and major drawbacks of synchronous versus asyn-
chronous KM technologies.
3. Defi ne data mining and list some cases where it would be used.
4. Compare and contrast the different types of intelligent agents and how they can
be used to personalize KM technologies.
5. Defi ne the difference between push and pull KM technologies.