Applying Knowledge Management in the Environmental and Climate Change Sciences

Abstract

In recent years, the field of knowledge management has built a large foundational research base concentrating on the identification, acquisition, transfer and storage of knowledge. The majority of this research has been situated in the context of organizations, or corporate knowledge. However, knowledge management can have a significant impact on other non-corporate institutions, including scientific organizations focused on the study of the natural environment and global climate change. Knowledge management has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the work performed by scientists studying the environment and climate change. As technology improves and the importance of their work becomes more widely accepted, scientists are collecting vast amounts of multi-modal data in order to better understand the earth’s natural environment and the changes which are occurring due to natural and man-made forces. Traditionally, these scientists have focused on this data collection process, with the end goal of analysis targeted towards understanding the scientific context of this data. The demand for this analysis normally originated from other scientists.