Weblogs as Base for Knowledge Management Systems?

cpfeifer asks: "I'm joining a small startup that needs a knowledge management solution. I know that 'knowledge management' is seen an empty buzzword, but after working at a company where the communication is very poor, I see the value of allowing folks to post their own news instead of having it filtered through some sort of corporate newsletter. I've seen the commercial portals (Plumtree & others), but after seeing a couple of OSS publication systems (phpNuke, Slash), I think these would fit the bill quite nicely." Aside from some of the basic features found in weblogs (posting, archival, sorting and searching), what else is necessary for the proper maintenance and use of such a system? How hard would it be to adapt existing weblog-ware to this task?

Comments

Wiki

[King of the World]

Weblog software is based around entries for a time period (posts from last week, etc.). Most Knowledge Bases aren't time-based, they're topic based, so there's no immediate fit. Also, weblog software isn't really about editing someone else's posts to improve the information like most KB's are.

Go for a Wiki. I can recommend MoinMoin

(sorry if there are any spelling mistakes, My goddamn fonts are broken and I can only read this back in this bizarre roman/metropolis thingy)

The trick is getting them to use it

[Kris_J]

I designed an event-logging database a few years back, ideal for core staff to keep track of phone calls, marketing or whatever in relation to each item in their portfolios. At the suggestion of one staff member I added a feature or two and created a "knowledge-base" journal-like thing where staff could post their current problems and/or solutions. The idea was to save time by each staff member not having to duplicate prior work. Thing was, the staff were only interesting in getting stuff out of it and not putting things into it. In no time at all it collapsed.

Ultimately the major barrier was typing speed. When it takes 10 times longer to type something in than to mention it at the next department lunch, they tend not to bother. I left that place before I ever implemented a solution. We tried providing a touch-typing tutorial CD, but few staff could be bothered running it.

The second most major barrier is that people value their knowledge and wish to keep it to themselves. These sorts of automated, souless information repositories don't help -- specifically, thinking that some big tech-oriented buzzword will allow turnover to stay at 50%pa without the company eventually being full only of people that don't know what they're doing does tend to re-enforce the belief that staff are not considered valuable as individuals.

If you find a solution, let me know.

You want Everything

[Wonko42]

You don't want a weblog, you want Everything. I think it would suit your purposes perfectly.

Wiki Absolutely!

[Big Sean O]

A Wiki would be preferable to a weblog for a couple of reasons:

1. Knowledge changes over time.
   
2. Connections between topics are central to understanding.
   
3. Each person has something to contribute. It's important to keep the participation threshold low.
   

A Wiki has these benefits over a Weblog.

Most wikis support a RecentChanges page. This allows you to see what topics have been modified recently. Therefore you can track those projects/clients/topics that interest you.

The participation threshold is very low. You don't have to learn any formatting codes. Links to other topics are created by smashing words together LikeSo or putting them in brackets [LikeThis]. (No bothersome href's to type).

I'd recommend UseMod Wiki because it's simple to setup (it's perl-based and doesn't rely on a fancy DBMS on the backend) and it is fairly free of 'creeping featuritis' which plague some of the other Wiki products.