Jack Vinson’s blog is one of the first knowledge management blogs I came across — several years before I decided to go off and create my own site. Check out Jack’s blog archives for proof of that fact — you’ll find loads of useful content in there.

I’ve been reading Jack’s blog since I found it — and considering the quality Jack has consistently put into his blog (and I know how hard it is to keep up with blogging over time), I don’t intend to stop reading any time soon.

Not only is Jack a prolific knowledge management blogger, he is also president of Knowledge Jolt Inc., a knowledge management consultancy firm.

So, on to the meat of this post. Jack was kind enough to answer some questions about collaboration, knowledge management, and the future direction of these interrelated fields.

I know you’ve got a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and originally started out in the pharmaceutical industry. How did you get started in knowledge management?

My Ph.D. research involved a combination of chemical engineering and artificial intelligence, specifically a form of expert systems. That background gave me a big “ah ha!” when I came across knowledge management literature, and realized that there were a lot of similarities. Some KM historians point to Expert Systems as being fore-runners of KM.

If you could change one thing about knowledge management, what would it be?

I’d change the Wikipedia entry to be something intelligible. Or I would seek to develop KM as an umbrella term for many similar-but-different knowledge-related activities. KM seems to mean so many different things, that it would make more sense to abstract it and simply name the activities themselves: knowledge communities; knowledge networks; knowledge technology…

What is the most useful, but least talked about aspect of knowledge management?

Knowledge sharing isn’t such a big secret. We do it all the time over coffee and via email. It’s just that formalizing “knowledge sharing” somehow creates much larger barriers of trust and cooperation.

What are your thoughts on the phrase knowledge management? Does this phrase convey what knowledge management is supposed to be about?

No, but it is a term that is in wide enough circulation that it will have to do.

Do the increased quantity and breadth of social networks pose any challenges/present any opportunities for organizations? What should organizations be thinking about in terms of social networks/collaboration?

I assume you are meaning things like Facebook. I don’t think the challenge is anything beyond the bureaucratic IT decisions. The really interesting thing for me is in the realization that organizations don’t have the stranglehold on information that they believe. Making smart use of extended (social) networks is going to make a lot of organizations very happy. I see it in places like Caterpillar, which has created communities of practice beyond the walls of the organization to great benefit. Collaboration can only help.

What will be the most important trend in knowledge management and collaboration in the next 5-10 years?

Technically, the move to easily-sharable information will continue, whether that is Semantic Web or RSS-like XML structures. This will make repurposing / remixing / mashing of information more possible and open opportunities for additional services / technologies that can do this for us. On the human front, we are going to see more and more that connections can be as valuable as deep expertise.