Knowledge Nodes: the Building Blocks of a Distributed Approach to Knowledge Management

Matteo Bonifacio (University of Trento, Italy)

Paolo Bouquet (Department of Information and Communication Technologies University of Trento, Italy)

Roberta Cuel (Department of Computer and Management Sciences University of Trento, Italy)

Abstract: In this paper, we criticise the objectivistic approach that underlies most current systems for Knowledge Management. We show that such an approach is incompatible with the very nature of what is to be managed (i.e., knowledge), and we argue that this may partially explain why most knowledge management systems are deserted by users. We propose a different approach - called distributed knowledge management - in which subjective and social (in a word, contextual) aspects of knowledge are seriously taken into account. Finally, we present a general technological architecture in which these ideas are implemented by introducing the concept of knowledge node.

Keywords: context, distributed knowledge management, epistemology, knowledge nodes

Categories: H.