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Future Challenges for KM 425

KM is not a technology-based concept. All-inclusive KM solutions, despite vendor
claims to the contrary, simply do not exist. Companies that implement a centralized
database system, electronic message board, web portal, or any other collaborative tool
in the hope that they have established a KM program are wasting both their time and
money. While technology can support KM, it is not the starting point of a KM
program. KM decisions should be based on who/whom (people), what (knowledge),
and why (business objectives). You should save the how (technology) for last. In other
words, successful KM begins with a sound KM strategy combined with a fostering
organizational culture that enables and rewards the sharing of valuable knowledge.
A KM program should never be divorced from a business goal. For example, while
sharing best practices is a commendable idea, there must be an underlying business
reason to do so. Without a solid business case, KM is a futile exercise. Knowledge is
also not static. Since knowledge can get stale fast, the content in a KM program should
be constantly updated, amended, and deleted. What is more, the relevance of knowl-
edge at any given time changes, as do the skills of employees. Therefore, there is no
endpoint to a KM program. Like product development, marketing and R & D, KM is a
constantly evolving business practice. Finally, companies diligently need to be on the
lookout for information overload. Quantity rarely equals quality, and KM is no excep-
tion. Indeed, the point of a KM program is to identify and disseminate knowledge
gems from a sea of information.
The key critical issues are discussed in this chapter:
• Access issues: What are the political issues factors governing Internet information
seeking?
• Organizational issues: What is the political context of the organization and how
does this affect KM?
• Accounting issues: What is the impact of a shift from resource-based assets to
knowledge-based assets (i.e., from tangible, measurable assets to intangible ones)?
• How do copyright (and “ copyleft ” ) and other intellectual property issues impact
KM? How can knowledge be shared without losing attribution and without false
attribution?

Political Issues Regarding Internet Search Engines

Googlewhacking is a term that has entered our language recently. Googlewhacking
refers to the “ challenging pursuit of searching the popular Google search engine with a
two-word or more search argument that will produce exactly (no less and no more