Information on statutory obligations
It is the responsibility of all organisations responsible for public records, as defined by the Public Records Act 1958 (c. 51), to ensure the safekeeping of public records prior to their selection for transfer to The National Archives or other approved place of deposit, under the guidance and supervision of the Keeper of Public Records. This covers all administrative and departmental records belonging to His Majesty, held in any format, including paper, digital, audio, film or model format.
The National Archives provides guidance and supervision to public record bodies on the safekeeping and selection of public records.
These obligations originate in section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958 (c. 51). See The National Archives’ Legislation and regulations pages for further information.
Where departments choose to digitise records, for whatever reason, both the original record and the digitised version are public records and so must be disposed of under the terms of the Public Records Act (PRA). Before embarking on any digitisation project, The National Archives (TNA) would recommend that plans are shared with The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives (ACNRA), to help the Departmental Records Officer (DRO) ensure independent oversight and that all relevant guidance is followed. This is particularly important if:
- digitisation is likely to cause damage to the original physical record;
- the intention is to destroy original records that were selected for transfer to TNA;
- the benefits to the public purse of digitising records with either very high or very low selection rates are unclear; or
- the outcome of the digitisation project does not help develop ways of the department using AI in selection techniques.
Some departments have chosen to digitise paper records to business standards to allow for appraisal to be undertaken off site before the original paper versions are transferred to TNA. Further guidance is available below on digitisation for business use.
Should a department wish to keep digitised records after transferring the originals, these would need to be retained under the PRA via ACNRA.
In exceptional cases (e.g., irreversible deterioration or contamination of original paper records), if a department intends to digitise selected records and destroy the originals, prior agreement should be sought from TNA and ACNRA. The DRO must ensure that the full content and context of the original record is captured, that all text is included and legible, and that the entirety of the document can be seen with no information missing. There must be proper control and oversight of the process and a clear and demonstrable chain of custody, to ensure that the digitised version would be adequate should it need to be presented as evidence in a court of law or to an official Inquiry.
The DRO must also ensure that metadata has not been corrupted and that all related guidance has been followed. There must be an end_date for digital images, as the date last modified would only indicate the date the image, rather than the original record, was made, which would affect the viability of the digitised public record for selection purposes.
Alongside any consideration for digitising paper records, TNA would recommend that departments have a comprehensive appraisal policy and a TNA-agreed transfer plan covering records of all formats. Risks of non-compliance with the PRA should be added to the corporate risk register and senior leadership made aware of escalation routes via TNA or ACNRA.
Should you require further technical guidance on digitisation, for example to supply to a professional digitisation company, please contact the Government Help Point at governmenthelppoint@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Digitisation for business use
Before undertaking any scanning for business use, Departments should consult with their DROs. This will ensure that the provenance and evidential value of the records can be determined before the original format of the records are destroyed or altered so as to render the provenance questionable or so that they cannot be used as evidence for legal purposes.
Whichever scanning supplier you use, you should always ask to see a sample set of scans and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) output if this is part of the project, before the scanning begins in earnest. This sample stage allows you to ensure you are happy with the quality of their output and is the best time to request changes to their process if needed. You should repeat the sample process as many times as required to be sure that they have integrated your required changes before the project is in full production mode.
Once in full production, checks should be routinely made for quality of image, expected file format standards, adherence to file-naming conventions and folder hierarchy arrangements. Pragmatically, checks would be made on a subset of randomly selected image files from across batches newly received from scanning suppliers. This is in order to ensure that the supplier continues to meet agreed standards. Individual files or batches not conforming to agreed standards should be returned to the supplier for re-working.
File naming
Before beginning the scanning process consider a logical file naming system that the scanning supplier can apply to the images as they are created. You may want to browse and retrieve images by file name alone and a series of purely numbered images such as 0001 could make that very difficult. File names should be:
- Unique
- Consistently arranged
- Made up of letters and/or numbers
- The only non-alphanumeric characters used (if required) should be underscore _ to minimise issues with use across operating systems
- Not overly long or complex, to avoid character limitation issues in certain operating systems and also to avoid human error at the point of file naming
Image format standards
When choosing the correct format for digitised images, you should consider whether it allows lossless compression. This means the compression of the image without any loss of image data. This allows for a reduction in storage space required for your images whilst ensuring retention of all image data.
