http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Knowledge-Management A listing of the most recently indexed works about Knowledge Management in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Knowledge-Management http://tc.eserver.org/35695.html http://tc.eserver.org/35695.html As companies have their offices spread across more and more geographic locations and a large scale of employees working in different countries, it becomes even harder to represent a single organization as one unique entity. The key lies in raising awareness for the company’s vision and mission as well as equipping staff in all locations with the latest technologies. Advancements in communication technology have led to a deeper focus on knowledge management activities – benefiting both the organization and the individual. http://tc.eserver.org/35650.html http://tc.eserver.org/35650.html The key to intranet success is to provide value to employees and give them a reason to visit the site repeatedly. One of the primary ways to achieve this is to connect employees with the people and groups with whom they need to collaborate. Workgroups, or communities of practice, provide the basis for a living, growing, vibrant space in which people can access the information they need, share best practices, and contribute to a shared knowledge base. This article discusses the role of communities of practice within organizations and provides a framework for planning research and design activities to maximize their effectiveness. http://tc.eserver.org/35659.html http://tc.eserver.org/35659.html An enormous amount of knowledge resides within international organizations. But how can the knowledge management (KM) team unlock this information and make it available to a large number of employees around the globe? How much knowledge should actually be shared and what kind of experience should not be passed on because it might hinder innovation and creative thinking? In an interview with tcworld KM expert Patrick Lambe answered these and many other questions. http://tc.eserver.org/35592.html http://tc.eserver.org/35592.html The two main drivers for a successful relationship were to respect each other’s opinion and to use active listening to understand what the other was saying. http://tc.eserver.org/35246.html http://tc.eserver.org/35246.html Generation Y are the first generation to fully put the process of ‘prosumption’ into practice. Individuals are proactively seeking to generate and share creative outputs as a result of their online activities, and this produces a set of fundamental questions for business librarians, information management specialists and consultants: does our profession adhere to a logic of service-delivery, which is rapidly becoming obsolete in the context of service-innovation. Suggestions for how information specialists (called librarian 2.0 in this article) can participate in the creation of value for users are offered. http://tc.eserver.org/35250.html http://tc.eserver.org/35250.html The contemporary Library and Information Services (LIS) environment employs a multifaceted group of employees who are better educated and more expensive to recruit than in previous times. In order to maximize these talents and resources available, this modern setting requires managers — at all levels — who are versatile and fitted out with the right skills and knowledge to maintain group cohesion and to propel this dynamic environment to continuously move in unison with the society. This article identifies and discusses the required skills and knowledge of the contemporary manager. In doing so, the concepts of skill and knowledge are defined and their interrelationship is highlighted. http://tc.eserver.org/35255.html http://tc.eserver.org/35255.html This article explores the competitive advantage of businesses. Current understanding of competitive advantage arises from the strategic management paradigm. However, the early theory that underpins this comes from optimising economic theory, the inadequacy of which led to the resource-based view. The next development came from knowledge management, which sees knowledge as a valuable strategic resource recognizing the need to look more inside the organization qualitatively. However, a new paradigm has arisen that couples knowledge processes with cybernetics. This recognizes that achieving competitive advantage requires that an organization’s pathologies must be recognized and addressed. http://tc.eserver.org/34989.html http://tc.eserver.org/34989.html Work activities that are mediated by information rely on the production of discourse-based objects of work. Designs, evaluations, and conditions are all objects that originate and materialize in discourse. They are created and maintained through the coordinated efforts of human and non-human agents. Genres help foster such coordination from the top down, by providing guidance to create and recreate discourse objects of recurring social value. From where, however, does coordination emerge in more ad hoc discursive activities, where the work objects are novel, unknown, or unstable? In these situations, coordination emerges from simple discursive operations, reliably mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) that appear to act as discursive agents. This article theorizes the discursive agency of ICTs, explores the discursive operations they mediate, and the coordination that emerges. The article also offers and models a study methodology for the empirical observation of such interactions. http://tc.eserver.org/34900.html http://tc.eserver.org/34900.html "Meaning must be negotiated and confirmed." This is an important concept not just for developing a working definition for a term like knowledge management, but it is also an approach critical to the conveyance