Preservation
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Definition
Preservation is The process of keeping knowledge in its original state
Source: Planning and Execution of Knowledge Management Assist Missions for Nuclear Organizations
Summary
One paragaph summary which summarises the main ideas of the article.
Description 1
Within the KM context, it is obvious that nuclear KP plays a vital role. Preserving existing nuclear knowledge, specialist expertise, and in general preventing the loss of vital technical and historical information is starting to be recognized as strategically important to the nuclear industry, in particular for nuclear facilities. As such, the development of KP approaches and tools based on innovative approaches, including the use of modern information technology, are becoming a necessity.
The IAEA has formalized the definition of knowledge preservation to state (see Refs [1, 13]): “a process of
maintaining an organizational system of knowledge and capabilities that preserves and stores perceptions, actions
and experiences over time and secures the possibility of recall for the future.”
In this report, KP is viewed as including the processes required to capture, understand, archive, retrieve and protect explicit and tacit knowledge and to maintain accessibility and readability of it as technology evolves for as long as the knowledge remains useful. KP can be seen as a process of maintaining an organizational system of knowledge and capabilities that preserves and stores perceptions, actions and experiences over time and secures the possibility of recall for the future. The preservation of knowledge is an important phase within the KM cycle, from creation to implementation (see Fig. 1). KP, as a component of KM, plays an important role in supporting the entire management system, which ensures the effectiveness of industrial business processes. The main factors and driving forces of such a management system are human resources, organizational structure and responsibilities, IT, leadership, and cooperative culture.
Organizations that intentionally manage their experiences for them to be available for the future have to master three basic processes of knowledge management:
- Select from the large number of organizational events, persons or experts and processes only those worth preserving;
- Store their experience in a suitable form;
- Ensure the setting up and operation of organizational memory.
The preservation of tacit knowledge assumes the maintenance of core competencies, specialized expertise, and experience within an organization or industry. This is often referred to as knowledge retention and focuses on the human aspects of KM. The preservation of explicit knowledge, on the other hand, by definition assumes a knowledge repository or organizational memory system (OMS). A knowledge repository is a place to store and from which to retrieve explicit knowledge. A set of file folders are an example of a low technology knowledge repository. A high technology knowledge repository might be an OMS in the form of a database. Thus, KP underlies all aspects of KM, including the creation or generation of new knowledge (e.g. capturing knowledge as it is produced).
Source: Comparative Analysis of Methods and Tools for Nuclear Knowledge Preservation
Description 2
The preservation of knowledge is an important building block within the knowledge management field. Organizations that intentionally manage their experiences for them to be available for the future have to master three basic processes of knowledge management:
- select, from the large number of organizational events, persons or experts and processes, only those that are worth preserving;
- store their experience in a suitable form;
- ensure the setting up and operation of the organizational memory.
Source: Planning and Execution of Knowledge Management Assist Missions for Nuclear Organizations
References
[1] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Knowledge Management for Nuclear Industry Operating Organizations, IAEA-TECDOC-1510, IAEA, Vienna (2006).
[13] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Nuclear Knowledge Management Glossary, IAEA, Vienna (2005).
Related articles
Tacit knowledge preservation at the institute of nuclear research, Romania
Explicit knowledge preservation at the EC Joint Research Centre, Petten
Tacit and explicit knowledge preservation at United Technical College and Kozloduy NPP, Bulgaria
