Social Software shows a fascinating range of usage possibilities in enterprises. Such tools are very simple and provide individual users with high degrees of freedom. This implies the need for a negotiation process, where users develop a shared understanding of how to use the tools in order to work together towards a common goal. In several case studies on organisational usage of microblogging we found that these adoption processes can be described by using Tuckman-Jensen’s model of group development, proposing five generic stages: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. We apply this model to describe and interpret observations of microblogging adoption and argue that this process is mainly driven by social interactions rather than technical constraints.
The application of social software in higher education is often restricted to dedicated learning contexts, namely lectures or seminars. Thus their inherent potentials for fostering knowledge management and self-directed learning are usually chained to the narrow restrictions of Learning Management Systems based virtual classroom walls. This paper’s focus has a different perspective: The provision of social software as an information and communication infrastructure that goes beyond lectures and encompasses the whole institution and all members of the university, respectively. Thereby an online space is provided for self-expression, information access and knowledge exchange on manifold social levels. Following this prospect, the technical and organisational concept of CollabUni, a social information and communication infrastructure, is described. First results from the implementation of CollabUni that is currently underway, delivers a differentiated, overall encouraging picture. With respect to acceptance and use of this environment, the importance of an elaborate community building approach as well as the need for gaining information and communication literacy on part of the students are evident.
As pointed out by several scholars, inter-organizational collaboration is an important vehicle for knowledge creation. But the process of integrating knowledge across organizational boundaries entails great complexity. In this paper, we argue that visualizing knowledge in inter-organizational meetings is a conduit of knowledge sharing, and enables innovative re-combinations of organizational competences. We propose an experimental design to uncover the advantages and possible disadvantages of using visual techniques as a support for inter-organizational knowledge sharing. In particular, we compare the process and the outcome of knowledge sharing in inter-organizational teams supported with 1) software-based visualization, 2) poster-based visualization, and 3) text-based methods. The first results of our experiments suggest that software-supported teams outperform the control groups in knowledge-sharing tasks, and exhibit greater satisfaction with teamwork process and outcome. After discussing relevant implications for both researchers and practitioners, we point out limitations of our study and suggest directions for future research.
An increasing amount of companies are interested in using the innovative potential of Web 2.0 technologies. This paper describes the main results of a comparative analysis of several quantitative empirical studies on the use of Web 2.0 in enterprises. This includes findings about diffusion, possibilities of application, benefits, barriers, and factors of success for the use of Web 2.0 in enterprises. The findings of this comparative study show effective and reasonable ways of using Web 2.0 in enterprises.
Small-world networks represent a decentralised network topology in which several actors are strongly connected with each other. A high clustering coefficient and a high number of short paths within a social network characterise such a network. Particularly in the context of inter-organisational knowledge transfer among R&D organisations, the structure of small-world networks appears significant for effective knowledge transfer. This paper reports on an investigation into the nature of inter-organisational knowledge transfer among R&D organisations. The topology of a social network is explored using UCINET social network analysis software. From these findings, implications are drawn for ICT support at an interorganisational level.
In this contribution Wikis are interpreted as social information spaces. These information spaces can be decomposed in different networks. Here, one network is introduced – the collaboration network. This network type exemplifies how dynamics in social information spaces can be analyzed. For this, different approaches of visualizing networks are explained. The chosen approach is applied in an descriptive study. The open community project Wikiversity is examined to introduce one possible analysis in SONIVIS:Tool – an open source ntwork mining software.
In recent years the visualization of knowledge has been gaining wider attention: visualization is said to enhance human capabilities for knowledge intense activities such as decision making and strategic thinking. However, this is a recent field and still widely unexplored. Thus far, the advantages of knowledge visualization have been investigated mainly through anecdotal evidence and qualitative studies. In this paper, we propose an experimental approach to further comprehend the role of visualization in fostering knowledge sharing. We plan to compare the elicitation and evaluation processes of groups who are provided (1) with an optimal visual support, (2) with a sub-optimal visual support, and (3) without any visualization. The goal of our research is to apply the experimental approach – widely used in studying GSS (Group Support System) but seldom used in knowledge management – to shed light on the role of visualization for knowledge-intensive tasks in groups. We report first preliminary results of an experiment with 56 MBA students and also outline the limitations of our approach.