By comparison, lossy compression reduces the size of an image by discarding data which means data will be irretrievably lost i.e. even if you reversed the compression you would not retrieve all of the original image data.
JPEG2000 format is used by some institutions including The National Archives for a number of reasons including a greater level of lossless compression (than, for example, TIFF format) and because it is open source. However, to view JPEG2000 images you would need to download a free viewer such as IrfanView: https://www.irfanview.com/ as Windows does not come with a standard application that would enable you to open JPEG2000.
You may also want to consider baseline RGB TIFF 6.0 or higher format. TIFF is a popular image format that your scanning supplier should be comfortable generating. It has lossless capabilities and can be understood by a multitude of software.
If applying compression to your images to reduce file size, lossless compression is recommended.
- For JPEG2000 use lossless compression.
- For TIFF files we recommend ZIP compression, but LZW compression is also an option if preferred.
Lossy compression results in discarded information that can never be regained i.e. even if you reversed the compression you would not retrieve all of the original image data. It also
negatively impacts on the ability to carry out Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which enables the content of your scanned image(s) to be searchable.
DPI and PPI standards
DPI is dots per inch and is actually referring to the output resolution i.e. the dot intensity of the image when it is printed.
PPI is pixels per inch and refers to the input resolution of the image.
There can sometimes be confusion between PPI and DPI, particularly when manufacturers use these terms interchangeably.
The National Archives select PPI where possible. Use of lower PPI than required above can cause a loss of information, poor user experience and an inability for OCR to be successfully carried out on scanned images. PPI requirements vary according to the format of the material to be scanned and are detailed below.
- For ordinary documents, use a minimum of 300 PPI.
- For photographs, use a minimum of 600 PPI.
- For photographic transparencies, use a minimum of 4000 PPI.
- For microform aim for a resolution equivalent to a minimum of 300 PPI at the size of the original document. Take into account the reduction ratio usually recorded on the first frame of the microform).
Physical dimensions
Images should be single page, unless information crosses both pages. If a single scan cannot capture the page in its entirety, there should be sufficient overlap to allow users to determine clearly which of the separate digital images form the whole of the original paper page.
All scans should be size-for-size (for microfilm this refers to the size of the original), with a sufficient clear border/margin to demonstrate to users that the entire page has been captured.
Colour, legibility and other image scanning standards
For microform material, scan images in 8 bit grayscale using the Enumerated greyscale colourspace profile.
For all other material, scan images in 24 bit colour using the Enumerated sRGB colourspace profile.
All digital images should be legible and at least as readable as the original image from which they are derived.
All images should be viewed immediately after scanning as a check on satisfactory capture (for example images complete or not inverted) and rescanned if required.
Metadata
While carrying out the scanning process the scanning supplier should be asked to capture a certain level of metadata regarding the scanning process. This ensures compliance with BS 10008 Evidential Weight and Legal Admissibility of Electronic Information – Specification which requires that, during the scanning process, ‘Associated scanning information (e.g. time, date, scanner number, number of pages) shall be created and retained’.
Additionally, capturing metadata related to the images created that will allow you to manage your records and ensure that there has been no loss or duplication during scanning.
As part of the metadata generation process it is best practice to document how you have generated and captured your metadata and what control procedures have been used to ensure its consistency and to guarantee authenticity.
The National Archives has created a tool which captures this type of information: DROID. It can be run over a batch of images to provide information on the files such as file name, file path, file format and extension. It will also generate a unique SHA 256 checksum for each file. A checksum is a ‘fingerprint’ for each file, made up of letters and numbers. No two checksums will be the same unless the content and format of a file are identical (the checksum does not relate to the filename, so if you had two differently named files with identical checksums, then you would know they were duplicate files in terms of content). You can generate new checksums for a file and check it against the original checksum, to ensure that the content of the file has not changed. A change in checksum will mean either someone has changed the content of the file and then saved it or that the file has been corrupted in some way. A change to the filename will not change the checksum. Checksums are not a good way to determine the intellectual content of images. Images of the same object will often have different checksums due to automated image capture information such as timestamp of image generation. It is important to generate a SHA 256 checksum after the image is created in order to be able to check that the file remains the same over time and to be able to determine if it has changed. This information assists both in managing the files and with digital continuity.
