Accomplishing Knowledge: A Framework for Investigating Knowing in Organizations    

This article proposes a shift in how researchers study knowledge and knowing in organizations. Responding to a pronounced lack of methodological guidance from existing research, this work develops a framework for analyzing situated organizational problem solving. This framework, rooted in social practice theory, focuses on communicative knowledge-accomplishing activities, which frame and respond to various problematic situations. Vignettes drawn from a call center demonstrate the value of the framework, which can advance practice-oriented research on knowledge and knowing by helping it break with dubious assumptions about knowledge homogeneity within groups, examine knowing as instrumental action and involvement in a struggle over meaning, and display how patterns of knowledge-accomplishing activities can generate unintended organizational consequences.

Kuhn, Timothy and Michele H. Jackson. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Knowledge Management>Organizational Communication

Architects of Knowledge: An Emerging Hybrid Profession for Educational Communications  

Knowledge architecture is a nascent, hybrid field with significant potential as an innovative, cross-disciplinary design profession for 'value-added' technical communications and instructional technology. However, the emergence of a comprehensive, coherent, grounded theory and a corresponding problem-oriented, practice-based curriculum is progressing slowly. By contrast, other professional specialties for information architects, multi-media designers and software interface designers are better established. Scholars and practioners interested in fostering the development of knowledge architecture as a legitimate and evolving profession are at the forefront in defining the essential performance skills and academic training needed in the core subfields of information design, interactivity design, media design, and instructional design.

Lasnik, Vincent E. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Information Design>Knowledge Management

Breaking News!  

This panel explores what corporate leaders in the Technical Communications field consider the hottest topics in the industry today.

Conklin, John James, Judith L. 'Judy' Glick-Smith, George Hayhoe, Thomas B. Hoyt and Deborah Rosenquist. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>TC>Knowledge Management>Localization

Bridging the Back-Office/Front-Office Gap  

With 75% of your organization's information contained in unstructured formats, can you transform it into 'usable content?' The problem that e-business exposes most often is inadequate integration.

Gross, Mitchell. KMworld (2001). Articles>Knowledge Management>Content Management

Brint Portal: Knowledge Management

A web portal of links to knowledge management resources online.

Brint Portal. Resources>Knowledge Management

Building Knowledge Assets for the Advancement of Science

As I read more and more about knowledge management, I came to realize that it is a new name for what the science community has been doing for a long, long time. In fact, a working definition of science might be, simply, the management of knowledge resulting from observational and experimental evidence. One could well argue that the science community has been doing knowledge management for centuries.

Warnick, Walter L. OSTI (2000). Articles>Knowledge Management

Business Decisions in a Digital Enterprise

All about automating, managing and aligning business decisions in a modern, digital, agile enterprise.

BRMS Blog (2006). Articles>Knowledge Management>Technology

Cadence Design Systems, Inc., Knowledge Transfer Plan Benchmarking  

Describes the motivation behind a Knowledge Transfer Plan benchmarking study conducted by JoAnn Hackos and Comtech. Bradbury wanted to compare Cadence’s publications and training organizations to other organizations’. She has integrated the findings into plans for the new year. JoAnn Hackos describes the benefits of participating in benchmarking activities. They include: peer and professional contact, the exchange of best practices within the field, understanding how other groups deal with the similar issues, and so on. Dr. Hackos introduces her partnerbased model of benchmarking in which companies cosponsor the studies, bringing increased participation at less costs.

Bradbury, Julie and JoAnn T. Hackos. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Knowledge Management>Usability

Competitive Intelligence: How and Where to Find It

Competitive intelligence is both a product and a process. The product is actionable information -- can be used to take specific actions (e.g. prepare a winning sales proposal). The process is the systematic means of acquiring, analyzing, and evaluating it.

Montague Institute Review (1993). Articles>Knowledge Management>Journalism

A Computing Research Repository: Why Not Solve the Problems First?

The Computing Research Repository (CoRR) described by Halpern is potentially a powerful tool for researchers in computing science. In its current form, however, shortcomings exist that restrict its value and that, in the long term, might strongly undermine its usefulness. Important aspects that have insufficiently been taken care of are (1) the quality and consequently the reliability of the material stored, (2) the still restricted submission of material,which implies that other sources have to be consulted by researchers as well, (3) the still unsound financial basis of the project, and (4) the confusion that may easily arise when a preliminary version is stored in the CoRR, while a different final version is published in a journal.

van Loon, A.J. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Knowledge Management>Research>Online

Contribution of the Indian Medical Service to the Documentation of Materia Medica, Medicinal Plants and Medical Topography of India, 1750-1925    

India's medical tradition and knowledge base can be traced back to the Vedas (c.5000 BC), especially the Atharvaveda. The works of Charaka and Sushruta (c.2000 years ago) are well known. Parts of this ancient knowledge have been passed down generations by word of mouth and through the gurukula system. However, documentation about the incidence of diseases, the state of health of the people, medical practices and health care delivery in India during the period prior to the 18th century is meager, the sources being mainly the notes, memoirs and travelogues of visiting travelers. During the colonial period (c.1615-1930) western medical practices took roots in the country. The colonial powers recognizing that 'knowledge is power', commissioned surveys and studies about the terrain, fauna, flora, climate, environment, customs, and indigenous health practices, etc. in different parts of India. Officers of the Indian Medical Service (IMS) wrote over 1400 books, reports, tracts and papers covering a wide range of medical and health topics. Such sources together with the tacit knowledge of the officers involved contributed to the 'colonial knowledge base'. This paper discusses briefly this knowledge base and lists the writings of the IMS officers in the fields of (1) materia medica, (2) botanical studies including Indian medicinal plants, and (3) medical topography of India.

