In recent years, a number of approaches to improve the overall navigability of web-based information systems have been introduced – breadcrumbs and automatic linking algorithms represent two exemplary approaches. While evaluation of such approaches is a complex and multidimensional endeavor, involving cognitive, user-interface and other issues, the objective of this paper are more modest. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of differ-ent navigational aids for web information systems from a network-theoretic perspective. The main idea of this paper is to use decentralized search as a mechanism to evaluate navigational effectiveness. In our experiments on the largest Austrian online encyclopedia Austria-Forum, we compared the usefulness of two existing approaches to linking, i.e. breadcrumbs and automatic linking. Our results suggest that different navigational aids differ signifi-cantly with regard to their potential to support efficient navigation. The main contribution of this paper is a simulation-based frame-work that enriches the repertoire of tools for web engineers who are aiming to evaluate and improve navigability of web information systems. The framework allows engineers to assess a potential usefulness of various navigational tools even before expensive development or user studies are carried out.
The management of scienti c events is a prestigious job that goes together with many tasks that have to be carried out in a timely and highly parallel fashion. Conference management systems (CMSs) have simpli ed the process and have given decision-support features to the organizers but still there is room for improvements. With the social media movement of the last decade, computer-mediated social interactions and professional networking have also gained importance for scholars. Those interactions take place outside of CMSs. Thus, a rich source of information is ceded to social networking services that could be used for a better quality of service and more awareness support for all stakeholders in CMSs. In this paper we introduce ginkgo as a novel approach to scienti c event management that brings together well-known features of classic CMSs with those of common features of social networking sites to make scienti c event management more social and awareness supporting.
As traditional process elicitation methods are expensive and time consuming, a trend toward collaborative, user-centric, online business process modeling can be observed. A com-mon proposal in this area is the use of a semantic wiki-based light-weight knowledge capturing tool for collaborative pro-cess development. Although di erent frameworks have been proposed, nobody has compared the systems against existing requirements for collaborative maturing of processes. To address this issue we provide a comparison framework on the basis of these rewquierments, which we used to compare existing approaches.
In team collaboration we deal with collaboration among team members that may either belong to the same enterprise (intra-enterprise collaboration) or among team members belonging to different companies (e.g., in research projects). Social media provide an efficient and accessible means of encouraging and
supporting team members working together on shared objects, i.e., performing collaborative tasks within these teams. Due to ease of use and access, especially small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may profit a lot from social media in team collaboration. Based on a number of case studies on the application of social media in SMEs, we analyze the adoption and implementation, the motivation of team members and their benefit, and success factors of the utilization of social media for team collaboration. To provide a set of case studies that allow for detailed comparison and in-depth analysis of multiple case studies, a standardized case study structure is introduced.
The user experience of any software or website consists of elements from the conceptual to the concrete level. These elements of user experience assist in the design and development of user interfaces. On the other hand, Ontologies provide a framework for computable representation of user interface elements and underlying data. This paper discusses strategies of introducing ontologies at different user interface layers adapted from user experience elements. These layers range from abstract levels (e.g. User needs/Application Objectives) to concrete levels (e.g. Application User Interface) in term of data representation. The proposed ontological framework enables device independent, semi-automated GUI construction which we will demonstrate at a personal information management example.
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.
Spatial Hypertext Wiki (ShyWiki) is a wiki which represents knowledge using notes that are spatially distributed in wiki pages and have some visual characteristics such as colour, size, or font type. Spatial and visual characteristics are important in a wiki to improve human comprehension, creation and organization of knowledge. Another important capability in wikis is to allow machines to process knowledge. Wikis that formally structure knowledge for this purpose are called semantic wikis. This paper describes the semantic wiki capabilities of ShyWiki. ShyWiki can represent knowledge at different levels of formality. Users of ShyWiki can annotate the content and represent semantic relations without being experts of semantic web data description languages. The spatial hypertext features make it suitable for users to represent unstructured knowledge and implicit graphic relations among concepts. In addition, semantic web and spatial hypertext features are combined to represent structured knowledge. The semantic web features of ShyWiki improve navigation and publish the wiki knowledge as RDF resources, including the implicit relations that are analyzed using a spatial parser.
