Multilingual Knowledge Management for Crisis

In a crisis all rescue forces, government agencies, volunteers, and business sectors work together to supply immediate relief efforts. The problem of the lack of a shared platform or similar communication methods among the collaborators usually arises within a few hours. The paper presents an outline of an ontology model for the construction of a common platform for sharing different concepts in different languages and coordinating rescue forces. Motivation is supplied by the Boxing Day Tsunami crisis

Ontology Localization

nternational organizations (e.g., FAO1 , WHO2 , etc.) are increasingly expressing the need for multilingual ontologies for di®erent purposes, e.g., ontology-based multilingual machine translation, multilingual informa- tion retrieval. However, most of the ontologies built so far have mainly English or another natural language as basis. Since multilingual ontology building is a very ex- pensive and time-consuming undertaking, we propose methods for guiding users in the localization of ontolo- gies, and provide tools for supporting the process. The main contributions of this paper are: i) the descrip- tion of a generic Ontology Localization Activity and a methodology for guiding in the localization of ontolo- gies; ii) the description of a tool built according to the guidelines proposed for an automatic localization of on- tologies; and iii) a set of experiments used to evaluate the methodological and technological aspects of the On- tology Localization Activity

Discussions on semantic-based in decision support systems

This paper outlines some present researches in describing decision-making context by information systems, and especially Decision Support Systems (DSS). We present the results of an empirical study that had the main propose to demonstrate the idea that describing context decision-making in an incorrect manner may lead to an inaccurate decision-making process. We discuss therefore some possible solutions. The paper ends with conclusions drawn from our research

Instruments of Knowledge Representation for Knowledge Management Practices: taxonomy, thesauri and ontologys

Because of the diversity of instruments and tools for knowledge representation in the literature to support Knowledge Management, it was a literature review of the type system for verifying the existence and applicability of these resources. According to pre-established criteria of the review were located ninety works, endorsing the ensuing discussion on the applicability of the instruments. Observed applications with all the instruments, but a predominance of studies and approaches in the use of ontologies, as compared to other instruments of knowledge representation ─ taxonomies and thesauri. However, regardless of the instrument used, realizes the importance of control terminology, beyond the concern with choosing the most appropriate tool. Because you can not share, reuse and disseminate knowledge with various meanings.Em virtude da diversidade de instrumentos e ferramentas para a representação do conhecimento existentes na literatura para apoio à Gestão do Conhecimento, fez-se uma revisão de literatura do tipo sistemática para verificar a existência e aplicabilidade desses recursos. De acordo com os critérios pré-estabelecidos da revisão foram localizados noventa trabalhos, respaldando a discussão que se seguiu a respeito da aplicabilidade dos instrumentos. Observaram-se aplicações com todos os instrumentos, porém uma predominância de estudos e abordagens no uso de ontologias, se comparado aos demais instrumentos de representação do conhecimento ─ taxonomias e tesauros. Todavia, independentemente do instrumento utilizado, percebe-se a importância do controle terminológico, além da preocupação com a escolha da ferramenta mais adequada. Pois não é possível compartilhar, reutilizar e disseminar conhecimentos com acepções diversas

Instrumentos de representação do conhecimento para práticas de gestão do conhecimento, taxonomias, tesauros e ontologias

Documento em formato pdf referente à artigo "Instrumentos de Representação do Conhecimento para práticas de Gestão do Conhecimento: taxonomias, tesauros e ontologias" de Roberta Moraes Bem e Christianne Coelho de Souza Reinisch Coelho de 2013. Localização apenas no formato digital.Em virtude da diversidade de instrumentos e ferramentas para a representação do conhecimento existentes na literatura para apoio à Gestão do Conhecimento, fez-se uma revisão de literatura do tipo sistemática para verificar a existência e aplicabilidade desses recursos. De acordo com os critérios pré-estabelecidos da revisão foram localizados noventa trabalhos, respaldando a discussão que se seguiu a respeito da aplicabilidade dos instrumentos. Observaram-se aplicações com todos os instrumentos, porém uma predominância de estudos e abordagens no uso de ontologias, se comparado aos demais instrumentos de representação do conhecimento taxonomias e tesauros. Todavia, independentemente do instrumento utilizado, percebe-se a importância do controle terminológico, além da preocupação com a escolha da ferramenta mais adequada. Pois não é possível compartilhar, reutilizar e disseminar conhecimentos com acepções diversas

