Knowledge is power. We’ve all hear this old bromide, and it’s very true. Anyone who stays informed, and strives to always learn new things is on the faster track not only to success, but also to a far more personally fulfilling life. The reason so many people foolishly dismiss the value of learning, and the satisfaction of it is entirely the result of something I’ll discuss in a minute. For the moment, let’s just acknowledge that, in this modern information age, the need for solid knowledge representation software is greater than ever.
Truth be told, the reason the internet took off in the mid nineties is entirely due to the visual (and easily navigated) new world wide web was just such a form of knowledge representation software. It was easy to use, and the information was easy to take in, versus the walls of text in command line systems, or in old dusty ink and paper tomes.
So, with the need for internal data storage structures and knowledge bases being what they are, you need more software of this sort, to make this data appear in a form that makes a bit of sense.
#1 – Wiki Knowledge
If you’ve used the internet frequently in the past seven or eight years at least, you’re absolutely familiar with Wikis, most notably Wikipedia. We’ve come to rely on it as a quick way to find out basic information. With its intuitive layout (similar to a very structured CMS), and its stability and support for a number of mediums beyond merely text, it’s a solid knowledge portal system.
Plus, thanks again to Wikipedia and the use of Wikis for a number of big communities to pool knowledge, everyone knows how to work this thing.
Wiki Knowledge is exactly this, designed around business use. A nice extra feature this has is that it has a very competent email and RSS change notification system, ensuring more solid reliability in the knowledge added or edited.
#2 – KnowledgeTree
KnowledgeTree is a bit more traditional in its representation, and bases more around document exchange rather than itemized database content. So, this is more of a hybrid between cloud and cooperative document sharing, and knowledge representation.
It offers access from anywhere, lifecycle management, collaboration, document security and of course dynamic interfaces for searching and accessing the documents, bringing in that representation.
It needs a bit more KR functionality to balance the document leanings, but it has promise, and is worth looking at.
#3 – WSS Knowledge Base Manager Pro
Long name, but WSS is the big daddy on this list, so I saved it for last. This one offers searchable documents, NLS searching, LDAP integration, active response, workflow management, custom fields, WYSIWYG editing, related article connectivity and heuristics, multiple user groups and a vast array of article templates.
This one is the KM solution that actually can be anything you want. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it.
These knowledge representation software offerings are among the most interesting at this point. If you need to manage documents with this, then KnowledgeTree is your best bet. If you need a basic, easy to learn system, Wiki Knowledge is your call. But, if you have immense and complex data, you want WSS.
