Many look at knowledge management as an
organizational initiative, which it is. However, can
KM also be used to assist low technology situations
such as rural villages? This paper describes the
application of KM to the creation of a self-reliant
community in Thailand. Changing demographics are
threatening the ability of rural villages to sustain their
viability as traditional methods of passing knowledge
from one generation to the next are being
circumvented by the movement of the young to the
more urbanized areas of Thailand. KM is seen as a
way of changing the traditional knowledge transfer
process to something that assists those who remain in
the villages. The KM approach investigated consisted
of five stages: 1) Preparation, 2) Create motivation,
awareness, promote participation, 3) Develop the KM
plan, 4) Implement the KM plan, and 5) Evaluation.
The approach was assessed and found to be successful
by using 8 organizations over an 8 month period.