Harvesting Knowledge

{Excerpt} If 80% of knowledge is unwritten and largely unspoken, we first need to elicit that before we can articulate, share, and make wider use of it. Knowledge harvesting is one way to drawout and package tacit knowledge to help others adapt, personalize, and apply it; build organizational capacity; and preserve institutional memory. The so-called know-do gap is one outcome of poor knowledge translation and organizational forgetting. In decreasing order of incidence, that is commonly attributed to (i) shortage of resources, e.g., skills, time, and finance, (ii) lack of buy in at all levels within and across organizations, and (iii) information overload. Shortage of resources affects policymakers, researchers, and practitioners equally. In the 21st century, intra-organizational flows of knowledge have become as important as the resource itself. And so, managing both stocks and flows has become an imperative rather than an alternative for most organizations. Knowledge harvesting is a means to draw out, express, and package tacit knowledge to help others adapt, personalize, and apply it; build organizational capacity; and preserve institutional memory. In addition to context and complexity, the concepts that relate to it are tacit knowledge stocks, tacit knowledge flows, and enablers and inhibitors of tacit knowledge work

The nature and role of experiential knowledge for environmental conservation

Understanding the nature and role of experiential knowledge for environmental conservation is a necessary step towards understanding if it should be used and how it might be applied with other types of knowledge in an evidence-based approach. This paper describes the nature of experiential and expert knowledge. It then discusses the role of experiential knowledge as a complement to scientific knowledge and explains the interplay between experiential knowledge with conservation research and practice using a simple conceptual model of how individuals learn. There are five main conclusions: (1) because experiential knowledge will always play a role in decision-making, enhancing ability to learn from experiences (including research) will have a significant influence on the effectiveness of conservation outcomes; (2) while experiential knowledge is qualitatively very different from quantitative information, both are important and complementary; (3) some experiential knowledge can be expressed quantitatively, but experiential knowledge can be difficult to isolate as single facts or propositions and qualitative methods will therefore often be required to elicit experiential knowledge; (4) because each person's expertise is unique, when using experiential knowledge the extent of a person's experience and its relevance to a particular problem need to be specified; and (5) as with any form of knowledge, there are limitations to that derived from personal experience. Synthesis and communication of research is therefore essential to help prevent erroneous thinking and, where possible, experiential knowledge should be used in conjunction with other types of information to guide conservation actions.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Biomimetic bone-like apatite coating on anodised titanium in simulated body fluid under UV irradiation

Low temperature deposition techniques of bioceramics coatings are now being researched and developed to avoid deficiencies inherent in high temperature techniques. Biomimetic coatings are a solution-based method conducted at ambient temperature to deposit bioactive coatings on the surface. The current study aims to investigate the effect of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on the coating of bone-like apatite on the anodised surface. High purity titanium foils were anodised with an applied voltage of 350 V, current density of 70 mA.cm-2 in mixture of 0.04 M β-glycerophosphate disodium salt pentahydrate (β-GP) and 0.4 M calcium acetate (CA) for 10 min. After anodic oxidation, UV light treatment was conducted in pH-adjusted distilled water for 12 h with ultraviolet light A (UVA) irradiation. Subsequently, the UV-treated anodised titanium foils were soaked in SBF for 7 days with/without UVA irradiation. After SBF immersion for 7 days, anodised titanium with combination of UV light treatment and UV irradiation during in vitro testing was fully covered by highly crystalline bone-like apatite at maximal thickness of 2.8 μm. This occurred mainly due to the formation of large amounts of Ti-OH groups which act as nucleation sites for bone-like apatite. This study also revealed that UV irradiation during in vitro testing is superior in promoting growth of bone-like apatite compared to UV light treatment. The suggested mechanism for bone-like apatite formation on anodised titanium under different UV irradiation conditions is illustrated in this article. The findings of this study indicated that biomimetic bone-like apatite coating with assistance of UV irradiation is an effective method in accelerating the formation of bone-like apatite

Finnagora ja hiljainen tieto : Tutkimus kulttuurialan erityispiirteistä hiljaisen tiedon hyödyntämiseksi