of knowledge in scientific and technical report. http://tc.eserver.org/34797.html http://tc.eserver.org/34797.html Full-time writers in the life sciences must see themselves as much more than just writers. Writers must see themselves as knowledge managers, not merely the managers of data or the “shapers” of information. Writers must make use of knowledge management tools to help them represent the explicit, and more importantly, the tacit knowledge of a development or research project. http://tc.eserver.org/34611.html http://tc.eserver.org/34611.html Benchmarking comprises prioritisation of strategic improvement need (the why), measurement (the what) and practices (the how). Re-measure tracks performance improvement. http://tc.eserver.org/34556.html http://tc.eserver.org/34556.html This Knowledge Management and Communication in the Life Sciences Blog is for those interested in medical, pharmaceutical, biological, and chemical research and development: the world of life science research. http://tc.eserver.org/34499.html http://tc.eserver.org/34499.html In this project we examined the common practices among website operators of collecting, sharing and analyzing data about their users. We attempted to identify practices which may be deceptive or potentially harmful to users’ privacy and we make recommendations for changes in industry practice or government regulations accordingly. We compared industry practices with users’ expectations of privacy, identified points of divergence, and developed solutions for them. http://tc.eserver.org/34242.html http://tc.eserver.org/34242.html Since conventional historical records have been written assuming human readers, they are not well-suited for computers to collect and process automatically. If computers could understand descriptions in historical records and process them automatically, it would be easy to analyze them from different perspectives. In this paper, we review a number of existing frameworks used to describe historical events, and make a comparative assessment of these frameworks interms of usability, based on 'deep cases' of Fillmore ’score grammar. Based on this assessment, we propose a new description framework, and have created a microformat vocabulary set suitable for that framework. http://tc.eserver.org/33762.html http://tc.eserver.org/33762.html Using new tools, RDF can be used for knowledge management, maintaining all the data’s relations, automatically building tables for RDBMS deployment, and supporting graphical navigation, multiple navigation trees, and linking across diverse content sets. http://tc.eserver.org/33570.html http://tc.eserver.org/33570.html This nation does not effectively transfer expensively acquired knowledge into cost-effective, labor-saving tools and processes. http://tc.eserver.org/33070.html http://tc.eserver.org/33070.html This article challenges the vision of the corporate intranet as a publishing tool, or a static repository for web pages or documents. Instead, it looks at a number of ways in which the intranet can become a dynamic and living environment for knowledge-based activities. http://tc.eserver.org/33074.html http://tc.eserver.org/33074.html I have been watching the knowledge management boom for 15 years. I would love to belive that knowledge management was a valuable field. But to the extent that it's about capturing "knowledge" in documents, it goes against everything I know about successful organisations. Like artificial intelligence, it seems based on a mistaken idea about what knowledge is, and about how knowledge-based economies function. http://tc.eserver.org/33095.html http://tc.eserver.org/33095.html How can an organization empower its employees, reduce costs and improve data quality? Implementing employee self-service tools is one direction that a number of leading companies are turning to as they look to build win-win propositions with their most important assets: their people. http://tc.eserver.org/33020.html http://tc.eserver.org/33020.html With Flickr and del.icio.us, social networking goes beyond sharing contacts and connections. http://tc.eserver.org/32935.html http://tc.eserver.org/32935.html Much is made of the role of knowledge management (KM) in supporting innovation within organisations. This is also closely tied in with enhancing the activities of 'knowledge workers' in dynamic organisations such as consulting firms. While KM is undoubtedly important for innovation, this aspect has somewhat overtaken another focus of KM: ensuring consistency. In many organisations, it is consistency that must be the key driving factor, rather than innovation. This briefing will explore and contrast these two facets of KM: innovation and consistency. http://tc.eserver.org/32936.html http://tc.eserver.org/32936.html The number of hours worked by American couples has increased by more than 10 percent in the last 25 years," according to USA Today (December 17, 2003). Monster's 2003 Work/Life Balance Survey found that 83 percent of people are not satisfied with their job, while 80 percent are not happy with their work/life balance. http://tc.eserver.org/32937.html http://tc.eserver.org/32937.html In the information economy, the longevity of an organisation is based as much on the sophistication of its knowledge management practices as it is on traditional differentiators such as the strength of its products, the talent of its employees, and its marketplace reputation and partner relationships. Simply speaking, as actionable and insightful information becomes the currency of an organisation, there are few other ways to tap into any latent potential lost in the office corridors. http://tc.eserver.org/32938.html http://tc.eserver.org/32938.html Examines critically the origins and basis of 'knowledge management', its components and