Making Knowledge Visible

Book excerpt: This ground-breaking book opens up new territory for knowledge and information management. The only way we can make what we know visible to other people is by putting it into Information Products - the products, in any medium, where users meet the information they need, and gain access to the knowledge of others. Without them, little business would get done inside organizations or between them and the outside world. They are essential for the flow, exchange, application, and preservation of information and knowledge. This is the first book to make the case for the proper recognition of information products by organizations. It shows how they should support business objectives and processes and be incorporated into information strategy and information architecture; illustrates the value they can both add and subtract; identifies the full range of stakeholders in them; and argues that a triple alliance of information management, information systems/IT, and information design is critical for successful information products. Stories from real life illustrate every step of the argument. The final part of the book demonstrates how an actual organization used information auditing as a tool to develop a strategic information product for an important user community.