In this paper we propose a classification and systematic description structure based on the pattern paradigm for interaction scripts in Second Life that aim at facilitating knowledge sharing and knowledge integration in groups. We present eight examples of such interactions, a description structure to formalize them, and classify them into four classes according to their design scope and added value. Based on this classification we distinguish among sophisticated 3D collaboration patterns, seamless patterns, decorative patterns, and pseudo patterns.
Project organizations make particular demands on the management of knowledge both within projects and across projects. In this contribution we present a method kit for the improvement of knowledge management in a project organization in the German Federal Armed Forces. The kit was developed in an interdisciplinary cooperation with the Bundeswehr University Munich. The project team approached two goals: The method kit firstly should serve as an instrument for a target-oriented identification and for removing project specific knowledge barriers. Secondly, the kit should create awareness for measures to further support knowledge work. We describe the basic elements of the method kit and present a process model for its application.
Developing successful knowledge management (KM) processes is extremely difficult. In general, a large number of all KM projects end unsuccessfully. The aim of this paper is to summarize and study the attempts to take advantage of Lessons Learned in the Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF), focusing on international missions. Relevant reports, articles and literature have been studied. With the purpose of understanding the reasons for failure and the failure factors in SwAF’s attempts at KM, Chua and Lams’ model for unsuccessful KM implementation has been applied to four cases from the organization. The results show that SwAF are aware of the importance of knowledge and have attempted to implement KM on several occasions. In most cases, however, the KM projects do not achieve widespread use and eventually end unsuccessfully. Furthermore, many of the KM tools that have been developed are no longer in use. The Swedish Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Demining Centre (SWEDEC) and the Swedish Air Force are notable exceptions.
Ubiquitous computing and the pervasive Internet have enabled service access in every situation. However, adaptation to the user needs is purely handled, and service specific security implementations are only found for specific services. This paper presents an approach to combine the I-centric and service centric world based on a semantic description of user relations enabling service access. A prototype using over-the-air key distribution demonstrates the capabilities of the suggested approach.
Abstract: User generated content published via weblogs (also known as blogs) has gained importance in the last years, and the number of globally available weblogs increases. However, a large fraction of these show low publishing activity and are rarely read. This paper is a quantitative analysis of success factors in a community of over 15.000 weblogs, hosted by a local Austrian newspaper. We looked at publishing activity by content type, community activity and writing style. Also, the interconnectedness of the community was analyzed.
There are many technologies calling themselves knowledge management systems in the market but most of them deal only with information management. The main difference between them is that knowledge management systems are oriented into people and participated in tacit knowledge capturing. The paper describes set of information technologies which could take part in all process of knowledge management and especially in collecting tacit knowledge.
This research aims at innovative IT support for competence management (CM) integrating organizational, group and individual perspectives. Our method is action case research resulting in a design model. This paper addresses our overall approach towards an integrative CM system, which is usage-oriented. Based on in-depth analysis of seven business companies’ CM activities, we present a new interactive visualization model for CM. The model is suitable for explorative analysis and for communicating competence situations at individual, group or organizational levels. It provides support for constructing competence information incrementally. We view competence descriptions as negotiable estimations with varying verification levels, and use a competence representation which deals with uncertainties of estimations. Our view on competence is novel, and has far reaching consequences. Future work includes a running prototype and planned pilot studies.
Diagrams are often conceived as static representations. In this paper, by contrast, we explore how conceptual graphic representations can be used as communicative devices for knowledge-intense activities in groups. We do so by reviewing and extending existing cognitive and communicative dimensions and criteria. The aim of our research is to formalize the description of diagrams used in management discussions, analyzing their communicative and collaborative functions in order to better use them in knowledge creation and sharing in teams. We start with reviewing and merging the literature on cognitive and communicative dimensions and the literature on boundary objects, as well as information visualization, in order to compile the most relevant dimensions for knowledge creation and sharing in team. Thus, we cluster those dimensions obtaining eight macro-dimensions. We propose a formal analysis of diagrams which can be used as a tool for selecting and modifying appropriate visualizations fordifferent knowledge-intensive activities in teams. An application example illustrates this approach.