its development as a field of consultancy practice. Problems in the distinction between 'knowledge' and 'information' are explored, as well as Polanyi's concept of 'tacit knowing'. The concept is examined in the journal literature, the Web sites of consultancy companies, and in the presentation of business schools. The conclusion is reached that 'knowledge management' is an umbrella term for a variety of organizational activities, none of which are concerned with the management of knowledge. Those activities that are not concerned with the management of information are concerned with the management of work practices, in the expectation that changes in such areas as communication practice will enable information sharing. http://tc.eserver.org/32939.html http://tc.eserver.org/32939.html Continuing my discussions about practical approaches to enterprise 2.0, I’ve been observing and thinking about a range of adoption patterns. Like any new technology, there are many successes, and at least as many failures. For organisations looking to benefit from enterprise 2.0, we obviously want successes. From where I stand, there are three main considerations when conducting strategic planning. http://tc.eserver.org/32809.html http://tc.eserver.org/32809.html This blog is about a KM practitioner. Integrated and aggregated teaching, training, theory, practice, service, and research prospects. http://tc.eserver.org/32810.html http://tc.eserver.org/32810.html Librarians are being made CIO's less for our technical skills than for our organizational skills and our ability to manage the complex change that is fostered by or linked to technological change. http://tc.eserver.org/32640.html http://tc.eserver.org/32640.html Virtual marketplaces bear little resemblance to brick-and-mortar enterprises. This is precisely why electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) is so crucial to online success. http://tc.eserver.org/32355.html http://tc.eserver.org/32355.html Engineering design tasks require designers to continually compare, weigh, and choose among many complex alternatives. The quality of these selection decisions directly impacts the quality, cost, and safety of the final product. Because of the high degree of uncertainty in predicting the performance of alternatives while they are still just sketches on the drawing board, and the high cost of poor choices, mathematical decision methods incorporating uncertainty have long held much appeal for product designers, at least from a theoretical standpoint. http://tc.eserver.org/32294.html http://tc.eserver.org/32294.html Recently, the need for knowledge management has been drastically increasing so organizations may meet the high level of dynamic, complex business change and uncertainty. In particular, knowledge sharing has been recognized as a critical process through which organizational knowledge can be utilized. For successful knowledge sharing, companies need to capitalize on various socio-technical enablers. The primary objective of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how these enablers can affect knowledge sharing intention and behavior, and explore practical implications for knowledge sharing. For this purpose, the paper proposes a theoretical model to investigate these enablers from a socio-technical perspective. PLS (Partial Least Square) analysis was employed to validate the model. This field study involves 164 users. Furthermore, interviews with experts were investigated for practical implications. Our analysis reveals that social enablers such as trust and reward mechanisms are more important than technical support in isolation for facilitating knowledge sharing. http://tc.eserver.org/32297.html http://tc.eserver.org/32297.html Qualitative analyses were used to launch a preliminary exploration of the dominant knowledge organization (KO) trends in the pre- and post-web eras. Data for this study was assembled by searching the Library, Information Science, and Technology Abstracts database for articles that have used the term `knowledge organization' or `information organization' in their titles, abstracts, or descriptors. Taken as a whole, these preliminary results suggest that the content of the KO literature has shifted since the advent of the web. Although classic KO principles remain prominent throughout both eras, the presence of new content areas, such as metadata, denotes a shift in KO trends. In the pre-web era, the literature was related in large part to indexing and abstracting. In contrast, cataloging and classification issues dominate the landscape in the post-web era. The findings from this paper will be of particular use to those interested in learning about upcoming trends in the KO literature. http://tc.eserver.org/32299.html http://tc.eserver.org/32299.html Health informatics concerns the use of information and information and communication technologies within healthcare. Health informatics and information science need to take account of the unique aspects of health and medicine. The development of information systems and electronic records within health needs to consider the information needs and behaviour of all users. The sensitivity of personal health data raises ethical concerns for developing electronic records. E-health initiatives must actively involve users in the design, development, implementation and evaluation, and information science can contribute to understanding the needs and behaviour of user groups. Health informatics could make an important contribution to the ageing society and to reducing the digital divide and health divides within society. There is a need for an appropriate evidence base within health informatics to support future developments, and to ensure health informatics reaches its potential to improve the health