Manifesto
- The tremendous challenges that humanity has to face (from global warming to the need for “sustainable” technologies, from welfare in an ageing world, to democracy in a multi-lateral context) appear bigger than ever due to the increasing uncertainty and the fast pace of change that characterise our times. These issues require an effort of creativity and learning. Effective problem solving and fruitful decision making require a capability to understand and exploit “what we know”, “who we know”, “what we are able to do”, “how we can learn” not only as individuals, but also as communities.
- There is increasing awareness that individuals and collectives organisations, and societies need to develop a better understanding of how knowledge can help to boost innovation and produce value not only in economic but also social terms. No longer the exclusive domain of philosophical speculation, knowledge is referred to as a vital element of economic and social development. Terms such as knowledge society, knowledge workers, knowledge capital and intellectual capital are of common use in economics, management, sociology or political sciences.
- Each discipline has adapted its interpretative or normative models by explaining the importance of knowledge and knowledge-related activities. Psychology, neurosciences, education sciences have extensively investigated the cognitive capabilities of human beings. In computer sciences, the improvement in systems performance and the diffusion of networks have led to completely new modalities of human-machine interactions and new ways of connecting people and organisations. New applications and new businesses are reshaping our perception of work, study, entertainment, social life as a consequence of new modalities to produce, share and exchange knowledge. Such advancements are really important, but there is the need to integrate all these contributions into a consistent and effective approach to “managing knowledge”.
- From more or less two decades, grounding on the works of some pioneers, a growing number of scholars and professionals qualify their activity under the title “Knowledge Management” (KM). KM aims to become an independent field by collecting, integrating and shaping research and practice in a “standard” perspective. Perhaps, at the beginning of its history, KM was just a useful label. But today, we have an impressive amount of activities regarding KM in companies, academic departments, educational institutions, and public agencies. We see a growing number of scholars and practitioners, and an increasing number of books, journal articles, conferences, and courses.
- As a “new discipline”, KM still suffers from some problems. Having multidisciplinary roots, it requires an integration of different perspectives, and a robust clarification of its conceptual references. While it is accepted that we need new models and ways to describe or design the processes by which we can manage knowledge effectively, the research and practice often branch off in multiple directions. We need “unified” theories and common approaches that help us to see the problem of managing knowledge under a shared perspective.
- In light of this, our intention is to found an International Association that faces these problems and contributes to a unified view of KM. Our viewpoint is that KM, by helping us to manage our knowledge resources, can really provide methodological and practical tools for generating new value for individuals, organisations, and societies. This value can be seen as “financial value” and, for companies, is especially related to innovation: not only KM represents a potential method for enabling innovation and boosting transformation in companies, but is also innovation itself for organisations. More broadly, value is not only financial value but also “social value”: our notion of KM includes perspectives and approaches for helping people to fill knowledge divides, reducing inequalities, and pursuing social justice.
- The Association aims to become a reference point for all people who, with various roles, work professionally in the field of KM and are, thus, interested to follow or contribute to the development of KM as a discipline, both as regards research and practical approaches. With this purpose, the core Mission of our association includes aims such as:Producing and diffusing awareness and knowledge of KM. Defining KM and giving recognition to KM as a field of study Helping to clarify and establish the grounds of KM as a discipline Involving individuals, groups, organisations, companies, or even societies Providing reference and a point of attractionto young researchers or professionals; favouring education of people doing research in KM or working as professionals
- Promoting collaboration and effective networking among researchers and professionals
- The Association is mainly targeted to the “research” side, but is not only for academics. On the one hand, it is necessary to connect the results of research with its practical applications; on the other hand, KM research itself grounds on the current practice. Practitioners, especially those that also have an intellectual interest in the development of KM, produce innovations in this field, contribute to the advancements of the discipline, etc, will be an essential part of the Association.
- This Association is intended to be a democratic and open environment, where active contribution of any member is welcome, and rules governing participation and services are shared and built collectively. Members will be individuals, whatever organisation they belong to or work in, and although direct membership of companies or organisations is not considered, their collaboration will be welcome, by keeping the respective independence. The Association will be connected with other groups, networks and associations that deal with KM, directly or indirectly. Sharing ideas, materials, services in an open and collaborative environment can be fruitful for everybody.
