KM Landscape: reflections of the journey to nowhere, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere – walking, talking and working with no one, someone, anyone and everyone

It all started with a thought and then simple question: “can we do KM for KMers better”. The question started a conversation, and the conversation led to a cocreative activity – the KM Landscape @ 2025 project.

When initially forming the KM Landscape concept, the context of KM was gathered by talking with stakeholders throughout the KM “ecosystem”¹ – mostly through those visible, network introductions, leaders of Communities / representative bodies. This gathered context was then refined to establish a better understanding of where KM had come from, where it was at present and also looking forward to where it was headed. This then led to looking at the concept of: “How has, how is and how could KM evolve”.

In these conversations an effort was made to figure out KM Landscape’s possible place relative to the current KM ecosystem and significant entities, resources, activities or opinions – looking for and reducing possible duplication and redundancy. There seemed to be general agreement that;

• So many possible answers to KM questions
  • with few places to accommodate differing views, methods
  • few common places for enabling inclusion.
• KM is mature and it matters – and yet KM is not where it deserves to be
  • Need to show what’s out there with neither alignment nor critique.
• @ 2025 – quarter of the way through this century and 30 years on from KM beginnings
  • We (KMers) are struggling with KM basics.

Last and not least in the context of the preparation of the KM Landscape is the involvement of KMGN – the Knowledge Management Global Network. Providing network contacts, a sanity sounding board and also supporting the establishment of the activity – their initial role and influence should not be understated. Everything had really been talk up to the point at which KMGN agreed to announce the launch of the KM Landscape activity in its joint “Trends for 2025” in early December 2024. At the same time the KM Landscape webpage (hosted as part of the KMGN website) and sign-on form were released.

This led to more than 100 active KMers to cocreate and in your words allowed opportunities for cocreators to give to KM as a discipline, to grow in the process and to create both useful and usable outputs and outcomes.

A new article in Knowledge Management for Development Journal² will take you on a journey through the KM Landscape, where you will learn about:

• Intro: Gives a perspective on the KM Landscape giving the reader a view on why it came about and how it was initially shaped.
• Context: Presents the case for the KM Landscape and the way this was cocreated and then set out.
• Problem Space: Highlighting a problem space to be defined and filled by the diverse range of cocreative contributors active in part of or throughout the KM Landscape journey.
• Technique: content covers the facilitation of the KM Landscape where readers can find practical insights into aspects of outreach, enabling participation, clarity of purpose, helping and keeping engagement, and last however definitely not least uncertainty. To aid insights examples a regiven of engagement methods in support of cocreators journey and growth.
• KM Landscape: gives direct insights into the practical sides of the KM Landscape – using the scope of aspects identified – people, process, technology, content and governance / strategy:
  • People: Just who attended, where do they come from, how did they want to support.
  • Process: What was the process used to secure a safe and open environment, and how was this maintained in a relational context to best promote connection and knowledge exchange.
  • Technology: how and what was technology used as sympathetic background to a primarily conversation-based activity.
  • Content: what was generated and what different types were created and then how were these shared.
  • Governance / Strategy: what was this and how did this co-exist in a cocreative and relational environment.

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