Knowledge Value in the Information Crisis

Human knowledge is increasing exponentially and the tools to help manage that increase are being introduced just as fast (google, facebook, wikis, blogs, twitter, SMS, second life, etc.).  The IT Revolution and Knowledge Management have intersected to address the more and different issue:  We know more things - We know different things.  The flow rates of knowledge exchange are therefore increasing.  The same tools we use to search, sort, organize, and process our knowledge are consuming increasingly more time in our daily routine.  Increasingly distracted less effective workers change activities 3 min apart - It takes 30 minutes to get back to the task (Wall Street Journal Monday July 7, 2008 Page A11).  Our current knowledge worker environments are reducing our ability to focus - a side effect of the otherwise powerful tools we use to gather and analyze information.
We have become a slave to technology - with “knowledge processing” taking 90% of our day leaving only 10% for thinking and reflecting.(WSJ 7/7/08).  Can we adopt a process to utilize powerful tools and  manage knowledge with greater efficiency?  Part of this is based on our ability to descriminate useful knowledge from the rest.  The term "useful knowledge" was applied by economist Simon Kuznets 1965.  The definition addresses both the "what" and "how" aspects of knowledge.  On the "how" side we have "prescriptive knowledge".  This is a class of knowledge that is directed at "techniques" (tribal knowledge) of how to apply propositional knowledge (the "what" type of knowledge - related to natural phenomena, etc.).  Knowledge can be in dispute, or it can be widely accepted or "tight".  Knowledge Tightness - a function of the ease of verifiability - the confidence that people have in the knowledge - the willingness of people to act on that knowledge  We can think of tightness in relationship to (1) confidence - the more likely people are apt to use or apply and (2) consensus - the broader the agreement.  That brings us to the big winner.  That is to say a sort of "wisdom of crowds" aspect to knowledge:  "collective knowledge".  Social software systems offer validation of "knowledge tightness" (IM, facebook, email, spock, bookmarks, tags, twitter, del.icio.us, etc.).  And knowledge management (an organization’s efforts to transform information and intellectual assets into enduring value) offers prescriptive authority.  As we move from opinion to "position" on a particular topic we apply the concepts of prescriptive tightness.  So "high-value" knowledge is collective, tight, and prescriptive.