From this need to manage knowledge has grown
the business discipline now known as knowledge
management (KM). In fact, knowledge management
is anything but new, as companies have always
managed their knowledge in one way or another, its
just that previously they didn’t call it KM. KM in
one form or another has always existed wherever
business existed. In medieval times in Europe,
skilled craftsman apprenticed younger people in
order to pass on their knowledge to them. That
practice is still in evidence in KM today, now we
call it mentoring. Similarly, individuals and societies
have always managed their knowledge, whether
gathering important knowledge in documents,
visually or aurally, we capture what we know so
we can pass it on to others that follow us.