Semantic Representation of Context for Description of Named Rivers in a Terminological Knowledge Base

The description of named entities in terminological knowledge bases has never been addressed in any depth in terminology. Firm preconceptions, rooted in philosophy, about the only referential function of proper names have presumably led to disparage their inclusion in terminology resources, despite the relevance of named entities having been highlighted by prominent figures in the discipline of terminology. Scholars from different branches of linguistics depart from the conservative stance on proper names and have foregrounded the need for a novel approach, more linguistic than philosophical, to describing proper names. Therefore, this paper proposed a linguistic and terminological approach to the study of named entities when used in scientific discourse, with the purpose of representing them in EcoLexicon, an environmental knowledge base designed according to the premises of Frame-based Terminology. We focused more specifically on named rivers (or potamonyms) mentioned in a coastal engineering corpus. Inclusion of named entities in terminological knowledge bases requires analyzing the context that surrounds them in specialized texts because these contexts convey specialized knowledge about named entities. For the semantic representation of context, this paper thus analyzed the local syntactic and semantic contexts that surrounded potamonyms in coastal engineering texts and described the semantic annotation of the predicate-argument structure of sentences where a potamonym was mentioned. The semantic variables annotated were the following: (1) semantic category of the arguments; (2) semantic role of the arguments; (3) semantic relation between the arguments; and (4) lexical domain of the verbs. This method yielded valuable insight into the different semantic roles that named rivers played, the entities and processes that participated in the events educed by potamonyms through verbs, and how they all interacted. Furthermore, since arguments are specialized terms and verbs are relational constructs, the analysis of argument structure led to the construction of semantic networks that depicted specialized knowledge about named rivers. These conceptual networks were then used to craft the thematic description of potamonyms. Accordingly, the semantic network and the thematic description not only constituted the representation of a potamonym in EcoLexicon, but also allowed the geographic contextualization of specialized concepts in the terminological resource.PID2020-118369GB-I00 Spanish Ministry of Science and InnovationA-HUM-600-UGR20 Andalusian Ministry of EconomyFPU grant given by the Spanish Ministry of Educatio

Agile practices and their development in a technology company

Teknologiayritysten liiketoimintaympäristö muuttuu nopeasti informaatioteknologian kehityksen ja sitä seuraavan globalisoitumisen vaikutuksesta. Jatkuva ympäristön muutos edellyttää yrityksiltä muutosvalmiutta, jotta ne voivat saavuttaa kilpailuedun tai säilyttää sen. Tärkeimmät tekijät tässä turbulenttisessa ympäristössä ovat yrityksen työntekijät, jotka luovat arvon tuotteisiin ja palveluihin. Erityisen tärkeässä roolissa ovat työntekijöiden arvot ja asenteet, jotka vaikuttavat merkittävästi organisaatiokulttuuriin ja sitä kautta kaikkeen toimintaan. Voidaksemme kehittää liiketoimintaa, varmistaa sen laadun tai muuten edistää omaa tai toisen hyvinvointia, on tärkeää tiedostaa sen ympäristön piirteet, jossa toimii. Toimintaympäristön vahvuudet tulee siis kartoittaa, ja samalla tunnistaa sen heikkoudet, jotta toimintaa voidaan kehittää. Diplomityön tarkoituksena on kartoittaa Insta Automation Oy:n henkilöstön käsitystä ketteryydestä, sekä esittää ehdotuksia ketteryyden parantamiseksi. Diplomityön teoreettisessa osuudessa esitellään oleelliset tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat yrityksen ketteryyteen. Työssä kartoitetaan, kuinka hyvin Insta Automation Oy:n organisaatiossa ymmärretään ja hyödynnetään ketteryyttä ja sen tuomia etuja. Tutkimuksen empiria kerättiin Instan henkilöstölle tehdyn kyselytutkimuksen avulla, joka antaa kokonaiskuvan siitä, miten henkilöstö ymmärtää ja tiedostaa ketteryyden sekä sen tuomat mahdollisuudet ja haasteet. Kun yrityksessä mitataan ketteryyttä, on huomattava, että samalla mitataan yrityksen kilpailukykyä ja valmiutta vastata markkinoilla tapahtuviin odottamattomiin muutok-siin. Ketteryyttä mitattaessa löydetään yleensä yrityksen vähemmän ketterät toiminnot, joita voidaan kehittää ja siten parantaa reagointikykyä ennalta arvaamattomissa tilanteissa. Tutkimustulosten perusteella Instan liiketoimintajohtajilla on korkea luova jännite useiden ketteryyden kannalta oleellisten tekijöiden suhteen eli liiketoiminnan kehittämiseen on hyvät edellytykset. Tutkimustuloksissa on esitetty organisatoristen resurssien ontologioiden indikaattorit. Indikaattorit tuovat esiin resurssien vahvuudet ja heikkoudet, joita tulisi kehittää

