Information Management Weblog

KM and CM

My colleague Dave Duttry posted a comment on an earlier post:

In other words, how does Content Management fit into the KM scheme of things?

Dave and I have been chatting about knowledge management (KM) for a while now. Here are some preliminary thoughts on the subject:

I see both content management (CM) and knowledge management (KM) as fields within the broader notion of information management. The two concepts share some similarities, but they are different beasts.

I'll start with a technical perspective. A CMS is designed to acquire, manage, and publish content. A KM system also acquires and manages content, but there is less emphasis on publication. Often, a KM system is a "KnowledgeBase"--a searchable database of content. There isn't the same sense of publication, although both CM and KM might be delivered through a web browser.

Both CM and KM systems have come under fire lately for promising easy solutions to hard problems (and costing a ton to implement). KM systems especially have had a number of high-priced failures.

Ultimately, I think the way to design a successful KM system is to not focus on technology. (Ack! Heresy!) The fact of the matter is that creating a fancy database and then hoping that people will simply pour their knowledge in is a recipe for failure. I don't have the solution, but I think that looking towards more human-centered strategies (like communities of practice) holds more promise. I've also heard about some interesting work in "just in time" KM. For example, a KM system that supplies doctors with medical advice on the job. Regardless of the approach, such systems do require a good deal of human involvement to guide the system to success.

In the end, a CMS is a fairly simple tool with a well defined goal (acquire, manage, publish). A KM system is a good deal more complicated, and less technical.