Taxonomies are typically offered as solutions to help organizations deal with information overload. By developing and imposing a classification system onto their vast and ever-growing collection of information, the organization hopes to make it easier for its employees to locate the information they need. Knowledge taxonomies take this idea further, mapping the organization's knowledge so that it can be more effectively accessed and applied. While information taxonomies can be very challenging to implement, knowledge taxonomies are even more so.

This paper will look at several factors that need to be taken into consideration when implementing a knowledge taxonomy. Specifically, it will discuss the role of people as participants in the implementation of the knowledge taxonomy. It will also look at tacit knowledge its relevance to the knowledge taxonomy. This will lead to the discussion of the role of people as knowledge resources in the taxonomy.

Full paper (PDF, 58k)

(This is the first of several papers that I will be publishing on this site. I have decided it is better to share the ideas then to keep them hidden away on my hard drive. The papers are not that polished and could use some reworking, but if I wait until I have time for that I'll never get them published. Comments, as always, are welcome.)