DROID cannot generate dates related to the original record from which the image has been created, so ensure you capture relevant dates relating to the record within the metadata as part of your metadata capture process. The National Archives provides further guidance on its website on digital continuity.
DROID is available to download for free from The National Archives website.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
In order to achieve optimum results in OCR it is important that you follow the guidance on capturing at the appropriate PPI as listed above (or higher PPI than listed if preferred) and that if any compression takes place, it is lossless compression.
Some other points to focus on are:
- Use your high quality TIFF/JPEG2000 as the input for your OCR – rather than providing a compressed PDF.
- Ensure that your scans do not have noise being introduced by the scanning process – such as spots and dark patches which are not on the originals. These types of marks considerably reduce the quality of the OCR output.
- You must verify and assess the accuracy of the OCR output – do not assume it will be perfect because it is machine generated.
- Try to use OCR software which outputs to an industry standard XML format such as PAGE. This will provide a lot more metadata about the results, such as character coordinates, which could be useful in the future. It would also enable the use of software which can view the OCR output overlaid onto the original image which makes the verification of the OCR output process much easier.
- Ensure that the XML output is retained and can be connected to the image from which it was generated. This could be achieved by following the same naming convention for the OCR output as for the file to which it relates; but ensure you also add an extra identifier to the file name to show it is OCR so that you do not encounter issues with filename duplication with the image itself.
Digitisation for a Public Inquiry
Should the DRO decide to digitise paper records required for a Public Inquiry, the department should consider taking legal advice to ensure that any digitised record is acceptable as evidence and in terms of legal admissibility. Records shared with a Public Inquiry should be selected for permanent preservation and transfer to TNA, making it clear how the department handled the records.
In digital transfer we differentiate between born-digital records and digitised representations of paper records.
This page introduces some of the types of born-digital records that The National Archives would preserve and make available, along with metadata to these records. The latter might be descriptive metadata, which becomes part of the catalogue entry for the record and governs access and use of the record, or technical metadata, which is necessary in the context of preserving the record for long-term access.
What are born-digital records?
Born-digital records are records that have been natively created in digital format (rather than digitised from paper records).
Examples of born-digital information include:
- text-based documents (for example Word documents, Google documents)
- presentations (for example PowerPoint)
- spreadsheets (for example Excel)
- PDFs
- images and videos
- CAD drawings
- 3D models
- data sets and data bases
What is metadata?
Data about the record such as the last date modified and the file title. This is the information that forms the catalogue entry for the record.
Examples of metadata include:
- identifier, for example a file path
- file title
- file format
- dates, for example the date of creation, the date last modified, the date last accessed
- checksum
- closure information, if applicable, e.g. the retention period or the exemption applied
- description
- copyright information
- protective marking
Introduction – Access to public records at The National Archives and other places of deposit
The aim of the guidance linked below is to supplement regarding the transfer of public records to The National Archives and other places of deposit. It should be used as a reference tool by those involved in the sensitivity review of records and the transfer of closed records. The guidance is intended primarily for the transfer of public records held by government departments to The National Archives or other places of deposit, but the principles and examples may also be relevant to the transfer of non-public records.
Records are transferred to The National Archives and other places of deposit under the Public Records Act 1958 (PRA).
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) governs public access to public records, and these are transferred ‘open on transfer’ unless alternatives are in place. When the information in those records is environmental information, as defined in the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, public access is governed by those regulations, which are similar but not identical to the FOIA. For simplicity, FOIA is used throughout, with Environmental Information Regulations specified only when provisions differ.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issues guidance on FOIA exemptions (the reasons to withhold information). The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issues guidance on the Environmental Information Regulations.
Part 3 of the code of practice on the management of records under section 46 of the FOIA sets out how records should be transferred to archives services.
