How Dewey Build a Library? (Part 2)

Rob Saxon is a Project Management Professional, Certified Information Systems Auditor and a trained Six Sigma Specialist. Rob is currently developing methods to integrate project management into previously unexplored areas of business.

  Knowledge Management   Lessons Learned  

Welcome to Part 2 of Dewey! In Part 1, we discussed the differences and relationships between data, information and knowledge. We also began to explore some of the forms that a knowledge “library” might take. In Part 2, we will continue our exploration of knowledge management in organizations. Our exploration in this final part will include a continuation of the discussion around the forms and methods to build knowledge bases. We will also examine the challenges of sorting and indexing data so that it becomes useful information.

Challenge of sorting and indexing

“Basically, our goal is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful.”
-- Larry Page

“Hmm, difficult. verydifficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh yes. And a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?” 
– Sorting Hat, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

Even if we have a knowledge base--either a naturally created one or an enforced one--the knowledge contained therein must be further processed. For random bits of data to become useful knowledge--and for that useful knowledge to become transmittable information between individuals or within an organization--the data must be meaningfully sorted and indexed.

The beauty of Google is that it takes…

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