WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio, Dec. 14, 2005 – Wright-Patterson's Air Force Knowledge Management Center of Excellence, located in the Air Force Materiel Command Capabilities, Integration, and Transformation Directorate, is giving Department of Defense employees improved access to a great resource – knowledge.

"In today's age of exponentially expanding technology advancements, distributed databases, and the World Wide Web, many think we've got a pretty good handle on our information resources," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Dave Sasser, chief knowledge management analyst at the Air Force Knowledge Management Center of Excellence. "The problem, however, is that storable information only accounts for about 20 percent of an organization's value. The other 80 percent is not readily categorized into a database or written into a document; rather it lies in the minds of organizational members."

According to Sasser, it doesn't matter how much people improve or advance the ability to store and access information because information management only addresses a fraction of the problem.

"Leveraging knowledge is the key to competitive advantage in today's global environment," he said. "The Air Force's Information Management Flight Plan addresses this, as does the Defense Department's Transformation Flight Plan."

"The first key to understanding the need for managing and leveraging knowledge is to understand the difference between knowledge and information," said Randy Adkins, Air Force Knowledge Management Center of Excellence director.

According to Adkins, "knowledge" is at the top of a three-part hierarchy that follows data and information. Data is the most basic building block of information and exists on its own, devoid of meaning until it is placed in context.

"If I say to you '10 degrees,' that doesn't mean a whole lot, but if I tell you that the temperature outside dropped 10 degrees and it started raining, now you have some context to work with, some information," Adkins said. "The data now has meaning. It takes a human intellect communicating with other humans to make these types of connections and generate knowledge."

"This may not seem like a real problem to many people," Sasser said. "A lot of people will say that we've been collaborating with each other for years."

But he said the "big revelation" is, since people understand the processes behind knowledge generation and sharing, they can do things to improve it and make it more efficient.

Officials at the Air Force Knowledge Management Center of Excellence focus on such issues.

The first major outcome of these efforts is the Air Force Knowledge Now tool at https://afkm.wpafb.af.mil, which many across the Air Force and the Defense Department already take advantage of on a daily basis.

"Knowledge Now gives our more than 80,000 users a repository for information and, more importantly, connections to others out there who have the knowledge they require," said Adkins. "We are continuing to improve the system and add users on a daily basis, but we are now beginning to put more focus into the culture piece, getting everyone in the Air Force to understand the value of what's between their ears and how to share it in the most efficient and effective way."