Knowledge sharing between individuals has traditionally been conducted using faceto- face conversation. In the networked society – initially formed by telegraphs and the phone and nowadays powered by the Internet – many acts of knowledge sharing are carried out in a mediated fashion. While this typically introduces a number of problems in the knowledge sharing process, it also offers certain advantages. In this paper, we describe a framework for analyzing different modes of knowledge sharing. Furthermore, we line out the concept of “need-driven” knowledge sharing to address limitations in current mediated knowledge sharing approaches.
Pattern based task management has been proposed as a promising approach to work experience reuse in knowledge intensive work environments. While initial work has focused on the conceptualization and development of a generic framework, the process and user interaction of the task pattern lifecycle has not been addressed. In this paper, we introduce task copy augmented by Abstraction Services as a novel approach to facilitate task pattern creation and maintenance in a semi-automatic fashion. Also, we develop the architecture to demonstrate the underlying ideas by leveraging the advantage of semantic technologies.
Semantic Desktops hold provide intelligent information-management environments that respond to users’ needs. An important requirement for developing such environments is that the underlying ontology reflects the users’ work context. For specialized work domains, where people deal with rich information sources in a context-specific manner, there may be a significant amount of domain-specific information available in text documents, emails and other domain-dependent data sources. Our goal is to support knowledge management by to using this information in a Semantic Desktop. We have extended an existing semantic desktop by introducing contentand structure-based information extraction, domain-specific ontological extensions as well as visualization of semantic entities. These extensions address needs in strategic decision making, where domain-specific, well-structured knowledge is available but scattered in documents and communications. The goal for this type of domain-aware semantic desktop is to assist decision makers, such as military commanders, in sense making.
We introduce a framework for a new idea tool Note, which gathers, fosters and manages innovative ideas. Note supports the development of organizational memory and is connected to the practices of organizational innovativeness. The tool utilizes text mining methods in idea processing, management and visualization and is thus a new approach in idea management software. The tool is under development.
A mining method for egocentric and polycentric queries in multi-dimensional networks is proposed. The method allows fast search for objects in sufficient proximity of other object(s) where the proximity is defined in terms of multiple relationships between objects. The method uses spreading activation technique. Other potential uses of spreading activation technique are also outlined and, in particular, include applications to collaborative filtering (community detection based on tag recommendations, expertise location, etc). Moreover, the spreading activation technique is combined with so-called ambient navigation. The advantages of such approach are high performance and high scalability in terms of size of multidimensional network. The proposed method is very practical and is implemented in IBM LanguageWare software products.
Despite the growing importance of knowledge work in today’s organizations, its support by means of ICT tools is still rather limited. Recent trends in semantic technologies provide novel approaches for an effective solution to these challenges in terms of semanticbased task management. However, task management involves the complex interplay of information and work activities. Thus a semantic task management framework is needed which supports an adaptable semantic foundation, to meet the challenges of knowledge work, via a set of task services on the desktop. To this end, we propose the Nepomuk Semantic Task Management Framework (STMF) as platform for a task-oriented ecosystem for desktop applications.
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.
In the paper the new possibilities of eLearning 2.0 management systems for knowledge production, experience sharing and communication are presented. The Web 2.0 effects and mechanisms for knowledge capturing and construction are discussed. Reviews of seven new generation learning systems are done with aim one of them to be selected for knowledge building and competence development during the university education as well as after degree receiving. The analysis of eLearning 2.0 management systems is performed in context of the IEEE LTSA (Learning Technology Systems Architecture) component architecture.
There is a significant gap between the services provided by dedicated information systems and general desktop systems for document communication and preparation. This situation is a serious knowledge-management problem, which often results in information loss, poor communication, and confusion among users. Semantic desktops promise to bring knowledge-based services to common desktop applications and, ultimately, to support knowledge management by adding advanced functionality to familiar computing environments. By custom tailoring these systems to different application domains, it is possible to provide dedicated services that assist users in combining document handling and communication with structured workflow processes and the services provided by dedicated systems. This paper presents a model for developing custom-tailored document processing for semantic-desktop systems. Our approach has been applied to the domain of military command and control, which as based on highly-structured document-driven processes.