and well-being of patients and the public. http://tc.eserver.org/32309.html http://tc.eserver.org/32309.html All too often organizations have a fragmented approach to Information Management Documents/data is duplicated in many places and users are expected to enter the same information many times. Developing an Information Management Strategy is the foundation stone that should be in place before considering cost justifying or implementing Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS). http://tc.eserver.org/32312.html http://tc.eserver.org/32312.html Narrative enquiry: A way to get organizations (and the people in them) talking and acting differently: An account of methods of intervention to enquire into conditions surrounding records management and filing to catalyze change http://tc.eserver.org/32314.html http://tc.eserver.org/32314.html In a world where organizations are increasingly adopting Enterprise 2.0 technology what, if any, will be the role of the information intermediary? Where can information intermediaries add value in their organizations and how can they ride and harness the wave of new technologies that spring up on a seemingly daily basis? Is this a period of boom or bust? http://tc.eserver.org/32315.html http://tc.eserver.org/32315.html Guanxi referrals help identify potential business partners. Through guanxi networks, businesses can establish favourable and mutually beneficial relationships vital to business success. Guanxi carries assumed knowledge of trust and facilitates business references. It is the construct of `face' that underpins this trust. The high degree of trust in guanxi networks facilitates the flow of strategic information and knowledge, further adding value to business. This article illustrates through case studies how guanxi relationships are formed and how knowledge in guanxi networks can benefit business. The case studies are drawn from experiences of three Europe-based Chinese business directors. http://tc.eserver.org/32317.html http://tc.eserver.org/32317.html Knowledge management (KM) is now widely recognized to be important to the success or failure of business management. Seeking to better understand the determinants of the evolution of KM, this study focuses on two main problems: (1) whether firms change their KM processes over time to improve KM effectiveness as well as develop their KM practices, and (2) whether socio-technical support results in more mature KM practices. This study draws on the previous literature to identify key dimensions of KM process (knowledge acquisition, knowledge conversion, knowledge application and knowledge protection), KM effectiveness (individual-level and organizational-level KM effectiveness) and socio-technical support (organizational support and information technology diffusion). The evolution of these dimensions is studied in the form of a stage model of KM that includes initiation, development, and mature stages. Data gathered from 141 senior executives in large Taiwanese organizations were employed to test the propositions. The results show that different stages of KM evolution can be distinguished across dimensions of KM process, KM effectiveness, and socio-technical support. Implications for organizations are also discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/32320.html http://tc.eserver.org/32320.html In this research, the development of a 'concept-clumping algorithm' designed to improve the clustering of technical concepts is demonstrated. The algorithm developed first identifies a list of technically relevant noun phrases from a cleaned extracted list and then applies a rule-based algorithm for identifying synonymous terms based on shared words in each term. An assessment of the algorithm found that the algorithm has an 89-91% precision rate, was successful in moving technically important terms higher in the term frequency list, and improved the technical specificity of term clusters. http://tc.eserver.org/32321.html http://tc.eserver.org/32321.html In this article, indigenous knowledge is defined as holistic of all forms of knowledge emanating from an indigenous community. The critical relevance of local science and technology information (STI) databases in the development and sustainability of Africa's indigenous knowledge is discussed. It is advocated that local African STI databases should be considered required development infrastructures because they will provide information resources that are more adequate for national planning and management than their international counterparts. Furthermore, the various stakeholders and their roles are identified and the policy environment of STI databases in Africa examined. Constraints notwithstanding, local databases for African STI resources are envisaged to enhance global distribution and sharing of Africa's indigenous knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/32322.html http://tc.eserver.org/32322.html This paper challenges the popular notions of tacit and explicit organizational knowledge and argues that its philosophical underpinnings derived from Gilbert Ryle are problematic due to their logical behaviourist perspective. The paper articulates the philosophical problem as the neglect of any role for the mind in organizational activity and the representation of mental activity as purely a set of behaviours. An alternative realist philosophy is advanced taking into account the potential of adopting a number of competing philosophical perspectives. The paper forwards a realist theory of organizational knowledge that moves beyond the surface behaviours of tacit and explicit knowledge and argues that collective consciousness and organizational memory play primary and deeper roles as knowledge processes and structures. Consciousness is not a Hegelian world