This folder contains articles describing a variety of methods for mapping networks and knowledge. Mapping is a process of visually representing the collective knowledge and/or relationships within a community in order to identify points of strength and weakness, as well as to serve as a navigation tool for community members to locate both concrete and tacit knowledge resources.

For a short introduction to mapping, its principles and its uses, see Knowledge Mapping: A practical overview by Denham Grey. Valdis Krebs' Introduction to Social Network Analysis presents a few of the factors that can be considered in analyzing a knowledge map. A third good overview article is Knowledge Management, A Cartographic Approach.

For greater depth, Knowledge Networks: Mapping and Measuring Knowledge Creation and Re-Use presents a more technical look at mapping where nodes (points onthe map) represent people. Another approach, where nodes represent knowledge pieces, is described in Creating Knowledge Maps by Exploiting Dependent Relationships. A unique approach to identifying the knowledge necessary for mapping is described in Mapping Knowledge Networks in Organizations: Creating a Knowledge Mapping Instrument.

Finally, the knowledge audit is the sister process to knowledge mapping. Rather than visually representing knowledge assets and their location, a knowledge audit is more like a traditional inventory, applied to knowledge. A goodoverview of this approach is The Knowledge Audit.

Author(s): Christopher Bennett