Sounds like a simple enough question, right? However, a question like this, especially when raised among techies, runs the risk of triggering deep philosophical—I would call them religious—debates. In no time at all, the debate focuses on a fundamental issue: What is knowledge? I figured I could find such a debate-in-progress when I noticed the following comment in Roland Tanglao's Weblog: I am not an AI guy, but I think knowledge *can* be contained within a weblog post if the post is [in a] format where the blog system can automatically extract categories/keywords/topics.
I didn't have far to look. Roland was commenting on dueling posts by John Robb, former Userland CEO and active K-log (Knowledge webLog) champion, and Vikas Kamat, computer scientist. Naturally, John think blogs can contain knowledge; Vikas does not. Roland offers a qualified "yes". Who's right? Everybody (given each his own definition of knowledge, anyway). Let me suggest a pragmatic definition of knowledge for those of us who are trying to chip away at real world KM problems (to use the overloaded, seriously baggage laden, "KM" term): Knowledge is information that improves a person's ability to act wisely.
This is a simple but powerful definition. It defines knowledge implicitly in terms of its enabling effect—improved ability to act wisely—rather than any specific attributes. (By the way, the Turning Test uses a similar technique to define intelligence.) Ultimately, it is this enabling effect that we value; that we create software to help achieve; that companies are willing to pay for. Any specific attributes are just "implementation details". So, can a blog post contain knowledge? If you are talking about information that improves a person's ability to act wisely, then certainly, the answer is yes. | 