spirit but rather a real process embedded in people's brains and mental activity. Further, the paper argues that organizational routines provide the contingent condition or `spark' to activate organizational knowledge processes. The implications of this model are explored in relation to the measurement of intellectual capital. The theory developed in this paper represents the first attempt to provide a coherent philosophically grounded framework of organizational knowledge that moves organizational theory beyond neat conversion processes of tacit and explicit knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/32325.html http://tc.eserver.org/32325.html Mining association rules from large databases of business data is an important topic in data mining. In many applications, there are explicit or implicit taxonomies (hierarchies) for items, so it may be useful to find associations at levels of the taxonomy other than the primitive concept level. Previous work on the mining of generalized association rules, however, assumed that the taxonomy of items remained unchanged, disregarding the fact that the taxonomy might be updated as new transactions are added to the database over time. If this happens, effectively updating the generalized association rules to reflect the database change and related taxonomy evolution is a crucial task. In this paper, we examine this problem and propose two novel algorithms, called IDTE and IDTE2, which can incrementally update the generalized association rules when the taxonomy of items evolves as a result of new transactions. Empirical evaluations show that our algorithms can maintain their performance even for large numbers of incremental transactions and high degrees of taxonomy evolution, and are faster than applying contemporary generalized association mining algorithms to the whole updated database. http://tc.eserver.org/32329.html http://tc.eserver.org/32329.html This paper addresses the influence of two competing views of social identity on knowledge integration. One view sees social identity primarily as a coherent characteristic of organizations, which can leverage knowledge integration by unconditional cooperative behaviour, shared values, mindsets, trust, and loyalty. The opposing view considers social identity as multiple and fragmented. This fragmented view emphasizes the problematic nature of social identity for knowledge integration and states that social identity is an additional barrier to knowledge integration in organizations. The aim of this paper is to examine these competing accounts and to develop insight into the underlying mechanisms that lead to the different effects of social identity on knowledge integration. Two polar case studies illustrate the different effects of a coherent versus multiple identity on knowledge integration and the need for a coherent company-wide social identity, instead of a multiple community or group based social identity, to leverage knowledge integration in organizations. http://tc.eserver.org/32331.html http://tc.eserver.org/32331.html This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing research in knowledge management (KM) by presenting a study conducted in six public service agencies in Singapore. The study was guided by three research foci, namely, (1) to elucidate the nebulous nature of KM initiatives, (2) to uncover the motivation behind KM measurement and (3) to identify the various elements of a KM initiative that can be measured. Data collected from the public service agencies revealed that KM initiatives were generally top-down and technology-focused. Project management and the need to quantify the value of KM initiatives drove KM measurement. The measurement indicators adopted by the agencies encompassed four elements of measurement: activities, knowledge assets, organizational processes and business outcomes. In conclusion, this paper highlights two practical implications for the design of a KM measurement regime and suggests a number of possible directions for further research. http://tc.eserver.org/32333.html http://tc.eserver.org/32333.html Archival science, like other disciplines, is evolving into more specific interdisciplinary subfields. To determine this intellectual structure of archival science, the text mining method was used. The data were 432 articles from 2001 to 2004, and we produced 43 clusters of documents using the within-group average method in SPSS. Then we generated pathfinder networks of 43 clusters and grouped them into seven subject categories: digital libraries and digital archiving technologies, online resources and finding aids, archives and archivists, legal and political issues, electronic records and technical issues, records and information management, and e-mail and information professionals. Finally, these seven subject categories were merged into three sectors: digital library, archives and RIM (Business). This study describes dynamic change in the 2001—4 research themes from traditional single-subject areas to emerging, complex subject areas. These results also show that research areas in archival sciences have much growth potential and will continue to expand. http://tc.eserver.org/32335.html http://tc.eserver.org/32335.html Much research has been done on the favourable influence of social environment and social networks on knowledge production. The aim of this article is to design a theoretical framework where both information behaviour (IB) research and social capital (SC) research are integrated. Integrating these areas is seen as an advantage when focusing on the social construction of knowledge, and a model is proposed to illuminate sources and consequences of social capital and knowledge sharing. This framework will function as a basis on which to build when the authors proceed