Information Research: an International Electronic Journal,
Special Issue on
"Knowledge Management and the Emperor's New Clothes"

Call For Papers

Editors
Associate Professor Suliman Hawamdeh
Professor Tom Wilson

With the increased interest in Knowledge Management, many vendors are re-badging their existing information management software as 'knowledge management' software. Even information management methodologies are being modified and described as dealing with knowledge transfer, where what really happens is only information transfer which may or may not lead to increased knowledge on the part of the recipient.

The editors believed that most of the knowledge management activities taking place today are simply information management and very little has been done on the extent to which 'tacit knowledge' can be recorded as 'explicit knowledge' (a synonym for information).

This special issue invites research work in information and knowledge management that highlight the real issues and attempts to clarify the misunderstandings and misconceptions implicit in the concept of 'knowledge management'.

Original papers are invited in areas such as (but not restricted to these):

  1. How can knowledge exist outside of the mind of the knower?
  2. Information transfer vs. knowledge transfer - is it possible to transfer 'knowledge'?
  3. Information management vs. knowledge management - what is managed in KM systems?
  4. Information portals vs. knowledge portals - how do they differ?
  5. Is there any knowledge management software that really manages knowledge? Or are we siimply replacing an old hat with a new one?
  6. Can tacit knowledge be codified and retained? In which case, what is it that is retained other than information?
  7. What is a knowledge-sharing culture?
  8. Can knowledge management ever replace information management?
  9. Is knowledge management just another consultancy fad, or will something remain when the next fad arises?
  • Submit your paper to Dr. Suliman Hawamdeh, School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, prepared according to the Instructions for Authors at http://informationr.net/ir/author1.html by March 31st 2002. If submitting by mail, include a paper copy and the file on a PC-formatted disc. Submission by e-mail to assuliman@ntu.edu.sg is preferred.