For the first fifty years of the information age, computing – and the building of databases – was so complicated and expensive that it remained the sole preserve of big organizations. Today, it is becoming possible for individuals to pull together their own personal databases (potentially delegating to an agent under their control) encompassing all the important aspects of their lives, including:

• administrative records and details
• contact databases: friends, family, colleagues etc
• transaction histories: products and services purchases, etc
• interaction histories: records of correspondence
• supplier data such as 'my doctor', 'my plumber', etc
• plans for life projects (trips, moving home etc)
• personal preferences e.g. 'favored' brands and organizations vs 'blacklisted' brands and organizations
• information gathered and collected to help inform decisions and actions about all the above.

These data areas may cover all the main life 'departments' such as home, health, money, general administration, transport, communications, career, social network, leisure and hobbies, etc.

Over time, Personal Knowledge Banks will become the fulcrum of 'life management', including individuals' interactions and transactions with supplying and service organizations. (For more details, see the White Paper.)

Business case, the individual

• more efficient management of day-to-day activities
• better decisions made on the basis of better information
• more control over what personal information is used by who, for what purposes
• exploitation of the database as a valued resource: e.g. Monetization of the data by selling it to market researchers (see Permissions Management)

Business case, organizations

• cheaper access to richer data including previously unavailable data such as plans, changes of circumstance as or before they happen, and changing personal preferences
• ability to take advantage of the benefits of other person-centric services such as Permissions Management.

Necessary infrastructure

Just as data warehouses within organizations started simple and ended very complex, Personal Knowledge Banks will do likewise. The core capabilities required to put PKB’s in place are:

database management system

user interface(s)

• access routes (inc mobile)
• identity management (both person and organization/ product)
• data entry/ exchange protocols
• information security techniques

In the wider sense, it should be recognized that while technology is a key building block around the deployment of Personal Knowledge Banks, the bulk of the ‘heavy lifting’ lies around process, legislative and culture/ mind-set change (all of which will evolve over time rather than in one ‘big bang’).