Big Data and Knowledge Management: A Possible Course to Combine Them Together

Big data (BD) is the buzz phrase these days. Everyone is talking about its potential, its volume, its variety, and its velocity. Knowledge management (KM) has been around since the mid-1990s. The goals of KM have been to collect, store, categorize, mine, and process data into knowledge. The methods of knowledge acquisition varied from organizational culture to the next. Typical processes converted data into information through traditional databases and then applied business intelligence and data mining methodologies to extract knowledge. With the recent arrival of BD as a disruptive technology and the center of BD, this paper attempts to combine KM and BD fields together. Both areas could help each other tremendously. KM historically, when applied correctly, has helped managers to make decisions faster and better, prevented reinventing the wheel, preserved some talented processes through keeping track of best practices, and prompted innovation due to knowledge sharing and dissemination. BD deals with massive amount of data and does not require a traditional database to be effective. BD has its tools and requirement that can be enhanced through KM. The final aim of this paper is to recreate a model where both BD and KM coexist. The author hopes with a better understanding of both fields to develop a new course where the focus is a productive intersection of KM and BD. To keep up with changing times, this paper will bring the needed awareness of these fields for information systems and business students.