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.
New media applications like E-Learning or Computer supported collaborative learning are becoming more and more popular and the internet plays a key role in this development. These applications open up new ways in education, which were not thinkable only some years ago. Nowadays the progress in technology like broadband internet access, video on demand, streaming media, etc. allow to realize such applications. But as first approaches show, to realize a good E-Learning application is not only a matter of technology it is also a matter of good interface and system design. Often a good interface/system design, which puts the user and his needs into the focus, is as important for a successful application as the realized functionality.
This papers presents a study investigating the learner perspective on the use of learning management systems by conducting focus groups. Based on the statements we derived requirements and propose design improvements in order to support and facilitate collaborative learning applications.
Service oriented architectures (SOAs) are a new paradigm in IT-management. This paper presents an SOA-implementation in the intranet portal of a 520-employee research institute, which was launched to accompany parallel knowledge-management (KM) activities. Furthermore it explains the benefits of an SOA-based IT-landscape for KM-activities.
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 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.
Straightforward expertise localization is crucial for personal and organizational efficiency and productivity. Common issues with existing approaches are the amount of effort required to build up the database and keeping it up-to-date, and the difficulty of establishing a complete coverage of the organization. The ExpertFinder system employs the concepts of referral chaining, social networks and user-generated data to enable a fast, low-effort and thereby low-cost approach to building an expertise localization database. At the same time, ExpertFinder provides a number of views on this database. We describe the design of the system and discuss in detail two pilots conducted at Océ-Technologies and the Telematica Instituut, the findings of which show high user participation and a good coverage of individual employee expertise and overall organizational expertise.
Even though knowledge management has been around for more than a decade, so far concrete instruments that can be systematically deployed are still rare. This paper presents an optimization solution targeted at flexible management of office space considering knowledge management criteria in order to enhance knowledge work productivity. The paper presents the Flexible Office conceptual model and optimization solution and discusses the theoretical foundation, assumptions and reasoning. A corresponding prototype was field-tested, successfully introduced, evaluated with the help of a series of interviews with users and improved according to their requirements. The paper also reflects on the organisational impact and lessons learned from field test and practical experience.
In many respects Web 2.0 and Knowledge Management (KM) are strongly related to each other. From a KM perspective the Web 2.0 evolution can serve as a pool of ideas for new ways of knowledge sharing, knowledge organisation and for the development of new architectures of measurable knowledge management systems. KM projects are usually developed in a process-oriented, goal-driven environment, embedded in complex organisational structures, whereas typical Web 2.0 applications like del.icio.us, flickr or friendster are building “their own context”. This paper will examine Tim O´Reilly’s eight generic Web 2.0 design patterns in terms of their applicability for a measurable KM System in an Enterprise 2.0. Two use cases will be presented and it will be discussed which of the design patterns could be enriched by technologies from the semantic web which will be summarized as a concept named “Enterprise n+1”.
The knowledge is defined as combination and organization of data and information in given context and Knowledge Management (KM) provides capturing, storing and reusing of knowledge objects. In Web 2.0 world the knowledge is represented in form of microcontent object and KM 2.0 proposes creation, sharing and leveraging the microknowledge in a collaborative way. The microknowledge in Web 2.0 network can be controlled through designing the instructional strategies that will provide user learning paths and activities and that will give possibilities for sharing of those same learning activities and microknowledge with others. The present paper is aimed to reflect of the research needs and the new challenges in the mentioned above three areas: KM, Web 2.0 technologies and Learning Design (LD). It is focused on designing of personalized learning using IMS LD elements. The paper analyzes the possibilities of applying Web 2.0 technologies for defining a broaden set of activities and creating the rich environments with microknowledge objects and web services in one successful scenario.
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.
We believe there is great learning potential in education involving shared, studentgenerated knowledge bases. However, it is not yet clear what architectures are most appropriate for such shared knowledge bases in order to facilitate an effective exchange, collection, organization, and sharing of knowledge. In this paper, we discuss the concepts of “liquid ontologies,” to describe novel, dynamic structures for organizing, sharing and browsing knowledge. Liquid ontologies are flexible knowledge structures that are created by, evolve around and adapt to the learners’ interests and allow for a tighter coupling between the learners’ interests and the viewing and browsing structure of a knowledge sharing system. We present the key ideas behind liquid ontologies, and discuss these characteristics within the context of OpenD, a knowledge sharing environment we developed and its application in graduate courses at a design school.
