Knowledge Capture Systems support the process of retrieving either explicit or tacit knowledge that resides within people, artifacts, or organizational entities. These systems can help capture knowledge that resides within or outside organizational boundaries including within consultants, competitors, customers, suppliers, and prior employers of the organization's new employees.

The earliest mechanisms for knowledge capture dates to the anthropological use of stories - the earliest form of art, education and entertainment. Storytelling is the mechanism by which early civilizations passed on their values and their wisdom from one generation to the next.

The importance of using metaphors and stories as a mechanism for capturing and transferring tacit knowledge is increasingly drawing the attention of organizations.

Four of the world's leading thinkers on knowledge management explore how storytelling will become the key ingredient to managing communications, education, training, and innovation in the 21st century on the following page: http://www.creatingthe21stcentury.org/