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in an organization ’ s people, processes, and products or services, along with its traditions and
values. Organizational memory can either assist or inhibit the organization ’ s progress.

Corporate yellow pages Also called expertise location systems . Detection, discovery, and manage-
ment of human knowledge resources, including subject matter experts. An expertise directory
provides a map to subject matter experts in an organization or “ virtual ” organization (as in com-
munities of practice). Expertise directories usually exist as part of a knowledge-management
software environment, sometimes as a fall- back resource for computer-based knowledge retrieval
systems.
Cultural assumptions Beliefs about the internal workings and external environment of an orga-
nization which, having worked well in the past, have gradually come to be taken for granted,
and which provide the basis for group consensus about common events and circumstances.
Cultural assumptions function as the unifying themes of organizational culture.
Culture A people ’ s ways of being, knowing, and doing. All the knowledge and values shared by
a cohesive group or organization. The attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular
social group or organization. The accumulated habits, attitudes, and beliefs of a group of people
that defi ne for them their general behavior and way of life; the total set of learned activities of
a people. The beliefs, traditions, habits, and values controlling the behavior of the majority of
the people in a social-ethnic group. These include the people ’ s way of dealing with their problems
of survival and existence as a continuing group.
Custom A usage or practice that is common to a group of people or to a particular place.
Accepted or habitual practice.
Cybrarian One of many new terms being used to defi ne a “ virtual librarian. ” Others include
electronic services librarian, digital librarian, and Internet information specialist.
Data Directly observable or directly verifi able facts.
Decision tree A technique for organizing knowledge that divides sets of elements into subsets
such that each node has only one “ parent ” based on discriminating evidence provided by attri-
butes and their values.

Data mining An information extraction activity whose goal is to discover hidden facts con-
tained in databases. Using a combination of machine learning, statistical analysis, modeling
techniques, and database technology, data mining fi nds patterns and subtle relationships in data
and infers rules that allow the prediction of future results. Typical applications include market
segmentation, customer profi ling, fraud detection, evaluation of retail promotions, and credit
risk analysis.
Demilitarized zone (DMZ) Demilitarized zones serve to prevent employees from breaching
ethical boundaries. They monitor compliance and report any violations.
Diffusion costs Costs incurred in the dissemination and distribution or publishing of
knowledge.