Verbal inter-human exchange forms an important part of informal learning, especially for workplace learning. But informal learning of an employee within inter-human communication implies informal teaching of another employee on the other side. And in the same way we try to integrate the learning process into the surrounding work processes, we also need to integrate the teaching process into the work processes on the teacher side. As a method for matching interests on both sides, we present in this paper the context-aware mediation of communication between the learner and the informal teacher.
On the one hand models can be used as navigational tools respecting mental processing capabilities of persons. On the other hand models can be analyzed automatically by information systems to deduce relevant content for knowledge management IT-components as E-Learning-Applications, KM-Portals, document management systems, etc. Therefore models of knowledge intensive business processes are a natural integration layer for persons and information systems providing the relevant context to interpret and handle information the right way. It has only to be solved how to interface these models efficiently from a person as well as from an information system point of view.
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.
The intranet portal of a company is often used as supporting tool for Knowledge Management (KM), e.g. in conjunction with yellow pages, knowledge maps, document storage systems and information retrieval. But although KM generally is considered to be important, it often does not get off the ground. One of the reasons is a lack of steady marketing. This paper points out the fundamental importance of the intranet entry page to permanently market internal KM-activities in order to make them part of the staff’s thinking and daily work by presenting results of a case study made in the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS.
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 discusses cultural constraints in transferring knowledge. In international companies or cooperation at least two different organisational cultures face each other. Organisational cultures are often driven by the national context, in which the company operates basically. In order to gain and sustain competitive advantages in a globalised competition, companies aim at transferring market knowledge and expertise in the presence of organisational and national cultural barriers. In doing so, managers have to consider the political-legal, the economical and the socio-cultural framework (cp. Welge/Holtbrügge 2003). Recent studies indicate that companies do not consider cultural constraints in an appropriate manner, while doing international business (cp. Elenkov et al. 2005, Demorgon 2004, Poech 2002, Schmid 1996, Schmidt-Dorrenbach 1991, Stadler 2004, Welge/Holtbrügge 2003). This paper discusses the transfer of knowledge and explores its affection by organisational culture. Finally, methods and recommended actions for improving the transfer of knowledge through cultural boundaries will be given.
The efficient, collaborative creation and transfer of knowledge is still a major challenge in many organizations, particularly among different professional groups, such as experts and managers. This paper presents a visual knowledge communication suite that aims at improving the quality of collaborative knowledge communication in face-to-face meetings and in on-line workshops, primarily for synchronous interactions, but also for asynchronous
communication. The paper presents the framework for the developed software and screenshot of its five modules (called ruler, positioner, ideaquarium, tracker and timeliner).
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.
This paper compares the effectiveness of the Project Tube Map and the Gantt Chart for inter-functional communication in large projects where different stakeholders are involved. Today, Gantt Charts are well known in project management. However, the use of Gantt Charts has limitations: It fails in motivational aspects, it has difficulties to illustrate who is collaborating with whom, and it badly supports recall. The Project Tube Map has been introduced earlier as an approach to overcome these limitations. This paper compares the effectiveness of both visualization methods. Our findings from the evaluation of 44 interviews indicate that the Project Tube Map is more effective for (1) drawing attention and keeping interest, (2) presenting overview and detail, (3) visualizing who is collaborating with whom, (4) motivating people to participate in the project, and (5) increasing recall. The findings indicate that both formats complement each other. We further present an algorithm that allows the automatic creation of Project Tube Maps. The results presented in this paper are important for researchers and practitioners in the fields of Knowledge Visualization, Project Management, Visual Communication Sciences, and Information Visualization.
Knowledge sharing in communities has attracted much attention in the field of knowledge management in research and practice. In this paper we outline a view where the community lifecycle is supported at different stages. The central component of our framework is the community ontology SWRC+COIN that describes the typical structure of communities. We exemplarily show how communities in the academic domain can be detected automatically by means of analyzing information flow in a bibliographic Peer-to-Peer system and how the instantiated community knowledge base can be exploited to support cooperative work in the communities.
