How to manage people who think. A structural approach.

This is a paper about creativity, diversity and other often used buzzwords. It is also a paper about how to manage people who think. Today we live in a world in which computers and mobile phones have become the key artifacts. Nokia´s slogan ”connecting people” expresses in a brilliant way what it is all about. When we connect people information is transfered and new knowledge hopefully created. And innovations, ideas and individuals are central for everything that takes place. We are all supposed to be flexible, exercising our knowledge in a setting characterized by diversity. This setting is also characterized by paradoxes that I will write more about further down. But transformations such as the globalization and implementing of new information technology race crucial questions about how to deal with a changing economic landscape and new mindsets and changing attitudes. The pages that follow is based on extensive reading of the literature and participating in many conferences and work-shops. In addition to this I have interviewed managers and employees at Electrolux, Ericsson, TeliaSonera and The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. I have asked people in the above mentioned organizations how they react to concepts such as the knowledge society and the practice of managing knowledge, creativity, diversity and flexibility. This paper is written with a Scandinavian perspective. It is also written with a social constructionist perspective. The theoretical framework includes theories about knowledge management, structuration theory and cognitive theories. The findings are based on interpretative research and I have systematically reflected over the material I have collected. I direct myself towards people in business who think and worry about the future. The purpose is to inspire to further discussions about these very important matters.Knowledge management; structuration theory; knowledge society; globalization; creativity; diversity; flexibility.

A knowledge server including tools for professional know-how transfer

This paper presents a research in progress on the use of knowledge engineering and knowledge management techniques for the development of a strategic approach for the transfer of professional know-how. This transfer is based on the design of devices for sharing and learning clearly identified knowledge in the oil industry domains. This work is based on a pilot study which was carried out in the PED department (Petroleum Engineering & Development) and it deals with upstream activity of the oil group Sonatrach. After the different phases of knowledge mapping, critical knowledge assessment, and strategic alignment, the KM process focus on knowledge elicitation, sharing, transfer and learning, based on design and implementation of specific tools called Knowledge Server, including Knowledge Books and e-Learning.E-learning, Knowledge management, Knowledge transfer, Knowledge engineering, Knowledge servers, Computer assisted human learning, Case study

A survey of epistemology and its implications on an organisational information and knowledge management model

This is a theoretical paper which aims to integrate various epistemologies from the philosophical, knowledge management, cognitive science, and educational perspectives. From a survey of knowledge-related literature, we have collated diverse views of knowledge. This is followed by categorising as well as ascribing attributes to the different types of knowledge. We have developed a novel Organisational Information and Knowledge Management Model which seeks to clarify the distinctions between information and knowledge by introducing a novel information and knowledge conversions; followed by providing mechanisms for individual knowledge creation and information sharing within an organisation

espida Bibliography

This is the bibliography pulled together during research for the espida Project

Designing for interaction

At present, the design of computer-supported group-based learning (CS)GBL) is often based on subjective decisions regarding tasks, pedagogy and technology, or concepts such as ‘cooperative learning’ and ‘collaborative learning’. Critical review reveals these concepts as insufficiently substantial to serve as a basis for (CS)GBL design. Furthermore, the relationship between outcome and group interaction is rarely specified a priori. Thus, there is a need for a more systematic approach to designing (CS)GBL that focuses on the elicitation of expected interaction processes. A framework for such a process-oriented methodology is proposed. Critical elements that affect interaction are identified: learning objectives, task-type, level of pre-structuring, group size and computer support. The proposed process-oriented method aims to stimulate designers to adopt a more systematic approach to (CS)GBL design according to the interaction expected, while paying attention to critical elements that affect interaction. This approach may bridge the gap between observed quality of interaction and learning outcomes and foster (CS)GBL design that focuses on the heart of the matter: interaction

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

Holistic engineering design : a combined synchronous and asynchronous approach

To aid the creation and through-life support of large, complex engineering products, organizations are placing a greater emphasis on constructing complete and accurate records of design activities. Current documentary approaches are not sufficient to capture activities and decisions in their entirety and can lead to organizations revisiting and in some cases reworking design decisions in order to understand previous design episodes. Design activities are undertaken in a variety of modes; many of which are dichotomous, and thus each require separate documentary mechanisms to capture information in an efficient manner. It is possible to identify the modes of learning and transaction to describe whether an activity is aimed at increasing a level of understanding or whether it involves manipulating information to achieve a tangible task. The dichotomy of interest in this paper is that of synchronous and asynchronous working, where engineers may work alternately as part of a group or as individuals and where different forms of record are necessary to adequately capture the processes and rationale employed in each mode. This paper introduces complimentary approaches to achieving richer representations of design activities performed synchronously and asynchronously, and through the undertaking of a design based case study, highlights the benefit of each approach. The resulting records serve to provide a more complete depiction of activities undertaken, and provide positive direction for future co-development of the approaches

About Ontology Application to the Description of Syllabus

Publication describes the experience in application of ontology technique to structuring of educational materials. Several topics of physics were formalized by means of Protégé software tool. Some principal problems in building of knowledge structure were found, so the discussion may interest not only ontology users, but also the developers of ontology tools