Knowledge audit: Tools of the trade transmitted to tools for tradition

Indigenous knowledge is the commodity that is offered to cultural tourists at cultural villages in South Africa. The extent to which indigenous knowledge is being conserved at cultural villages was investigated. The knowledge management tool that was applied to do the investigation was a knowledge audit. This investigation was conducted to establish whether cultural villages can act as custodians of indigenous knowledge. It was found that the knowledge audit proved to be a useful tool to determine the extent of indigenous knowledge conservation at cultural villages. Although the extent of indigenous knowledge conservation at cultural villages was rated as fairly poor, the potential of cultural villages to act as custodians of indigenous knowledge became very clear. The implication of this investigation is that knowledge audits could be considered for applications beyond business and that the principles of knowledge audits could be applied to individuals within communities to audit their indigenous knowledge.