Foundations of KM: Philosophy, Discovery and Representation

Abstract

This mini-track builds on last year’s Foundations minitrack that attracted a large and enthusiastic audience. The mini-track looks at the theoretical foundations of knowledge management, organizational memory and organizational learning. Of particular concern is how to use information systems to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge to create an organizational memory, and how to effectively organize, store, extract, and manage this knowledge to facilitate organizational learning. The cluster seeks to integrate researchers working on theoretical and practical solutions in the areas of knowledge management (KM), organizational memory (OM), and organizational learning (OL). KM and OM address the process of acquiring, creating, distributing and using knowledge in organizations. OL is the development of shared meanings and interpretations. Sixteen papers were submitted to this years mini-track. These were subject to 40 reviews. Each paper received a minimum of two reviews. Unfortunately because of the record number of papers submitted to HICSS38 and the fixed supply of time slots the mini-track was limited to two sessions. Only six papers could be accepted. The mini-track chairs offer their sincere condolences to those whose papers could not be accepted due to space limitations. All accepted papers focus on the philosophical and theoretical foundations of knowledge management research. The accepted papers have been organized into two sessions of three papers each. The papers in the first session deal with valid claims to different types of knowledge. These papers critically examine the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge, and describe how knowledge is triggered in an organizational setting. The papers in the second session deal with discourse that surfaces valid claims to different types of knowledge. These papers describe rhetorical heuristics and apply Habermas theory of communicative action to the design and evaluation of technology-based knowledge systems.