彭艷坤

Introduction

“Knowledge is neither data nor information，though it is related to both，and the differences between these terms are often a matter of degree” （Davenport & Prusak，2000； 1）.

Knowledge Management System （KMS） can be differentiated based on the types of functions，its purposes，and the number of features as well as its chronological development.

1.KMS 1st Era （1990-2000）

In the early era，knowledge processes end up with two dominant KM approaches，namely codification and personalization.Codification refers to the externalization of as much tacit knowledge as possible into an explicit form； while personalization treasures the trust among people，the integrity of members and network，relationship and professionalism.The major representative tool of the 1st era is the enterprise search engine.Enterprise search engine is looking inside the firewall into the organization to penetrate into various databases and retrieve the materials.However，the effectiveness and success of enterprise search engine depends on how integrated it is，how powerful it is and how large the database is.The weakness of enterprise search engine is that you may still not find what you need，because somehow，some information or data are not reachable.To sum up，the characteristics of KMS between 1990 and 2000 are KM process-based，standalone，individual user sessions，connecting people with information，lack of integration，with proprietary database/format and some being web-based.

2.KMS 2nd Era （2000-2007）

Entering the 2nd era “[i]n the quest for sustainable competitive advantages，companies have finally come to realize that technology alone is not that.What sustains is knowledge.It is in unchaining knowledge that lies in your companys people，processes and experience that the hope for survival exists” （Tiwana，1999； 4）.Knowledge is no longer treated as an object； it is viewed rather as a process which is socially constructed.The document collaboration tool in the 2nd era focuses on EDMS，which is a typical representative of the era.Most of the systems are translated into DMS，intranet，portals，workflow management system，decision support system.

During this era，people are facing massive information overload，therefore，we need personalization.We need trusted parties to filter the information for us，and we need nice filters，computer filtering mechanism so that it can distill all the information for us，bringing us all the information we truly want to read.

All in all，KMS in the 2nd era stresses connecting people with people rather than just people and information，and it is supposed to support.This puts a lot of pressure in terms of security control，dividing the security accesses，maintaining and updating，etc.

3.KMS 3rd Era （2008-now）

Continuing the evolution of KMS，we are now living the exciting Web 2.0 era.It is exciting because many of the systems in Web 2.0 are based on its degree of interactiveness.Irrespective of peoples age，location and ability，the web is becoming far more pervasive everywhere.People are becoming far more addicted to it，and the web is becoming far more ubiquitous.It is easy to be connected rather than disconnected.Theoretically，by connecting with so many people，we can enhance our connection，expand our network.We are able to search and access to so much information.

The characteristics of KMS in the 3rd era are as follows.Firstly，it involves both top-down and bottom-up input，that means everyone，employees，outsiders，suppliers and customers have a same say； they can contribute to many of the web 2.0 websites.Secondly，it has high degree of interactivity.Thirdly，it is intra-department，inter-department and inter-organization.Fourthly，many organizations are using it for collaboration，networking，decision making and learning.Fifthly，it is pervasive and ubiquitous.And finally it has massive and rapid accumulation of data and harnesses collective intelligence.

4.Conclusion

Some concerns are raised during the talk about the gap between IT and business.The first one is the continuing IT and business divide，and universities have a role to play as well.The university education should focus on cultivating graduates with basic business and IT knowledge rather than graduates with just business knowledge or just IT knowledge alone.Otherwise，these gaps or cracks will continue to hurt our business，because they will consider IT as a commodity instead of having active or proactive contribution to the business.Secondly，many organizations start their KM with technology.Thirdly，KM systems are often treated as only static repositories，and many people interpret KM systems as E-mail systems and EDMS.

References：

[1]Amrit Tiwana.1999.The Knowledge Management Toolkit.Prentice Hall PTR （E-book）.

[2]David A.Garvin.2000.Learning in Action.Boston：Harvard Business School Press.

[3]The whole paper is a summary of Prof.Eric Tsuis Webinar on “The Evolution of KMS”.