ABSTRACT
Commercial organisations recognise knowledge management (KM) as a vital ingredient in providing an efficient user-orientated service. Knowledge can be divided into two main types: generalisable knowledge and particular knowledge. Knowledge from experience can be stored either in the form of a casebook or through a community of practice, and there is now an extensive literature on communities of practice. The use of Groupware offers the opportunity of managing a community of practice effectively and efficiently, and all public health professionals should work within a community of practice as well as working within the bureaucratic organisation that employs them. The Director of Public Health (DPH) has a responsibility to ensure that the population they serve has universal and equal access to clean clear knowledge. The DPH should identify populations with unmet knowledge needs, and be assured that the quality of knowledge procured and provided, including that provided by their own department, is based on good evidence and is readable.