The visualization of temporal information should not be seen as a special case. A lot of applications take advantage of the time factor (e.g. capturing user events). In general recorded activities on a workstation can be seen as a temporal database and so can profit from a time-based visual output system too. We introduce a model which classifies the time as a ”first class citizen” in today’s operating systems. Such an invention would not only improve and standardize the capturing of temporal events but it would be of benefit for a temporal visualization system too. Within a 3D visualization space and a global time axis we introduce a printf4D() method. With this method it is possible to display images, videos, text strings or any other kinds of information in an automatically animated way. As a first proposal we demonstrate this function in a ”flow of information” metaphor where information-objects are not displayed all at once but in a flowing manner over a certain period of time. Additionally we will show that printf4D() is not limited to temporal data. It can be extended automatically to any kind of static information.
The Palette project dedicated to lerning in Communities of Practice (CoPs) aims to offer several services for communities of practice, in particular Knowledge Management (KM) services based on an ontology dedicated to CoPs, the so-called O’CoP. Built from information sources about the Palette CoPs, O’CoP aims both at modelling the members of the CoP and at annotating the CoP’s knowledge resources. The paper describes the structure of O’CoP, its main concepts and relations, and it reports some lessons learnt from the cooperative community building of this ontology.
The paper starts with the wish list for a “perfect” information exploration tool, where the topics of that list are collected from the work of some pioneers and experts in this field, as e.g. from C. Ahlberg, C. Williamson and B. Shneiderman. After that, a novel multi criteria knowledge management technique is introduced, that comes fairly close to the wish list given. This will be demonstrated by looking on some general aspects of information exploration, and how knowCube, a user-friendly software tool supporting graphical decision making, masters such tasks, where user interaction happens via standard drawing tools, like pen, brush or text marker. The paper ends with an outlook on FilmFinder – Version knowCube.
Increasingly Wikis are used to support existing corporate knowledge processes. Wikis are an appropriate software solution to support these processes because of their specific design principles. However, it is not yet proven whether Wikis are an adequate knowledge management tool. This paper presents a new approach to analyze existing networks in Wikis. Four perspectives on Wiki networks are introduced to investigate all dynamic processes and their interrelationships in a Wiki information space. The Social Network Analysis (SNA) is used to uncover existing structures and temporal changes. Additionally, a data set of a corporate Wiki is used to present an analysis which has been carried out. Results of analyzes work can be utilized to improve the existing knowledge processes in a company.
The goal of this paper is to identify and analyze Web 2.0 services and usage models appropriate for assisting the realization of Inclusive Universal Access (introduced by Derntl and Motschnig-Pitrik as an extension to Universal Access) particularly in cooperative learning and knowledge sharing environments. The analysis is backed by previous research and experience either at the authors’ or other educational institutions. It can serve as a brief reference of a broad spectrum of Inclusive Universal Access scenarios which have proven to be successful together with their Web 2.0 support. It will hopefully also help Web 2.0 service developers to get deeper insight into the different aspects and effects of the new web services in terms of their applications in cooperative learning and knowledge sharing. Furthermore, the paper aims to reveal the gaps and future topics for research, development, and practice.
Although co-located project teams from within one organisation can have difficulties to work together effectively and efficiently, the challenges are significantly increased in a team that consists of people from different organisations that work from different physical locations. In this paper we share our experiences of introducing new software tools (a project wiki and Skype) to support distributed project work and describe good practices, tips and tricks for the use of the new tools, also in relation to the existing toolset.
Digitalisation of TV broadcast (Digital Terrestrial Television, DTT) is going to modify the way of work of many local televisions and content providers. In Catalonia (northeast of Spain) this will certainly happen since many current channels will not get a DTT license to broadcast. In this context, they need to get facilities for content selling and interchange in order to cover more audience and be able to use new different distribution channels, like second generation Internet. The “Xarxa IP Audiovisual de Catalunya” (XAC, Audiovisual IP Network of Catalonia) project aims to develop a marketplace for television content providers, defining mechanisms for searching, cataloguing and selling television programs in a secure way, also considering Digital Rights Management (DRM) issues. It must be noted that the project also considers other audiovisual content providers, such as the educational ones. In order to be able to perform searches over heterogeneous environments, a metadata set (XAC-MS) has been defined. Alignment of XAC-MS with standards like MPEG-7, MPEG-21 and TV-Anytime has been done to promote future standardisation of the metadata set.
