In reply to Allyn J Radford.

Thanks very much for your comments, Allyn. I think central repositories could be replaced by distributed ones, with open data standards. The organization could still harvest these distributed sources and keep a central resource, much as Google does with the web. It's not necessary to build a central silo if all the little ones can share. I'm definitely not advocating a return to everyone keeping their data only on their local hard drive (e.g. Seek, Sense, SHARE). As you say, repositories won't solve any KM problems anyway, but distributed ones may keep the IT department from meddling with knowledge sharing ;)

I like the description of PKM or PKS as a "theme". Yes, the responsibility is on the individual, because I don't see it getting permanently adopted any other way. However, the organization can collect, collate and redistribute what is shared by individuals. It can also help by providing tools and coaching on PKM. The organization's role moves from being directive to facilitative.

Perhaps not all employees are knowledge workers, but I think it's a very wide net today. For instance, Barry Schwartz shows the practical wisdom (social knowledge) required of the janitor in the workplace, during this TED Talk (@ 1:15):

http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html

Here's an example of informal knowledge sharing amongst folks not usually considered knowledge workers:

http://www.greenchameleon.com/gc/blog_detail/a_simple_knowledge_sharing_ritual/

Thanks for engaging in the conversation here and getting me to think deeper about this area.