A number of recent studies have contributed to Knowledge Management (KM) and E-learning integration. They are mainly based on organizational learning analysis. In this paper, KM is discussed from the viewpoint of adaptation in e-learning systems. The main components of adaptive e-learning system are discussed with respect to the KM processes. We analyze users and developers of adaptive e-learning systems and the knowledge, with which they operate. We present our view of knowledge and meta-knowledge concepts in the context of adaptive elearning systems. The role of meta-knowledge as a contextual knowledge is emphasized for adaptation in e-learning. The paper discusses the challenges of KM in adaptive e-learning systems and analyses the main KM processes that should be introduced in adaptive e-learning systems.
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.
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.
E-learning at the workplace might be accompanied by synchronous cooperative learning episodes of small groups using net-based communication. In a field study carried out in a large software company an interaction of factors determining the quality of such cooperative learning was observed. In this study, a software tool was used which supported a specific instructional design by phase-specific delivering of instructions and learning materials as well as by means of process control (including turn-taking, role assignment, and coordination of task flow). There was no tutor or instructor present in the learning sessions. The learning processes of six small groups were evaluated on the basis of a content analysis. Results demonstrate a high amount of topic-oriented contributions and the realization of the expected learning activities. It was concluded that the learning processes were successful because of the fine-grained implementation of the instructional design in the software tool. However, feedback data indicated a low acceptance of the software tool. Participants evaluated the process control as being restrictive. It was assumed that there was a non-optimal interaction between the factors technology and target group / context in the study.
This article deals with the potential of knowledge communities for process-oriented learning and working. Linear structures are often inappropriate for knowledge intensive tasks requiring non-linear, dynamic, social interaction, but community work mostly lacks the guiding thread needed by learners. We ask how the benefits of knowledge management can be brought to process-oriented learning. Requirements for an IT-support are developed and the prototype of a concept using the Wiki-approach is presented.
Corporate training increasingly takes place within the framework of a company’s strategic orientation. A holistic view of learning and training processes as well as a focus on a comprehensive management of corporate training (“training management”) emerges. The paper presents and analyses results from an international survey conducted by the EU-funded research project ELENA.
This paper introduces and evaluates the effectiveness of a new visualization method that helps to communicate a complex business process in an organization. A quality development process needed to be established in an education centre for health care professions. Traditional project plans, flyers and mails did not manage to get the attention, present an overview and details and motivate the employees for action. Because visual metaphors are effective for knowledge communication, we developed a customized tube map visualization that illustrates the whole process: Each tube line represents a target group, each station a milestone. The visualization was printed as a poster and located at prominent locations in the organization. The evaluation showed that the tube map visualization is a powerful metaphor to communicate a complex project to different target groups and build up a mutual story. The employees considered it useful because it provides an overview and detailed information in one image and initiates discussions.
Business processes can be modelled and analysed extensively with well known and established methods. The simple signs of static knowledge do not fulfil the requirements of a comprehensive and integrated approach of process-oriented knowledge management. The Knowledge Modelling Description Language KMDL is able to represent the creation, use and necessity of knowledge along common business processes. Therefore KMDL can be used to formalise knowledge-intensive processes with a focus on certain knowledge-specific characteristics and to identify weak points in these processes. The tool K-Modeller is introduced for a computer-aided modelling and analysing.
Knowledge creation in the cultural sciences is very often of discursive nature. The individuals participating in these discussions can be regarded as a part of a community. In our collaborative research center on “Media and Cultural Communication” we are analyzing the impact of ”Networked Multimedia Information Systems in Cultural Science Cornmunities” on organization and creation of knowledge. In this aspect, we are researching on discourse visualization strategies for a comprehensive medial analysis of cultural science communities. Subject of the present investigation are discourses in about 40 discussion forums with an amount of more than 25.000 emails from more than 2500 individuals collected so far. Research aspects focus on the detection of emergent phenomena by the concatenation of discussion maps originated in the area of data mining, and by classifying meta data for the analyzed documents. Interesting phenomena in cultural science discourses are the sudden emergence and disappearance of terms (burstiness) in a particular forum as well as their spanning among various forums. The correlation of these burstiness phenomena and individuals is also an indicator for roles and hierarchies of individuals within debates. Another phenomenon is the drifting of terms within a community or among them what often can be accredited to members being active in several communities and ”infecting” them by spreading new terms. Fraunhofer FIT’s metadata-based tool SWAP-it is designed to visually support interactive text analysis on the web. It is based on web services and has been equipped with a community specific terminology, allowing a comprehensive study on the previously described phenomena also by self-supervision.