Currently, it is a common understanding that most chances for growth of the economy lie in the area where new knowledge and the enlargement of the knowledge base are focused on the creation of new products and services. Hence, knowledge stands out as the basis for the creation of new and innovative products that result in added value in the economy. This paper discusses aspects of knowledge management within innovation processes and presents a software program to support innovation management. The innovation software described provides support with a process model that is structured according to the requirements of companies, by a systematic storage and management of accurate information for innovation processes and by the integration of already well-known innovation methods for the support of each phase of the innovation process.
This paper sheds light on the communicative process through which experts and decision makers integrate their domain specific knowledge in decision making situations and argues for the benefit of knowledge visualization. We present a second order model for knowledge integration that reflects the main communicative challenges of such interactions. These are: unequal participation, a lack of common ground, a lack of big picture, and an unconstructive handling of conflict. Presenting results from an experimental study, we show that supporting conversations with an interactive visualization tool moderates the relationships of these communicative challenges and knowledge integration. We find that in the supported condition, conversers rely more on the establishment of common ground and big picture and deal more constructively with conflict.
This paper presents results from a survey of experts. The survey concerns the importance of creativity, learning, and knowledge management in the process of service development in companies as well as possibilities for supporting them. To emphasize the significance of the concepts creativity, learning, and knowledge management we describe a process model for the development of new services; this model follows current approaches in the field of service engineering and takes the three factors creativity, learning and knowledge management into account. Besides the methodological approach and the main findings of the survey of experts, the paper also shows the need for action regarding the support of service development processes in general and the three parts creativity, learning and knowledge management.
Although both e-learning and knowledge management are about facilitating learning in organization, the major obstacle to bring both of them together can be traced back to different paradigms of learning, resulting from the different nature of the knowledge they are dealing with. In this paper, a knowledge maturing process is presented to illustrate the change of nature and the discontinuities. This lays the foundation for a better understanding. In order to overcome the discontinuities, the consideration of context is proposed, which offers the required continuity.
Distributed Knowledge Management Systems (DKMS) are often faced to heterogeneous environments associated with the absence of shared vocabularies. DKMSs realise Knowledge Flows between autonomous Knowledge Nodes as parts of social networks. Schwotzer models the KNs’ individual policies for input relevance and output strategy as Knowledge Ports. Topic Map Technologies are well suited for the semantic integration of distributed, heterogeneous knowledge. But current implementations base on pure naming approaches to Subject Identity in connection with the use of shared vocabularies. Maicher’s SIM Approach helps to use Topic Map Technologies for the semantic integration of distributed, heterogeneous knowledge in the absence of shared vocabularies. To detect Subject similarity it exploits the Topics’ usage in the current context. Our contribution is the liaison of the Knowledge Port Approach and the SIM Approach. This leads to DKMSs which significantly better deal with the absence of shared vocabularies.
Knowledge Management software is software that integrates. Existing Data sources, process flows, application features from office appliances have to be brought together. There are different standards, consisting of data formats and communication protocols, that address this issue. The WWW and Semantic Web are designed to work on a worldwide scale and define those standards. We transfer the web standards to the desktop szenario, a vision we call Semantic Desktop – a Semantic Web enhanced desktop environment. Central is the idea of taking know-how from the SemanticWeb to tackle personal information management. Existing desktop applications (email client, browser, office applications) are integrated, the semantic glue between them expressed using ontologies. We also present the www.gnowsis.org open source project by the DFKI that realizes parts of this vision. It is based on a Semantic Web Server running as desktop service. It was used in experiments and research projects and allows others to experiment. Knowledge management applications can be built on top of it, reducing the implementation cost.
In the digital planning process of a manufacturing plant, several partners like OEM, prime contractor and its subcontractors are involved. Since the partners have partially overlapping views (electricity, mechanical structure, plant controlling) on the plant to be designed, they have to exchange data during their collaboration. Due to syntactical, structural and semantical differences, data integration is necessary but also complicated. Our method of resolution comprises an ontology-based reference model, which all partners map to as well as an underlying technical infrastructure. This paper focuses on the methodology for constructing an ontology-based reference model in digital production engineering.