with a number of empirical studies involving the university context, social networks of the unemployed, and virtual networks of young people. http://tc.eserver.org/32342.html http://tc.eserver.org/32342.html With data from a national telephone survey, the current study examines the comparative and synergistic influence of the internet on international knowledge. Independent and interactive media effects are considered in terms of four medium-specific measures of international news attention. Internet news attention had the most positive effect on international knowledge of any of the news measures. In terms of the other three news attention measures, the effects of newspapers and cable TV were positive, while that of network TV was non-significant. In addition, the interaction of internet news attention and network TV news attention positively predicted international knowledge. In contrast, the interaction of newspaper news attention and network TV news attention negatively predicted international knowledge. These findings indicate the positive comparative and synergistic influence that the internet can have on international knowledge development in the United States. http://tc.eserver.org/32277.html http://tc.eserver.org/32277.html The viability of KM partly rests on how researchers garner empirical support for their purported theories. One aspect of this would involve the evaluation of the evidence provided in KM research. This paper presents a comparative study of the evidence that is presented in scholarly and professional literature on KM. For this purpose, the paper introduces a typology of evidence to analyze the data obtained from the survey of the literature. The classification based on this typology reveals quantitative differences between the types of evidence put forth in the scholarly and practitioner literature. More interestingly, however, our analysis reveals differences in terms of the questions they ask, the perspective they adopt, and the methods they follow to convince others of the validity of their claims. We explain these differences in terms of the notions of `blackboxing' and `performance' borrowed from actor-network theory. http://tc.eserver.org/32278.html http://tc.eserver.org/32278.html Copyright issues are significant for worldwide information sharing, while mutual understanding about the commonalities and differences among international copyright law articles is difficult due to the diversity of legal knowledge representation. The goal of our research is to propose an appropriate methodology and capture a uniform conceptual model that will provide semantic level representation for processing and modelling international legal knowledge using ontological technology. This paper proposes a preliminary intention-oriented legal knowledge model as a pivotal model that, from the viewpoint of intention behind the law, manages and models legal knowledge derived from international law documents. We develop a domain ontology — international copyright law ontology, which is used as a fundamental conceptual framework to maintain consistency among diverse legal knowledge representations. http://tc.eserver.org/31769.html http://tc.eserver.org/31769.html 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?" http://tc.eserver.org/31694.html http://tc.eserver.org/31694.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/31657.html http://tc.eserver.org/31657.html Knowledge resides in the user and not in the collection [of information]. It is how the user reacts to a collection of information that matters. http://tc.eserver.org/31287.html http://tc.eserver.org/31287.html Thank heavens for big sisters—especially mine. I was over at Franca's house sipping hot chocolate and catching up on life. While we spoke, she was assembling another one of her family scrapbook masterpieces. We started talking about her work—she is an international marketing and publication relations consultant. As we discussed the internal communication challenges one of her clients was facing, I had a flash of brilliance. What if we helped the client put together a story scrapbook and then used it to facilitate conversations around the organization? http://tc.eserver.org/31017.html http://tc.eserver.org/31017.html Discusses some principles of managing an information search firm and their similarities to managing corporate libraries. Compares information search firms to other professional service firms. Describes the evolution of one small business and science information search firm. Gives insights into managing customer service and client relationships, quality control and processes, risk taking and professional growth. Touches on David Maister's theory of the quality experience and Michael Gerber's idea of the role of the entrepreneur vs the technician in small start-up businesses. http://tc.eserver.org/30759.html http://tc.eserver.org/30759.html Case study describing the realignment of the Business Information Service (BIS) in ABN AMRO. Explains the reasons for change and the plans to incorporate the concept of continuous improvement, helping to ensure the service constantly evolves to meet demands of the organization. Includes a description of the bank and its operations and explains the role of the BIS within it. Explains how the service will be realigned to embrace the principles of continuous improvement, covering changes in both the Research and Support Services sections, and outlines how these changes will be achieved. Concludes that to make a difference, such change must be a constant. http://tc.eserver.org/30367.html http://tc.eserver.org/30367.html Established in 2005, KnowGenesis Online Library for Technical Communication (www.knowgenesis.org/tc) is India's first online repository dedicated to accelerate knowledge sharing and