For more information please contact the Access Team: scheduleapplications@nationalarchives.gov.uk or for advice and guidance on digital records closures please consult the Digital Transfer Team: governmenttransfers@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Guidance
What are public records, and who is responsible for them (PDF, 0.18 MB)
Principles for determining the access status of records on transfer (PDF, 0.1 MB)
Freedom of Information exemptions (PDF, 0.16 MB)
Data Protection and personal information (PDF, 0.12 MB)
Procedures for closure on transfer (PDF, 0.12 MB)
Redaction considerations (PDF, 0.1 MB)
Retention applications for legacy records – for use when completing templates for applications and update forms (PDF, 0.37 MB)
Forms
Closure at transfer application (DOC, 0.1 MB)
Closure at transfer application (XLS, 0.04 MB)
Application to retain under s3(4) of the Public Record Act 1958 (DOC, 0.1 MB)
Application to retain under s3(4) of the Public Record Act 1958 (XLS, 0.04 MB)
Template for application to retain legacy records – for use when submitting applications to The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives (DOC, 0.04 MB)
Template for update on retention of legacy records – for use when updating The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives (DOC, 0.04 MB)
Operational selection policies (OSPs) apply the criteria set out in the Records collection policy to the records of individual departments and agencies or to records relating to a cross-departmental theme. Operational selection policies are normally the subject of public consultation. Alternatively you can see the operational selection policies listed by OSP number.
Draft operational selection policies and appraisal reports currently out for public consultation
Home Office appraisal report 1953-2016 (PDF, 0.90MB)
Department for Culture Media and Sport Operational Selection Procedure 1992-2016 (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Centre of Government and constitutional matters
Ministry of Defence 1963-2014 appraisal report (PDF, 0.64MB)
OSP7: The Welsh Office 1979-1997 (PDF, 0.12MB)
OSP7: Y Swyddfa Gymreig 1979-1997 (PDF, 0.21MB)
OSP12: Central direction and oversight of policy 1970-2000 (PDF, 0.13MB)
OSP20: Records of the Central Office of Information (COI) (PDF, 0.12MB)
OSP27: UK central government websites (PDF, 0.11MB)
OSP59: Welsh Government 1997-2006 (PDF, 0.26MB)
OSP60: Welsh Government 2006-2011 (PDF, 0.27MB)
OSP: Welsh Government 2011-2016 (PDF, 0.51MB)
Defence, security and intelligence
OSP8: The Security Service (PDF, 0.08MB)
OSP11: Nuclear weapons policy 1967-1998 (PDF, 0.14MB)
OSP14: Home defence and emergency planning 1972-2001 (PDF, 0.11MB)
OSP28: Government Communication Headquarters and its predecessors (PDF, 0.07MB)
Environment
OSP1: The Department of the Environment 1970-1979 (PDF, 0.13MB)
OSP2: The Crown Estate 1975-1985 (PDF, 0.07MB)
OSP4: The use and conservation of the countryside for recreational purposes 1974-1983 (PDF, 0.07MB)
OSP10: Nature conservation in Great Britain 1973-1991 (PDF, 0.10MB)
OSP17: Preservation of the built environment 1970-1999 (PDF, 0.67MB)
OSP45: English Partnerships 1999-2006 (PDF, 0.24MB)
OSP 58: Environment Agency (1996-2012) (PDF, 0.31MB)
OSP 57: Nuclear Decommissioning Authority – site records 1940 onwards (PDF, 0.09MB)
Veterinary Medicines Directorate appraisal report (PDF, 0.29MB)
Financial matters
OSP9: Fiscal policy 1971-1979 (PDF, 0.13MB)
OSP15: Control of central government expenditure 1969-1997 (PDF, 0.77MB)
OSP22: Records of the Royal Mint 1975-2002 (PDF, 0.36MB)
OSP27: UK central government websites (PDF, 0.11MB)
OSP35: Board and committee records (PDF, 0.17MB)
OSP36: Publications/grey literature (PDF, 0.17MB)
OSP37: Freedom of Information Act records (PDF, 0.06MB)
OSP38: Records of internal administration (PDF, 0.12MB)
OSP39: Inspection records (PDF, 0.14MB)
OSP42: Records of Departmental legal branches (PDF, 0.08MB)
OSP48: Case files (PDF, 0.11MB)
Government Actuary’s Department appraisal report 1870-2016 (PDF, 0.47MB)
Law and order
OSP6: Records created by and relating to coroners 1970-2000 (PDF, 0.16MB)
OSP16: Probation records 1965-2001 (PDF, 0.31MB)
OSP21: Records of the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) (PDF, 0.08MB)
OSP29: Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) records (PDF, 0.18MB)
OSP32: Records relating to court actions for individual bankruptcy (PDF, 0.16MB)
OSP33: Records relating to court actions for corporate insolvency (PDF, 0.23MB)
OSP40: Records of the Crown Court and Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) (PDF, 0.18MB)