Hiljaisen tiedon merkitys organisaatioille kasvaa jatkuvasti. Sen taloudellinen merkitys yrityksille on Suomessa nyt erittäin ajankohtainen aihe, josta tehdään paljon liikealan opinnäytetöitä. Yritykset etsivät tapoja kerätä hiljaista tietoa talteen, jotta tuotanto ei notkahtaisi kokonaisten sukupolvien poistuessa työelämästä samaan aikaan. Kulttuurialalla tehdään opinnäytetyöinä paljon oppaita, joilla pyritään keräämään talteen hiljaista tietoa. Hiljaisen tiedon tutkimusta itsenäisenä aiheenaan ei kuitenkaan ole paljon, vaikka kulttuuriala painii projektiluonteisesta työstä koituvan tietokadon kanssa, ja tiedon merkitys yhteiskunnassa lisääntyy jatkuvasti. Hiljaisen tiedon toimiva hallinta voi luoda kustannussäästöjä, vähentää päällekkäistä työtä sekä parantaa työhyvinvointia, joten aihe on hyvin tärkeä myös kulttuurialalle. Tässä työssä tutkittiin hiljaisen tiedon hyödyntämistä kulttuurialalla. Esimerkkiorganisaationa tutkimuksessa toimi Finnagora, Suomen kulttuuri-instituutti Budapestissä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteina oli tunnistaa hiljaisen tiedon liikkeitä esimerkkiorganisaatiossa, tunnistaa kulttuurialalle ominaisia piirteitä, jotka vaikuttavat hiljaisen tiedon kanssa työskentelyyn ja osoittaa, että hiljaisen tiedon hyvällä hallinnoinnilla on positiivisia vaikutuksia organisaation toimintaan. Tutkimus pyrki selvittämään, miten hiljaista tietoa voi hyödyntää kulttuurialan resursseilla nykyistä tehokkaammin. Tutkimuksen toiminnallinen puoli pyrki kehittämään tutkimuksessa löydettyjä kehittämiskohteita esimerkkiorganisaatiossa sekä luomaan niihin työkaluja. Tutkimus oli toimintatutkimus, jonka aineisto koottiin kirjallisuuden lisäksi osallistuvalla havainnoinnilla esimerkkiorganisaatiossa, sekä haastatteluilla. Lisäksi tehtiin benchmarking-analyysi, jolla kartoitettiin hyviä käytäntöjä hiljaisen tiedon hallinnassa, ja hyödynnettiin yhteisöllistä aivoriihtä. Aineiston ja tutkimuksen valossa tuli selkeästi ilmi, että hiljainen tieto toimii merkittävänä voimavarana organisaation toiminnassa. Esimerkkiorganisaation toimintakulttuuri tuki tiedostamattaan hiljaisen tiedon hyödyntämistä, mikä teki organisaatiosta kustannustehokkaan toimijan. Konkreettisten työkalujen puuttuessa hiljaisen tiedon hyödyntäminen jäi kuitenkin puolitiehen. Tutkimus kehitti Finnagoran tarpeisiin työkaluja hiljaisen tiedon hallinnoinnin kohentamiseksi, sekä loi kehitysideoita siitä, miten aihetta voitaisiin lähestyä yleisemmin kulttuurialalla. Tämä työ on keskustelunavaus. Työ myös hahmottelee keinoja siihen, miten kulttuurialan organisaatioissa voidaan lähestyä hiljaisen tiedon hallintaa. Kulttuuriala voi hyödyntää työtä sekä perehtyessään siihen, mitä hiljainen tieto on, että tarttuessaan toimeen hiljaisen tiedon hallinnoinnin parantamiseksi.The significance of tacit knowledge in organizations is constantly growing. Its monetary value is a hot topic in the field of Business in Finland. Many under-graduate students of the field are currently doing research on the field. Companies aim to integrate the tacit knowledge of their elderly employees into their organizational knowledge. The topic is important now that the great generations are getting closer to retirement age, to prevent the inefficiency in the production lines when the time of retirement comes. Many theses of cultural field are guides for productions and producing. These guides attempt to record the tacit knowledge of productions, but tacit knowledge itself has not been researched in the field too often. Cultural field usually encounters the loss of tacit knowledge in project-based working. When maintained carefully, tacit knowledge could create savings, decrease unnecessary double work and increase atmosphere in working environment. This thesis was researching how tacit knowledge is being, and could be utilised in cultural field. Finnagora, the Finnish Institute in Budapest, was used as an example organisation. The aims of the research were to recognize how tacit knowledge was moving within Finnagora, to discover what are the specific needs of cultural field in utilizing tacit knowledge, and to show by examples that a good management of tacit knowledge can have positive effects on the performance of the organisation. The research aimed to find out how tacit knowledge could be utilized more. The practical side of the research focused on improving the issues of Finnagora that were discovered in the research, by creating tools for knowledge management. The research was an action research and the research material was gathered with using participating observing and interviews. A benchmarking analysis on good practices was made later on to improve the practical side of the research, as well as a brainstorming event within Finnagora. The results of the research picture the significance of tacit knowledge as a remarkable resource for organisations. Finnagora’s organisational culture was found to encourage the use and sharing of tacit knowledge, but this was done without anyone’s conscious attempt. However, in the lack of efficient tools for documentation and such, the utilization of tacit knowledge was only half way there. The research created the tools for managing tacit knowledge Finnagora was in need of, and introduced ideas on how to utilize tacit knowledge more in the field as well. This thesis hopes to open a discussion. It sketches some ideas on how to approach tacit knowledge management from the perspective of cultural field. The field can gain both information and hands-on ideas from this research, and with this, it can take a tighter grip of the knowledge it holds within