Knowledge sharing in multinational organizations : the impact of language

Knowledge sharing is a key collaborative activity that plays a significant role in organizational learning and performance. Knowledge sharing between organizational employees is important, not only for running basic administrative tasks, but also for major and critical organizational activities such as development and execution of organizational strategies meant to develop a competitive advantage in the market. The 21st century has seen a rise in multilingual workforces. Globalization, immigration and organizational international business dealings have rendered many organizations linguistically diverse. However, we do not find much research on information and knowledge sharing in multilingual work contexts. This study tries to fill this research gap and investigates the influence of language on knowledge sharing in multilingual organizations. To understand the concept of language and its influence on knowledge sharing, this study adopts an interdisciplinary approach. Therefore, the theoretical framework is built on insights from sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and knowledge management. This analysis is specifically focused on determining the relationship between linguistic association and interpersonal knowledge networks, and language practices and knowledgesharing interactions. Overall, the dissertation is comprised of four articles, each pair of articles answers one sub-question. Using a multiple method approach, both, quantitative and qualitative investigations were conducted in a large Finnish multinational organization that has subsidiaries in more than 70 countries around the world. A survey containing 403 usable responses was analyzed using regression analysis and one-way ANOVA to understand the effect of linguistic association on interpersonal knowledge networks. In addition, 21 in-depth interviews were conducted with employees from different subsidiaries. These interviews were analyzed using inductive logic to understand the influence of language practices on knowledge-sharing interactions. Analysis of the data shows that language influences both the development of knowledge networks and knowledge-sharing interactions between employees. Regarding knowledge networks, it was found that multilingual organizations have a language hierarchy in terms of access to information. Employees who speak the parent-company’s language do not build knowledgesharing connections with those who belong to a different language community. As most of the important positions in the organization are held by its homecountry nationals, an employee’s capability to speak their language provides him/her the opportunity to build a relationship with them and consequently gain access to critical information, which, in turn, lower his/her motivation to connect and share knowledge with others. Moreover, it was found that language diversity in personal knowledge networks positively correlates with employee performance. In other words, employees with highly multilingual personal knowledge networks perform better than those with monolingual personal knowledge networks. In terms of knowledge-sharing interactions between linguistically diverse employees, a major finding was that knowledge sharing interactions conducted in a non-native language differ from those conducted in a native language. It was found that employees adopt three different strategies to deal with problems in the knowledge-sharing process caused using a non-native language. These strategies – namely, discourse adjustment, language adjustment and media adjustment – play an important role in the successful exchange of knowledge between linguistically diverse individuals. Due to high awareness of linguistic differences, knowledge-sharing participants put in extra effort during interactions, leading to positive knowledge-sharing outcomes, which means linguistic differences can sometimes be helpful in knowledge-sharing contexts. This study contributes to existing research by adopting a comprehensive view of the relationship between language and knowledge sharing. It focuses not only on the impact of language on the development of knowledge networks, but