Suddenly remembered the days, when I had a course called "MIS" (Management Information Systems) in my Computer Application course... Never gave a hard thought on that other than reading only for getting some good score in exam paper. Well, we had a secret plan to do so (Applicable to that teacher and my room-mates :D. Don't laugh Sanotosh, Ratnesh and Udayan, if you are reading this). Two of the words from that book just came into my mind "Information" and "Knowledge" when recently I was going through some article ... So few words on these two words...
The article was on "Knowledge Management"; the title sounded somewhat different.. Had heard of "Information Management", but what is this "Knowledge Mangement". Are these two words "Information" and "Knowledge" same ? Deep few pages of that article explained that ... Let me put that in my own words here ...
Information does not need a carrier; but knowdelge does. Human beings are the carriers most of the time; sometimes generators and processors too... So from a higher perspective, we can say that managing knowledge is nothing but managing people... So in an organisation, if you are capable of inducing people to generate ideas, share thougths, collaborate, apply their knowledge, learn continuously and act upon them, you are done!, you started managing knowledge of the organization...
Now one more point on Knowledge sharing.. A big task and do happen most of the time in most organization... Why all the time it does not happen 100% as we expect it to be... Well, how it can be... Knowledge is not bare information, it has to got something to do with the person who is having that, or rather sharing that... He must be carrying some of his experiences, some linking with his/her own life; so as to be called his/her knowledge. Well, in the process of sharing, he/she tries to demonstrate some of those along with sharing the information. Now, the listener take that information in his/her own way to make that his/her part of knowledge. So it is important to understand that the "knowledge transfer" is complete only when we explain the reasons, causes, logic and the intricacies of the action under question. Knowledge equips the knowledge seeker to think on his/her own some time down the line, analyze things by himself/herself, understand the methodology and apply concepts and tools in future situations without requiring external support.
Lastly, as far as the difference goes between these two words; as long as the why and how are understood, it does qualify to be called knowledge rather than information. Superstitions, for example, are labeled so when there is no information about the reasoning behind them. The minute such a belief is backed by the why (and how wherever applicable), it ceases to be bare information and becomes richer knowledge because it allows knowledge seekers to understand, evaluate, agree/disagree and use it in their own lives!
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