Multimodal knowledge capture from text and diagrams

Many information sources use multiple modalities, such as textbooks, which contain both text and diagrams. Each captures information that is hard to express in the other, and evidence suggests that multimodal information leads to bet-ter retention and transfer in human learners. This paper describes a system that captures textbook knowledge, using simplified English text and sketched versions of diagrams. We present experimental results showing it can use cap-tured knowledge to answer questions from the textbook’s curriculum. Categories and Subject Descriptors I.2.4 Knowledge Representation Formalisms and Method

A Methodology For Capturing Tacit Knowledge Within The Defense Industry

This study looks at the knowledge management practices used by study participants from the defense industry and offers a methodology for capturing tacit knowledge. Interviews were conducted with stakeholders involved in work teams focused on the development and acquisition of defense systems. Those interviewed held various staff and management positions in Program Management (PM), Enterprise Architecture (EA), and system safety auditing. This researcher conducted primary research in the form of a Case Study. Interviewees in the defense industry supporting the Army, Marine Corps and Military aeronautics were interviewed and asked to provide feedback on their experiences and knowledge of tacit knowledge capture. Through a series of questions this researcher was then able to derive a methodology to better capture tacit knowledge in the industry in question. It became evident during the primary research that further studies should be conducted within the defense industry regarding the capture of knowledge from those who have clearances above and beyond “public knowledgeâ€. The discoveries in this primary research brought light to the fact that classified tacit knowledge may not be captured, because it is sensitive in nature. Further studies may include research to provide a means of capturing classified tacit knowledge while still maintaining its security

The strategic value of targeted knowledge management - case study of an Australian refrigeration company

 This thesis is a study of design and implementation of an engineering knowledge management system to facilitate knowledge capture, sharing and reuse to both ensure business continuity and resolve a make-span problem in an Australian refrigeration company. The company had encountered problems with a number of engineering staff in the small product development team leaving the company and taking their expertise with them. This situation has impacted the business continuity of the company, because the knowledge and expertise used in the refrigerated display cabinet development process is a combination of explicit and tacit knowledge as the engineers conduct the product development process intuitively. Records of previous design and testing processes were either non-existent or stored in ways that were not accessible. The other business problem in the company resulted from product development taking too long, in effect from 6 weeks up to the worst case of one year. The company needed research solutions to both of these problems to strategically maintain the competitiveness of the company business. This research applied a single case study research method with a problem-solving paradigm, Design Science methodology, to develop and then test solutions. Design Science as a research methodology has two components, first design development and second, design evaluation. The researcher developed an engineering knowledge based system as an artefact to solve the problem of enabling company business continuity. Using ontology as a structural base, the KBS contains both knowledge elements captured from the engineers during the data collection process and existing knowledge artefacts in the company. The research used a set of multilayered research techniques, including semi-formal and formal interviews, serendipitous interviews, group meetings, observation and shadowing, to capture and then structure both the tacit and explicit knowledge. The resultant ontology was used to build the KBS to store both tacit and explicit knowledge and answer the engineers’ questions about their existing and previous product development processes. The KBS developed in this research is a knowledge repository to maintain records of the products design and testing processes in a searchable form. Use and then an evaluation of the system by the engineers and the executive staff of the company confirmed that the intention of the system to address the business continuity problem by knowledge capture, classification and storage was achieved and met the company’s business needs. This research also applied Heuristic Process Mining to the knowledge stored in the KBS to address the second problem identified initially by the company, that of lengthy make span in new product design and development. HPM is a technique using mathematical models to find relationships between tasks in the process. HMP measures dependency and frequency values between tasks and tasks with low D/F value can be eliminated from the process. This then can lead to the shorter product testing process. The research showed that the application of HPM to the stored process knowledge in the KMS was able to significantly reduce the product design and testing process in the company