OSP46: Records relating to military law and courts-martial (PDF, 0.23MB)
OSP 56: Attorney General’s Office (AGO): Paper Records 1987-2012 (PDF, 0.15MB)
Overseas
British Council – Appraisal Report (PDF, 0.47 MB)
OSP13: Britain’s diplomatic relations 1973-1996 (PDF, 0.31MB)
OSP23: Records of Britain’s overseas representation 1973- (PDF, 0.24MB)
Social and education
Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation – Appraisal Report (PDF, 0.21 MB)
OSP5: The administration of social security 1979-1997 (PDF, 0.10MB)
OSP19: Records of the Department for Education, 1974-1997 (PDF, 0.18MB)
OSP31: Post 16 education 1974-1988 (PDF, 0.22MB)
OSP55: Records of the Pensions Regulator (2005-2011) (PDF, 0.26MB)
Higher Education Funding Council for England appraisal report 1992-2017 (PDF, 0.54MB)
Trade and industry
OSP3: Industrial policy 1974-1979 (PDF, 0.16MB)
OSP25: The regulation of companies (PDF, 0.32 MB)
OSP26: The regulation of civil aviation 1972-2002 (PDF, 0.27MB)
OSP34: Restrictive trade practices 1956 – 2000 (PDF, 0.06MB)
OSP43: Competition – case files 1950-2008 (PDF, 0.13MB)
OSP 49: Records of the Export Credits Guarantee Department 1978 onwards (PDF, 0.19MB)
OSP50: Regional Development Agencies 1999-2012 (PDF, 0.19MB)
OSP51: Records of Royal Mail and its predecessors, 1969-2006 (PDF, 0.46MB)
OSP54: Food Standards Agency 1 April 2000 – 1 October 2012 (PDF, 0.48MB)
Organisational learning in this context is the ability of the organisation to benefit from the collective knowledge of its individuals, and apply it through training, changes in procedures, policies, ways of working or technology to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
Thus there is a direct correlation between sharing and re-use of knowledge and improvements in the organisation.
Rationale
Establishing culture, policies and practices that encourage diverse knowledge sharing ensures that knowledge has the potential to be utilised as fully as possible across an organisation. It also enables the capture and re-use of knowledge.
Implications for Knowledge Management Strategy
- Knowledge management is explicitly recognised as a core component of organisational learning
- Knowledge management is a combination of soft skills and effective resourcing
- Knowledge sharing and seeking should be recognised and rewarded
- The expectation that knowledge will be shared and re-used is embedded at all levels
- Knowledge sharing across the organisation is monitored and reviewed
- Tools to support knowledge sharing are provided
Knowledge is the cornerstone of learning, both classroom and workplace based. The understanding of learning needs, the content of the learning and the assimilation of the learning either come from an individual / team’s knowledge or add to an individual team’s knowledge.
Real value lies in on the job learning – the opportunity to supplement training / education with up-to-date knowledge from someone doing the job. This is what makes apprenticeships so effective – the blend of classroom and on the job learning.
Exposure to ‘new’ knowledge, experience and skills is assimilated by the individual to form fresh knowledge – the very definition of learning.
Rationale
We cannot learn as individuals if we cannot either experience new things or be exposed to knowledge gleaned through benefiting from others’ experiences and skills. We need this to add to or challenge our own understanding of the world, and thus our own knowledge.
Without sharing and access to others’ knowledge the opportunities to learn are significantly diminished.
Implications for Knowledge Management Strategy
- Exposure to others’ knowledge is essential for an individual to learn
- Learning is a key benefit of sharing knowledge
- Knowledge is a key enabler in developing educational and learning courses
The value of knowledge can be multiplied by re-use. This requires thinking outside traditional silos and proactively looking for opportunities to re-use. Promoting a culture of knowledge sharing facilitates this approach.
Aspects of re-use include:
Internal re-use – making sure that full value is gained from using knowledge within the organisation in areas of both obvious and less immediately obvious applicability.
External re-use – sharing knowledge with others across organisational boundaries, particularly within the public sector or more generally with private businesses and citizens. Re-use involves considering what knowledge an organisation can make available to others but it also involves looking at what others have on offer, and how an organisation might itself re-use this external knowledge.