also on the influence of language differences on the process of knowledge sharing that is knowledge-sharing interactions.Kunskapsdelning en är en nyckelaktivitet som spelar en signifikant roll för organisationens lärande och prestation. Kunskapsdelningen mellan medarbetarna är ytterst viktigt, inte bara för att hantera administrativa uppgifter, men även som förutsättning för de mest kritiska aktiviteterna såsom utvecklingen och verkställandet av strategier för att uppnå konkurrensfördel på marknaden. Under tjugohundratalet har andelen flerspråkig arbetskraft i organisationer ökat. Globalisering, immigration och internationell affärsverksamhet har förändrat många organisationer till arbetsplatser med språkligt mångfald. Trots detta finns det få undersökningar om informationsoch kunskapsdelningen i flerspråkiga arbetssammanhang. Genom att studera språkets inflytande på kunskapsdelningen i mångspråkiga organisationer bidrar denna avhandling till att fylla denna forskningslucka. För att bättre förstå begreppet språk och dess inflytande på kunskapsdelningen införs i denna forskning ett tvärvetenskapligt angreppssätt. Den teoretiska referensramen är därför uppbyggd på forskning inom sociolingvistik, lingvistisk antropologi och kunskapsledning (knowledge management). Analysen fokuserar speciellt på att bestämma relationen mellan språkbruk och interpersonella kunskapsnätverk samt språkpraktiker och växelverkan i kunskapsdelning. Avhandlingen består av fyra artiklar som besvarar frågorna kring dessa relationer. Genom att använda en multimetodisk ansats genomfördes både kvantitativa och kvalitativa studier inom ett stort finländskt multinationellt företag med dotterbolag i över 70 olika länder. En enkätundersökning som besvarades av 403 respondenter analyserades med regressionsanalys och enkelriktad ANOVA för att förstå inverkan av språkbruk på interpersonella kunskapsnätverk. Därtill djupintervjuades 21 medarbetade vid olika dotterbolag. Dessa intervjuer analyserades genom induktiv logik för att förstå hur språkpraktiker påverkar växelverkan i kunskapsdelningen. Analyserna visar att språket påverkar både utvecklingen av kunskapsnätverk och växelverkan i kunskapsdelningen mellan de anställda. Beträffande kunskapsnätverken visar resultaten att det existerar en språkhierarki i flerspråkiga organisationer när det gäller tillgången till information. Medarbetare som talar moderbolagets språk bygger inte upp relationer som främjar kunskapsdelningen med de anställda som tillhör en annan språkgemenskap. Eftersom den största delen av organisationens viktiga befattningar handhas av finsk- eller svenskspråkiga medarbetare, ger de anställdas kunskaper i dessa språk dem möjligheten att växelverka med dessa och därför få tillgång till viktig information, vilket i sin tur kan minska deras motivation att ta kontakt och dela kunskap med andra. Därtill visar resultaten att språklig mångfald i personliga kunskapsnätverk korrelerar positivt med medarbetarnas prestation. Med andra ord, anställda med mångspråkiga personliga kunskapsnätverk presterar bättre än de med enspråkiga personliga kunskapsnätverk. När det gäller växelverkan i kunskapsfördelningen mellan medarbetare som talar olika språk visar resultaten att växelverkan på ett främmande språk avviker från växelverkan på modersmålet. Resultaten i denna avhandling visar på tre olika strategier som de anställda tillämpar när de möter problem orsakade av användningen av ett främmande språk i kunskapsdelningsprocesser. Dessa strategier, det vill säga anpassningen av diskursen, anpassningen av språket och anpassningen av mediet, spelar en viktig roll i en lyckad kunskapsdelning mellan individer som talar olika språk. Eftersom individerna i kunskapsdelningsprocesserna var ytterst medvetna om språkskillnaderna ansträngde de sig att lyckas i dessa processer, vilket ledde till positiva resultat. Detta innebär att språkliga skillnader ibland kan främja kunskapsdelningen. Denna avhandling bidrar till den existerande forskningen genom att mångsidigt granska relationen mellan språk och kunskapsdelning. Den fokuserar inte enbart på språkets inverkan på utvecklingen av kunskapsnätverk, men även på hur språkskillnaderna påverkar samspelet i kunskapsdelningen

