The Prehistory of Knowledge Management

The actKM Forum has been discussing the origins of the phrase “knowledge management” (thanks Awie) – the consensus seems to be building that the emergence of the term can be attributed to Karl Wiig and his colleagues in the early 1980s.

However, digging around in the Prelinger Archive, I found this little gem, an industrial film from around 1960 in classic triumphalist mode, clearly demonstrating that KM was being touted as a management fad a whole generation before Karl Wiig’s work.

Video thumbnail. Click to play
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Posted by Patrick Lambe on 21/09/07 at 09: 13 AM | Categories: Video | Permalink

3 Comments so far

Patrick - you are a genius - well done 8-) Nerida

Posted on September 21, 2007 at 05:17 PM | Comment permalink

Patrick Lambe

Thank Calvin Communications, c.1960 Nerida smile I think they did this as a spoof on the genre of grand industrial progress films of the day, starting with a General Motors epic from around 1940 (foretelling a futuristic 1960). Wierd how knowledge management just fits into that mould so easily…

Posted on September 23, 2007 at 12:22 PM | Comment permalink

awie

sigh! i need a faster machine n connection…

Posted on September 27, 2007 at 09:25 PM | Comment permalink

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