Whilst this principle strongly encourages re-use, it is important to appreciate that, as with information, re-use does require a careful risk-based judgment to be made with regard to exploiting vs protecting sensitive knowledge, as well as consideration of the costs and benefits involved, and any rights or other commercial considerations.
The ability to govern the dissemination, capture, storage and retrieval of information is key to the ability to share explicit knowledge across an organisation regardless of geographical or functional dispersion.
Rationale
This Principle again builds on what has gone before. No significant re-use of knowledge will be achieved unless it is effectively sought, shared and, where necessary and possible, captured.
Knowledge re-use presents opportunities for cost and time savings and efficiencies. The practice of re-using knowledge helps embed a culture of learning within an organisation, promoting a continuous improvement approach and enhancing the quality of decision-making.
(‘Learning’ encompasses, but is not limited to, the following types of activity: courses, classroom training, reflective practice, after-action reviewing, job shadowing, peer-to-peer expertise transfer, one-to-one training, mentoring, community of practice participation.)
Good knowledge management requires time and resource, and is therefore not a zero-cost activity. Tangible return on investment comes from maximising the value of organisational knowledge through appropriate and innovative re-use.
Implications for Knowledge Management Strategy
- Opportunities to proactively offer knowledge re-use are identified
- An approach is established for discovering re-useable knowledge
- An approach is established for promoting re-useable knowledge
Capturing of knowledge turns that which is held tacitly in the heads of members of staff into explicit, recorded knowledge. It is important to note that not all knowledge needs to be (or indeed can be) captured in this way. That said, some knowledge – particularly that which has widespread application and/or long-term value, and/or is likely to be transient in its availability – should be captured if possible.
Knowledge can be captured in a range of different ways. Capture should:
- be as efficient as possible
- match techniques to situations
- maximise potential for re-use (easy to find, easy to access)
Captured knowledge needs to be refreshed: identifying ownership and associated responsibilities, as with information assets, is a key part of this.
Rationale
Capturing knowledge increases its potential for re-use. It is a more efficient way to enable such re-use where the knowledge has wider application, and particularly in circumstances where it is at risk of being lost to the organisation, for example through the loss of experienced staff.
Implications for Knowledge Management Strategy
- Implications for Knowledge Management Strategy
- The organisation needs to understand which vital and potentially transient knowledge it needs for its business and ensure efforts are made to capture it
- A range of capture techniques should be evaluated and promulgated
- Captured knowledge needs to be owned and refreshed
- Tools for knowledge capture should be provided and promoted
Knowledge capture is not synonymous with knowledge management, and organisations should be wary of over-reliance on knowledge capture programmes. Only a small proportion of collective corporate and/or individual knowledge relative to the whole can ever be captured effectively. Good KM programmes must acknowledge and address knowledge sharing and organisational learning to be properly effective.
Knowledge is an asset that develops from the intellectual activity of individuals – which can be brought together to form Organisational Knowledge. Knowledge cannot be demanded from an individual in any sense that would ensure a full and total disclosure. Instead organisations must create a culture, supported by leadership and individual behaviours, which encourages the free seeking and sharing of knowledge for the benefit of all.
To realise its full benefit knowledge needs to be shared freely, otherwise it is of limited value, benefiting only its keeper. This Principle highlights the importance of developing ways to share knowledge, to move from a perspective that ‘knowledge is power’ to one where ‘knowledge sharing’ is power.
Knowledge sharing should not be codified or constrained, unless there are over-riding security considerations. Knowledge can be relevant in unlikely or disparate ways and sharing should be maximised where possible, to uncover these hidden linkages.
Rationale
The value of knowledge is in the amalgamation of an individual’s experience, thought processes, education and training, together with the information to which they are exposed. Only the individual knows the full extent of that knowledge and the reasoning behind any conclusions they draw from it, and therefore non-freely-given knowledge can never generate the confidence or assurance that it is either accurate or complete.
Implications for Knowledge Management Strategy
- Knowledge management is a combination of soft skills and effective resource management
- Leaders do not try to pressurise individuals into disclosing knowledge
- Leaders should foster a culture where knowledge sharing is viewed as empowering
Shared knowledge needs to be credible. Encouraging rather than demanding knowledge-sharing is likely to elicit more credible, reliable output.
Knowledge differs from person to person. Sharing knowledge widely allows for quality checking and for understanding to be tested and, where necessary, clarified.