One of the earliest known iterations of knowledge sharing took the form of cave drawings in 15,000 BC. From there, documentation became more sophisticated, evolving from imagery to alphabets, and from walls to scrolls.

The invention of the printing press in 1440 was the first time information was easily distributed via print material. It wasn’t until over 400 years later that libraries were available to the general public.

The 1900s saw incredibly rapid changes in knowledge sharing, starting with real-time radio broadcasting at the beginning of the century and then culminating with the invention of the internet in the 1980s.

Research shows that consultants were amongst the first professionals to seriously explore and consider the best means of sharing knowledge.

As companies grew and technology improved, one lesson had been made clear: the death of knowledge is to isolate it.

While there are countless platforms to store and share knowledge, finding ones that are highly searchable is rare. Without the ability to easily search, knowledge inevitably gets lost.

The biggest factor driving the development of knowledge sharing is search.

AI can be used to establish contextual similarities between documents and to serve users relevant content suggestions.

Interacting with, rather than simply viewing, content provides context and helps deepen understanding. When users can interact with content by writing comments, posing questions, and “liking” documents, technology can spur collaboration.