What Exactly Is Personal Knowledge Management Anyway?

Personal knowledge management has been a growing discipline in recent years.

Despite being relatively new — the term was first mentioned in “Personal Knowledge Management?: Who, What, Why, When, Where, How?” by Frand & Hixon in 1999 — the growing hyperinformation problem has led to PKM becoming more and more necessary.

But what exactly is personal knowledge management? In this article, we’ll explore popular PKM systems, how to implement them, and how you can improve your productivity and knowledge using them.

Personal Knowledge Management: What Is?it?

Personal knowledge management (PKM) refers to actively implementing a systematic process to capture, organize, share, and apply knowledge and information collected in your personal and professional life.

In other words, it is a proactive approach to managing information and knowledge that can help you improve your productivity, decision-making, and overall effectiveness either at work or for any given activity.

Think of it this way: we apply the knowledge we possess in almost everything we do — whether that is consciously or on autopilot. Personal knowledge management makes sure that we do that in the best possible way.

Why You Should Have a Personal Knowledge Management System

Navigating the sea of information we’re exposed to these days can be cumbersome.

Not only does it require significant time — and effort — to find and curate the right information, we also have to remember where we store it so as not to misplace it and start the process all over again.

Has this happened to you? Think about how many times you struggled to find that document you were working on your Google Drive, or which one of the dozens of tabs you have opened had that article you were using to write an essay.

In that regard, implementing a personal knowledge management system can help you effectively manage the information overload in several ways.

You can use a PKM system to organize your knowledge, thoughts and ideas in an actionable way.

More importantly, you can use visual systems that allow you not only to stay organized, but also understand how the different bits of information and knowledge you’ve gathered connect between each other.

Why is this important? Our brains think by association — connecting thoughts, ideas, and information between each other. The more you understand how your knowledge intertwines and forms connections, the clearer you’ll be able to think.

How to Build Your Personal Knowledge Management System

Before we start this section, it’s important to note that each person is a whole unique universe of knowledge. What works for someone else may not do it for you.

It’s important to try and experiment with different systems to pinpoint which one you find more comfortable and efficient to manage your knowledge.

That said, there are some general steps you can take to make this easier:

1. Identify your sources of information: Start by identifying the sources of information that are most important to you. These may include books, websites, blogs, podcasts, and newsletters. Once you have identified your sources of information, you can start capturing the relevant information that you come across.
2. Choose your equipment: There are many tools and platforms that allow you to collect, organize, and manage information, such as note-taking apps, mind mapping tools, and file storage services. Again, you may find some are friendlier than others — of course, we recommend Knowy!
3. Create a flow for categorizing, tagging, and mapping information: Once you start collecting information, you need to organize it in a way that makes sense to you. To do this, you should categorize it according to their source and domain, tag it to make it easy to find, and map it to visualize the connections so that you can easily put your knowledge to use.
4. Stay updated! We always say knowledge isn’t static, but dynamic. It constantly changes and evolves. Every time you learn something new, you add a bit of information to your knowledge system. This means new connections with your previous knowledge, new understandings and findings. So, you should review and update your personal knowledge management system every once in a while.
5. Share your knowledge: A commonly underappreciated step of the PKM process, but essential It’s important to share your insights and ideas with colleagues, friends, or even family members. Enriching your knowledge with other people’s perspectives can add tremendous value. Plus, you never know who might benefit from your knowledge!

Using Knowy for Your Personal Knowledge Management System

Knowy is the perfect tool to explore knowledge management systems.

It is equipped with note-taking, mind mapping tools, and a built-in information searching feature from validated sources that will make capturing, organizing, and cementing knowledge much easier.

Most importantly, when you log into Knowy, you’ll have access to your own, personal knowledge assistant powered by AI. The Knowy Bot can search, filter, extract, rearrange, and suggest information for you in seconds.

We believe AI has the potential to augment human cognition to the next level, and Knowy integrates all the resources necessary to make it possible in a single, unique knowledge augmentation platform — available for everyone, worldwide.

Discover how to get started with Knowy here???

Register for Early?Access!

Knowy’s knowledge augmentation app will launch soon for registered beta testers. Do you want to be a part of the knowledge revolution? Sign up for free early access to the app here!