The term knowledge management (KM) has lost most of its magic during the past few years: While knowledge has been identified as an important resource and key factor for productivity gains and innovation in organizations, there seems to be no generally applicable way to utilize this resource. One central problem is that knowledge – in contrast to information – must be seen as an internal resource that is often implicit and bound to human actors. This makes it hard to identify, localize and evaluate knowledge, and even harder to share or transfer it. Another problem is the question of willingness: Are actors in organizations willing to share their knowledge? And why should they? In this paper we present results of a field study that was conducted within a major national industrial association. The study focused on knowledge intense processes among the association and its member companies.
Strategy development is a rational decision making process, carried out by a group of managers aiming to match the organization’s resources to the opportunities arising from its competitive environment. We argue that, in order to develop successful strategic plans, contemporary business organizations should exploit features from diverse disciplines to attain a synthesis of the strategists’ highly specialized state-of-the-art knowledge. In this paper, we present a collaborative framework where Decision Support Systems and Knowledge Management Systems features are integrated for the appropriate handling of strategic management issues. Based on a well-defined ontology model that interweaves concepts from the Knowledge Management, Argumentation Theory, Decision Making and Multicriteria Decision Aid disciplines, our framework enables strategists to collaborate and accomplish a common understanding of different user perspectives. Furthermore, it assists them in reaching a decision by exploiting the organization’s knowledge resources.
Higher education is supposed to prepare its graduates to enter the workplace and apply and adapt their knowledge to the specific requirements of the setting. However, by adhering to traditional instructional models and to a view of learning that is very different from that required within the workplace, higher education fails to adequately prepare students to deal with rapid changes and emergent demands that require individuals to learn and adapt in situ and on the job. The advent of hybrid learning has allowed one mechanism for changing existing practices. Although hybrid environments can offer additional support for traditional instructional and learning methods, we think its potential lies in supporting new forms of learning and facilitation—specifically those related to self-organized learning and critical reflection—by using new types of technologies and tools. We would like to address the use of a specific kind of technology—personal Webpublishing systems (PWS)—to support this type of learning. In this paper, we present the reasoning behind the use of such technologies and describe the organization of a learning environment and identify the roles and structure of the face-to-face component and the online toolkits for supporting self-organized learning. We will also describe the new roles that facilitators and learners must adopt within these hybrid environments.
In a corporate environment one would like to enable employees to learn from each other not only when co-located, but also in distributed settings: ideally access to experiences of others should be available from any location (e.g. another part of the globe) and at any time (e.g. after the expert retires). In these settings traditional apprenticeship models do not scale. In this paper we describe a case where the application of personal webpublishing technology seems to provide a “window” onto practice, creating an environment where people can observe and “steal” practices of each other. We explore how these apprenticeship-like relations between weblog authors are supported by processes of articulating, “stealing” and refining practices within the public weblog networks on the Internet. Finally, we also discuss possibilities of replicating these patterns and experiences in corporate settings.
Current trends in collaborative knowledge management emphasize the importance of inter- and intra-organizational business process support. Enactment of business processes has primarily been a domain of workflow management systems. In this paper we propose a hybrid architecture for reconciliation of knowledge management and workflow management systems in order to support process participants in organizations, who are increasingly distributed and need to share and distribute knowledge artifacts. Today one pressing challenge is to utilize software as to create, share, and exchange (knowledge) work in collaborative knowledge activities across locations, while still being business process aware. This paper develops a conceptual framework, discusses a software architecture, and presents examples of a software system implementation for activity-based knowledge management for global project teams.
The discovery of relevant knowledge resources is a remaining problem in large enterprises, where the same problems are often addressed in different locations. In this paper, we propose an enabling infrastructure, which can succcessfully help in discovering personally relevant learning resources (e. g. electronic documents, colleagues, seminars). By using our mobile gotchi framework (MGF), matching between learning requirements and learning resources is improved. The basic idea is autonomous information exchange between agents acting on behalf of their users to proactively find appropriate resources to support daily problem-solving and learning. By sharing personal profiles in an enterprise-specific ontology network, which is autonomously updated, corporate knowledge flows are more transparently represented.
In this paper, we propose a technological approach that allows communities to coexist with conflicts and leaves that agreed knowledge emerges naturally, by the simple act of sharing knowledge. On the top of a collaborative workspace for developing a shared knowledge repository, we put forward: a mechanism for maintaining the discussion threads, a knowledge awareness mechanism to be up-to-date about discussion threads and their evolution, and a user centred workspace to support personal view of the shared repository with the capability of adding private knowledge.