Ontology Localization

Nuestra meta principal en esta tesis es proponer una solución para construir una ontología multilingüe, a través de la localización automática de una ontología. La noción de localización viene del área de Desarrollo de Software que hace referencia a la adaptación de un producto de software a un ambiente no nativo. En la Ingeniería Ontológica, la localización de ontologías podría ser considerada como un subtipo de la localización de software en el cual el producto es un modelo compartido de un dominio particular, por ejemplo, una ontología, a ser usada por una cierta aplicación. En concreto, nuestro trabajo introduce una nueva propuesta para el problema de multilingüismo, describiendo los métodos, técnicas y herramientas para la localización de recursos ontológicos y cómo el multilingüismo puede ser representado en las ontologías. No es la meta de este trabajo apoyar una única propuesta para la localización de ontologías, sino más bien mostrar la variedad de métodos y técnicas que pueden ser readaptadas de otras áreas de conocimiento para reducir el costo y esfuerzo que significa enriquecer una ontología con información multilingüe. Estamos convencidos de que no hay un único método para la localización de ontologías. Sin embargo, nos concentramos en soluciones automáticas para la localización de estos recursos. La propuesta presentada en esta tesis provee una cobertura global de la actividad de localización para los profesionales ontológicos. En particular, este trabajo ofrece una explicación formal de nuestro proceso general de localización, definiendo las entradas, salidas, y los principales pasos identificados. Además, en la propuesta consideramos algunas dimensiones para localizar una ontología. Estas dimensiones nos permiten establecer una clasificación de técnicas de traducción basadas en métodos tomados de la disciplina de traducción por máquina. Para facilitar el análisis de estas técnicas de traducción, introducimos una estructura de evaluación que cubre sus aspectos principales. Finalmente, ofrecemos una vista intuitiva de todo el ciclo de vida de la localización de ontologías y esbozamos nuestro acercamiento para la definición de una arquitectura de sistema que soporte esta actividad. El modelo propuesto comprende los componentes del sistema, las propiedades visibles de esos componentes, las relaciones entre ellos, y provee además, una base desde la cual sistemas de localización de ontologías pueden ser desarrollados. Las principales contribuciones de este trabajo se resumen como sigue: - Una caracterización y definición de los problemas de localización de ontologías, basado en problemas encontrados en áreas relacionadas. La caracterización propuesta tiene en cuenta tres problemas diferentes de la localización: traducción, gestión de la información, y representación de la información multilingüe. - Una metodología prescriptiva para soportar la actividad de localización de ontologías, basada en las metodologías de localización usadas en Ingeniería del Software e Ingeniería del Conocimiento, tan general como es posible, tal que ésta pueda cubrir un amplio rango de escenarios. - Una clasificación de las técnicas de localización de ontologías, que puede servir para comparar (analíticamente) diferentes sistemas de localización de ontologías, así como también para diseñar nuevos sistemas, tomando ventaja de las soluciones del estado del arte. - Un método integrado para construir sistemas de localización de ontologías en un entorno distribuido y colaborativo, que tenga en cuenta los métodos y técnicas más apropiadas, dependiendo de: i) el dominio de la ontología a ser localizada, y ii) la cantidad de información lingüística requerida para la ontología final. - Un componente modular para soportar el almacenamiento de la información multilingüe asociada a cada término de la ontología. Nuestra propuesta sigue la tendencia actual en la integración de la información multilingüe en las ontologías que sugiere que el conocimiento de la ontología y la información lingüística (multilingüe) estén separados y sean independientes. - Un modelo basado en flujos de trabajo colaborativos para la representación del proceso normalmente seguido en diferentes organizaciones, para coordinar la actividad de localización en diferentes lenguajes naturales. - Una infraestructura integrada implementada dentro del NeOn Toolkit por medio de un conjunto de plug-ins y extensiones que soporten el proceso colaborativo de localización de ontologías