Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Distinguishing Knowledge Management from Information Management

Knowledge Management and Information Management are often conflated, but this confusion can be resolved by understanding the clear distinction between knowledge and information.

Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) are often referred to simply as Knowledge Management (KM). There are two components:

1. The management of information (information management (IM)).
2. The management of knowledge (knowledge management (KM)).

Before talking about the difference between IM and KM, it is essential to understand the difference between Information and knowledge.

Knowledge only exists in the mind. Once encoded in any form, it becomes information.

Information Management

In its broadest sense, KM is often incorrectly referred to as “getting the right information to the right people at the right time.”

This “sort of KM” is about databases, records management, libraries, books, reports, document repositories, videos, taxonomies, etc.

In our digital world, it is fundamentally about Information Technology (IT) and not about knowledge.

This is not Knowledge Management; it is Information Management.

Knowledge Management

Knowledge is the capacity for effective action.

There is no capacity for effective action in a database.

Credit: Peter Senge

Information Management is practiced through activities that support the capture, storage, categorization, and distribution of information. In contrast, Knowledge Management is practiced through activities that support making sense of information, decision-making, strategy formulation and implementation, learning, creativity, and innovation. However, good Knowledge Management rests on sound Information Management.

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