NZ Knowledge Management Network

The Network began when Shirley Chan and Jocelyn Cranefield met in a Strategic Information Management class at Victoria University in early 2002 and explored their mutual interest in Knowledge Management. The idea for a NZKM Network developed as they talked with KM practitioners and enthusiasts. Interest in the Network grew quickly, and they were joined by advisors and KM enthusiasts Moira Fraser (Chief Parliamentary Librarian and formerly New Zealand's first CKO with Ernst and Young) and David Pauleen (Victoria University, KM researcher). Kim Sbarcea, an Australian-based KM expert offered advice about running a network, while Matthew Savage and Colin Phillips (Base2) and Ewan Pohe (Pohe Communications) provided practical support in designing and hosting the website.

In 2003, a nine-member Steering Group took over the day-to-day running of the Network, with Ewan Pohe acting as Co-ordinator. The founding steering Group members were Anand Kochunny, Ewan Pohe, Janita Stuart, Joanne Koreman, Jocelyn Cranefield, Mary Innes, Neil Fallow, Paul Goodhead, and Steve Cromb. Victoria University's School of Information Management supported the Network by providing meeting venues, and the Network's content management system and server are sponsored by Totally Digital, with the assistance of Tim Copeland.

The New Zealand Management Network was conceived as an informal network with open membership rather than as a formal professional association. This was both to reflect the emerging nature of Knowledge Management in some New Zealand organisations and to encourage involvement from the widest possible community of professionals.

Over the last four years NZKM has expanded to have regional groups and regular events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. 

The Network now has over four hundred members from New Zealand, Fiji, and South Africa. As it grows and matures, it will evolve to meet the changing needs of its members.