This paper concerns the need for methodological support in providing Knowledge Management (KM) IT solutions. Due to the distributed nature of knowledge, the support of KM often requires complex, distributed IT systems, which are inherently difficult to design. We propose an agent-oriented methodology based on Tropos for the analysis and design of KM systems that offers appropriate abstractions for modeling and designing the characteristics of the organizational setting of the system. The method is illustrated using a fictitious scenario where a newcomer in a knowledge organization decides to join an existing Community of Practice (CoP) in order to share knowledge and adjust to his new working environment.
In this paper we describe a software tool which aims at supporting the interplay between autonomous management of local knowledge within communities and the sharing, negotiation and coordination of knowledge among different (heterogeneous) communities, in order to sustain perspective making and perspective taking leading to innovation. The developed system combines methods for constructing artefacts reflecting the patterns of language use in a community (LanguageMaps) through document clustering and creation of personalised concept networks, with interactive visualisation and with the Reconciler tool for explicit negotiation and alignment of meanings between disparate concepts into ontology-like structures.
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 sophisticated indexes for dynamic, heterogeneous, structured, and unstructured information sources. In order to move Topic Maps towards the mainstream, the automatic generation of Topic Maps and its integration in the users working environment and processes must be improved. Our described approach for Topic Map generation is based on terminology extraction with relevance feedback, which improves our previous approaches especially for small corpora. The relation between the Subjects and Topics is the core of the Topic Map theory. We propose a methodology for the proper integration of this underlying theory in the generation of Topic Maps in order to obtain real interchangeable Topic Maps. The framework TOMATO is a scientific prototype which realises the described functionality and offers interfaces for integration in applications and web-based interfaces.
This paper presents further research findings on the use of software-based, collaborative visual communication tools for the transfer and creation of professional knowledge in organizational decision making contexts. The paper begins by describing typical knowledge communication situations and summarizes dominating problems in these contexts. It then reports on the real-life experiences in using three visual knowledge communication tools, namely the OnTrack visual protocol tool, the Parameter Ruler application, and the Synergy Map. The application experiences with these tools in four companies show that they can reduce some of the discussed problems. Their main benefits are focus, coordination, documentation, consistency, accountability and traceability. Their major improvement areas are accessibility and flexibility. Implications for further research and for further tool developments are highlighted.
This paper argues that structuring of knowledge is a natural and central part of knowledge management. The paper presents a scenario that envisions how scholarly work (as an example of a knowledge management task) can benefit from various types of structuring support. The paper also reviews past and present work and outlines future work on the Construct structural computing system to provide the envisioned structuring support for scholarly work processes.
Knowledge work often involves structuring information. Structural computing systems have been used successfully to support structuring work in a wide variety of application domains. In this paper, we discuss supporting two computational linguistics applications with two different structural computing systems, comparing and contrasting their designs and implementations.
Due to contradictory results obtained in Knowledge Management initiatives a model of audit is presented. The main action in the international project “Strateg” is the development and application of a model to diagnose and propose suitable recommendations concerning the management of knowledge and intellectual capital of a firm. A brief description of the model is presented after the exposition of its key scientific assumptions. Finally, the current state of the project is reviewed.
SENEKA (Service-Netzwerke für und Weiterbildungsprozesse) is a large-scale entrepreneurial and research programme, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education. The programme aims not only to improve the management of information flow and knowledge creation, but seeks to re-design processes of innovation and research. The pool of participating companies in this programme consists mainly of SMEs empowering their capabilities and competencies with regards to innovation management. Approximately 30 companies, mainly located in Germany and research institutes from all over Germany are working in different fields of activity seeking to find new methods and tools to improve information flow and knowledge management processes. Recent trends in information and knowledge management describe challenges the participating companies try to meet while developing these new methods and tools.