Neelameghan, Arashanipalai. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Knowledge Management>Biomedical>India

Corporate Size and Knowledge Management

The more knowledge is hoarded, the less productive we were able to become. It’s difficult to get beyond that “sharing for the benefit of the whole” stigma, but when you can it can be a wonderful thing.

Hauser, Lisa. STC NJIT Student Chapter (2005). Articles>Knowledge Management>Workplace

Defining a TC Body of Knowledge

First of all, a profession cannot be recognized as a profession until it is defined as such. Engineers, for instance, have a body of knowledge they must master before they can practice as engineers, whether structural, electrical, or mechanical. Although technical communicators may not yet want such a highly codified and subdivided set of skills and practices, we do need an authoritative place to find answers to that eternal question: "What do technical communicators do, anyway?"

Hart, Hillary. Between the Lines (2008). Articles>TC>Knowledge Management>Body of Knowledge

Development of a Model For Managing Organizational Knowledge  

The proliferation of interest in “knowledge management” in the last few years is a reflection that information has finally gained visibility as a major corporate asset. Furthermore, sharing information across the organization to support greater learning and competitiveness has resulted in moving to the next level of information management (IM)—knowledge management. Those of us who have been in the information business for a while have to contain our amusement as we have seen a society preoccupied first with data (anything that is observed, measured, counted, or collected), then information (organized data), now knowledge (selected information), and, perhaps next, wisdom (integrated knowledge).y´ As Thomas Stewart defines it in Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations, “Intelligence becomes an asset when some useful order is created out of free-floating brainpower—that is, when it is given coherent form (a mailing list, a database, an agenda for a meeting, a description of a process); when it is captured in a way that allows it to be described, shared, and exploited; and when it can be deployed to do something that could not be done if it remained scattered around like so many coins in a gutter. Intellectual capital is packaged, useful knowledge.”

Ashdown, Barbara and Kathy Smith. OSTI (1999). Articles>Knowledge Management>Workflow

Digital Workflow: Managing the Process Electronically  

Between the invention of the printing press and that of the computer, developments in printing and publishing technology occurred in small increments over long periods of time. In those intervening centuries, the process of preparing manuscripts for publication remained fairly static. In the last half-century, however, the pace of change in printing and publishing technology has become dynamic. Now changes in technology come about in a matter of years, sometimes even months. And with those changes, the steps in the process of publication may now be controlled, tracked, and subsumed into one continuous electronic system often called digital workflow.

Beebe, Linda and Barbara Meyers. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2000). Design>Knowledge Management>Prepress>Printing

Do Groups Know What They Don't Know? Dealing With Missing Information in Decision-Making Groups    

Although scholars have examined how individuals deal with information that is unavailable on decision-making tasks, little research has explored how groups deal with missing information. The present study proposes two ways groups can address information that is unavailable: by employing a diminished information set or by inferring the value of missing information. Both of these approaches are tested using an information sharing task. Groups are compared with information unavailable to any member, available but unshared among group members (i.e., hidden profile), and available and shared among all group members. Evidence indicates that group members may utilize both strategies to deal with missing information.

Henningsen, David Dryden and Mary Lynn Miller Henningsen. Visual Communication (2007). Articles>Knowledge Management>Collaboration

The DuPont Experience: Strategic Planning for Information Design and Development Organizations  

This is a reprint of an article first published in Technical Communication. It explains the strategic planning experience of the Information Design and Development organization in DuPont's External Affairs division. The author describes why they undertook a strategic planning initiative, the process used, the logistics involved in preparing for and carrying out the process, and the results of their work. Their experience can be applied by technical communication work groups seeking to define and communicate their mission and value proposition within their organization. Original publication: Breuninger, Charles L. 1997. “The DuPont Experience: Strategic Planning for Information Design and Development Organizations.” Technical communication 44:394–400.

Breuninger, Charles L. ComTech Services (1997). Articles>Knowledge Management>Organizations>Case Studies

An Ecological Approach to Design

This talk will explain how to use ecological design, which is an expansion of ethnography, to leverage both the rich local information from case studies, and a wider sociological perspective to take account of global realities.

Nardi, Bonnie A. Argus Center (2000). Presentations>Information Design>Knowledge Management

Educational Models and Open Source: Resisting the Proprietary University  

This paper presents an educational model derived from open source methods for computer programming. The article places this search for an alternative model within a framework of proprietary educational practices that are driven by a need for efficiency and rationalization. As an alternative model, the paper suggests that an open source derived educational process would emphasize collaborative problem based learning, working through drafts, risk taking, mentoring, user testing, releasing early and often. . . .

Faber, Brenton D. ACM SIGDOC (2002). Articles>Education>Knowledge Management>Open Source

Effective Control of Unanticipated On-Site Events: A Pragmatic, Human-Oriented Problem Solving Approach

Unanticipated events on building sites are inevitable. The frequency of unanticipated events is usually high due to the inherent complexity and dynamics of construction projects.

Magdic, Ales, Danijel Rebolj and Natasa Suman. ITcon (2005). Articles>Knowledge Management>User Centered Design