Topic Maps are a knowledge representation standard. Distributed Knowledge Management describes a knowledge-based organization as network of more or less independent units (Knowledge Node) which create and exchange knowledge. This paper describes how Topic Maps can be used to model organizational and spatial structure of DKMS and interaction scenarios between Knowledge Nodes. Deployment of a runtime system is discussed and how measurements at runtime can be used to reveal unknown Knowledge Nodes and interaction
pattern inside a DKMS.
Discourse flows are interactive instruments for stimulating electronic discourses. For specified problems, they suggest a flow of a computer-mediated discourse with goals, participants, time frame and the communication tools to be used. Discourse flows potentially reduce the effort of planning and executing electronic conversations for knowledge conversation between distributed participants. As templates, discourse flows might be executed by a discourse flow controller. Discourse flows might be preferably used for recurrent communication processes, like processes of innovation, problem-solving and learning.
How to design effective learning opportunities? Why is learning by experience often more efficient than learning by studying? How to provide the learning experiences needed to respond to current challenges? Using computer games and games in general for educational purposes offers a variety of knowledge presentations and creates opportunities to apply the knowledge within a virtual world, thus supporting and facilitating the learning process. An innovative education paradigm like game-based learning suitable for this purpose is described in this article. The connection of the collaborative social context of education with game-based learning is discussed.
We have developed a concept for a Skills Management instrument and have introduced it in a pilot area within a large engineering company. The instrument was designed to serve a broad range of purposes, including support for Human Resource development planning, expert search and strategic planning. As implementation and maintenance on a larger scale would have produced considerable effort, the instrument was reduced and focused on one particular goal, namely a more effective employment of development measures. We discuss some conjectures of why designing Skills Management as an “all-purpose” tool might be an unrealistic endeavor.
Employing collaboration technology for Knowledge Management some inherent challenges have to be met. One important prerequisite is that users adjust their patterns of interaction and cooperation and agree on the adjustments of others so they can practice cooperative knowledge management to their satisfaction. ln dynamic environments, however, the patterns of cooperation must he continuously reassessed and revised. This paper suggest an approach to record and display process information in a way that makes transparent the patterns of interaction and produces navigable process displays that can be incorporated into work routines. We introduce a technical architecture, describe a concrete usage scenario and reflect on potential applications.
The main goal of this research is to improve Information Retrieval Systems by enabling them to generate search outcomes that are relevant and customized to each specific user. Our proposal advocates the use of Instance Based Reasoning during the information retrieval process. When conducting a search, the system retrieves a previous similar search experience and traces back previous human reasoning and behavior and then replicates it in the current situation. Thus, user information retrieval experiences or instances are saved to be reused in future similar cases. The resulting cooperative memory is used for user query expansion.
In order to improve the information retrieval experience, we propose to conceptualize and model both the user profile, and the information retrieval process. This leads us to define some similarity functions between user profiles and information retrieval situations. The reuse of past experiences serves to enrich the initial user query by words from documents found in similar
cases. Unlike the classical Rocchio method, these documents are those already judged as valid by users with similar profile and in similar search situation. The value this method brings to the user is an increasing relevance of the search outcomes while reducing user interaction with the system.
This method has been implemented in the COSYDOR (Cooperative System for Document Retrieval) prototype based on Intermedia (Oracle 8i). Tests and evaluations have been performed on the COSYDOR prototype using the test corpus of TREC (Text Retrieval Conference) and its standard procedures for performance analysis and benchmarking. The results of these analyses show a significant improvement of performance in the first search iterations compared to the Intermedia benchmark.
New wireless protocols like W-LAN and Bluetooth allow establishing spontaneous networks and peer-to-peer exchange of information. At the same time standards like Semantic Web and Topic Maps gain acceptance that add semantics to information. This paper introduces Shark. Shark is an acronym and stands for “Mobile Shared Knowledge”. Shark organizes knowledge with help of Topic Maps, synchronizes knowledge inside closed user groups but also enables a peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge by means of Bluetooth. This paper gives an overview of the system and its communication protocols.