Release of RealKM Open KM Syllabus

This article is part of a series on education and professional accreditation for knowledge managers.

One of the stated goals of RealKM since its inception has been to push the boundaries of knowledge management, helping it achieve greater understanding, acceptance, and inclusion in organisational strategy.

As a multidisciplinary management science, drawing from diverse fields including information theory, data sciences, librarianship, communications, marketing, psychology, biology, sociology, and management research, most KM curriculums for both tertiary qualifications and private certifications only cover a small subset of the areas relevant to effective practice of knowledge management in organisations.

The RealKM Open KM Syllabus is an initiative which attempts to systematically describe the themes and topics required for a fully-rounded education in knowledge management theory and practice.

The goal is to provide a reference standard that can be used to:

• compare the content of educational KM programs
• create a common language for KM specialisations
• assist KM practitioners to identify opportunities for personal improvement

The Open KM Syllabus is licenced for free use under a no-derivatives Creative Commons licence to limit fragmentation and encourage consensus within the KM community. An additional permission to create derivative versions of this document are permitted as long as extensions remain compatible with the base numbering system

• any new themes use a numbering scheme which clearly indicates it is an extension, e.g.
  • EX.A.1 – new theme
  • A.EX.1 – new subtheme
• any insertions, modifications, or deletions to listed topics are clearly marked or footnoted
• the origin of the document remains clearly credited

While attempting to be comprehensive, it makes no pretense at being consultative. The goal is to be a sufficient starting point to facilitate further work and conversations on standardising our body of knowledge around knowledge management.

See also:

• Why I developed the RealKM Open KM Syllabus, and the next steps
• Implementing the RealKM Open KM Syllabus