Learning from Profession Knowledge: Application on Knitting

Knowledge Management is a global process in companies. It includes all the processes that allow capitalization, sharing and evolution of the Knowledge Capital of the firm, generally recognized as a critical resource of the organization. Several approaches have been defined to capitalize knowledge but few of them study how to learn from this knowledge. We present in this paper an approach that helps to enhance learning from profession knowledge in an organisation. We apply our approach on knitting industry

Learning Histories

{Excerpt} How can we gauge the successes and failures of collective learning? How can the rest of the organization benefit from the experience? Learning histories surface the thinking, experiments, and arguments of actors who engaged in organizational change. In the corporate world, the precedence ascribed to individual learning can run counter to organizational learning, the process by which an organization and its people develop their capabilities to create a desired future. Without doubt, developing capabilities is a precondition of a desired future; however, if the essence of a learning organization is that it actively identifies, creates, stores, shares, and uses knowledge to anticipate, adapt to, and maybe even shape a changing environment, the driving concern must be reflection, communication, and collective sense makingfor action across its personnel. (Proponents of organizational learning grumble that people in organizations perform collectively yet still learn individually from incomplete, heterogeneous information to which they ascribe different meaning.) Intra-organizational interaction for learning cannot depend on serendipity: it must be encouraged, facilitated, recognized, and rewarded. Increasingly, narration is deemed a good vessel for bridging knowledge and action in the workplace

On Internal Knowledge Markets

In large organizations, knowledge can move rapidly or slowly, usefully or unproductively. Those who place faith in internal knowledge markets and online platforms to promote knowledge stocks and flows should understand how extrinsic incentives can crowd outintrinsic motivation

Knowledge Transfer Needs and Methods

INE/AUTC 12.3

Knowledge Management in E-Learning Systems

Current knowledge management systems focus on knowledge acquisition, storage, retrieval and maintenance. Yet, for that knowledge to be operational, to become knowledge rather than information, requires internalization and learning. E- learning systems and courseware, on the other hand, are all too often monolithic and inert and fail to facilitate the development and sharing of knowledge. In this paper we discuss some aspects about knowledge providing and present our research in this field through an e-learning system for major risks management.Knowledge, management, e-learning, information, data, simulation, case study

Glossary of Knowledge Management

{Excerpt} Networks of people who work on similar processes or in similar disciplines and who come together to develop and share their knowledge in that field for the benefit of both themselves and their organization. Communities of practice maybe created formally or informally, and members can interact online or in person. Knowledge activities that have been identified as most widely used by an organization, often also called the knowledge life cycle or the knowledge value chain. They are to identify, create, store, share, and use knowledge, often in a two-way exchange. Two important requirements have to be fulfilled to achieve improvements from these activities: (i) the activities should be aligned or integrated into business processes; and (ii) the activities should be balanced in accordance with the specificities of each process and organization. A knowledge management solution should not focus only on one or two activities in isolation