Knowledge management case studies in most cases focus on one or a few applications. Typically, the discussion is limited to what has been found out in the past. On the other hand, numerous authors have reported on the technological aspects at a high level of abstraction, where no specific business cases were taken into account. There are polls and surveys to identify potential future trends, but these typically investigate a serious of market segments without making specific statements about KM in the automotive industry. In this paper we hope to bridge this gap: in order to identify the potential benefits of KM, we will survey some of the literature describing recent, current, as well as expected future developments in the automotive industry. In particular, expand on three key trends in order to discuss potential benefits from Collaborative KM: the supply chain, improvements in engine development, and providing the industry with skilled workers. We found that the following are interesting applications from the point of view of Collaborative KM: (1) collaborative partner extranets (to support the supply chain), (2) inter-company collaboration, training to be tied into every-day work, KM to support Quality Management (to assist in the improvements of engine performance), and (3) e-learning combined with helpdesk automation and a knowledge base (in order to help provide the industry with skilled workers).
Cooperative learning is characterized by communication and interaction in a group. The computer supported cooperative/collaborative learning (CSCL) is a specific form, which removes previous spatial and temporal restrictions. Starting point of the examinations are known learning processes and their possible support by a CSCL system. The meaning of different user models as well as different styles and roles of learning are analyzed in CSCL systems and shown in different scenarios supporting cooperative or collaborative learning processes. The practical evaluation of the methods and algorithms was done by an adaptive CSCL system to support learning effects on the domain of software engineering.
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.
The Use of Visual Metaphors in the Communication of Knowledge
The use of visual metaphors for the transfer of knowledge is a fruitful, but rarely applied communication strategy of experts who strive to convey their insights to others. Although there is a plethora of literature on the benefits of images and metaphors for effective communication, there are only few widely used metaphor templates. In this paper, several possible templates (on four levels) for visual knowledge communication are distinguished and real-life examples of their use are presented. Their advantages and potential risks are addressed. The paper ends with a discussion of future research directions for metaphor-based knowledge
visualization.
This paper presents an approach to supporting the exchange of knowledge in communities of practice that connect experts from different fields of expertise. The developed system allows unobtrusive construction of personalised knowledge maps that capture implicit knowledge of individuals and groups of users and make it usable for collaborative structuring of shared information repositories. The personalised maps also reflect the global patterns of knowledge exchange in the community which allows the extraction of a shared conceptual structure that connects knowledge across different individuals and groups of users. To this end techniques for self-organised clustering are combined with methods for supervised learning and collaborative filtering. Application scenarios include automatic generation of personalised knowledge portals, collaborative knowledge management and the construction of shared ontologies and topic networks. The real-world testbed is the Internet platfom netzspannung.org.
In software engineering, the quality of development and business processes and their models is of utmost importance for (a) the quality of the software products developed and (b) the operational success of the organization. Nevertheless, many organizations neglect these processes and leave the knowledge about them in the heads of their experts. In this paper, we present the indiGo method and platform for eParticipative Process Learning. Furthermore, we present first results of a long-term case study for the evaluation of these methods. The results indicate that processes introduced and modeled with process user participation result in process
models with higher acceptance and better perceived quality.
The EXTERNAL infrastructure is described. The key idea is a model based approach to supporting knowledge sharing in extended enterprises. The infrastructure as a whole offers facilities for creating, visualizing, maintaining and executing shared process models. The process models are interactive, and may be updated by the user at any time during execution. The EXTERNAL infrastructure has been evaluated by the project use cases with promising results.
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.
Starting from text corpus analysis with linguistic and statistical analysis algorithms, an infrastructure for text mining is described which uses collocation analysis as a central tool.
This text mining method may be applied to different domains as well as languages. Some examples taken form large reference databases motivate the applicability to knowledge management using declarative standards of information structuring and description. The ISO/IEC Topic Map standard is introduced as a candidate for rich metadata description of information resources and it is shown how text mining can be used for automatic topic map generation.