promote self-learning in the field of technical communication. The library is available free of cost and require one time free registration to access the available material. The popularity and success rate of the library can be determined by the fact that within a year of its launch, it not only attracted more than 24000 visitors and gained more than 1500 subscribers, but also increased the volume of the hosted content from few documents to more than 2000 important documents, presentations, tutorials and links. KnowGenesis library presents a unique case for repository designers to study the complex design and implementation process that contributed to the stability and overall success rate of the online library. This paper not only shares the designing and implementation challenges faced by the knowgenesis team, but also presents the approach used to match the user requirements with the library design. Based on the lessons learned during the process, the paper also presents specific set of guidelines and recommends methodologies that can provide critical assistance for developing and managing medium and large scale repositories http://tc.eserver.org/30368.html http://tc.eserver.org/30368.html Before taking the challenge of handling information efficiently head on, automated programs for Knowlege Discovery and data analysis have to prove their worth by providing easy-to-use tools for everyday use. http://tc.eserver.org/30295.html http://tc.eserver.org/30295.html Views on various dimensions of the knowledge audit (KA) process, and how organizations can use this tool to achieve organizational objectives. During the discussion, participants analyzed the pre-requisites, advantages, and process of the knowledge audit. This article presents a summarized version of the issues discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/29995.html http://tc.eserver.org/29995.html We hear the term knowledge management bandied about. It sounds suspiciously like a trendy new phrase for what we used to call 'documentation.' In truth, knowledge management is more than documentation. It encompasses documentation, data management, library management, and information design. Knowledge management is increasingly important; as the amount of content has increased, the task of locating the information in the content has become more difficult. You see, information is different from content. And knowledge is something that derives from information. http://tc.eserver.org/29916.html http://tc.eserver.org/29916.html IJTC invited several experts to share their views on various dimensions of the knowledge audit (KA) process, and how organizations can use this tool to achieve organizational objectives. During the discussion, participants analyzed the pre-requisites, advantages, and process of the knowledge audit. This article presents a summarized version of the issues discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/29896.html http://tc.eserver.org/29896.html All of us have suffered the consequences of expensive, unasked questions both in our professional lives and our personal lives. As technical communicators, we need to ask good questions to elicit information, but many of us lack adequate training in this skill. Add to that the natural reticence of some technical communicators, and it's no wonder that we walk away from SME interviews or department meetings wishing we'd remembered to ask X, Y, or Z. This paper offers information as to why questions are so important, who needs to improve discovery skills, what process you should use to develop your questions, what types of questions are useful, how to strategize your questions, how to ask good questions, how to handle people answering the questions you ask them, and how to answer questions that are asked of you. http://tc.eserver.org/29830.html http://tc.eserver.org/29830.html Much of America was stunned into mourning on February 1, 2003 as the space shuttle Columbia was reported to have broken up over Texas. The ensuing investigation revealed that debris at liftoff was the cause of the crash, but the official report suggested that NASA's organizational communication was just as much to blame. This article uses transactive memory theory to argue that there were significant gaps in the knowledge network of NASA organizational members, and those gaps impeded information flow regarding potential disaster. E-mails to and from NASA employees were examined (the 'To' and 'From' fields) to map a network of communication related to Columbia's damage and risk. Although NASA personnel were connected with each other in this incident-based network, the right information did not get to the people who needed it. The article concludes with extensions of theory and practical implications for organizations, including NASA. http://tc.eserver.org/29805.html http://tc.eserver.org/29805.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/29693.html http://tc.eserver.org/29693.html Our grasp of single-sourcing has come a long way in the past few years. This is thanks in part to technology that makes it easier to reuse content and in part to our pundits that introduce new ideas into our community. However the practice of single-sourcing is not new. For decades other industries, such as manufacturing and software engineering, have been producing components designed to be reused in products across their companies and their industries. What we lack that has made single-sourcing successful in other domains is a common standard for the components. To reach any real measure of success, we must seek to standardize how we manage information. The Information Management Model is an idea that aims to take a step in that direction. http://tc.eserver.org/29660.html http://tc.eserver.org/29660.html The authors were invited to evaluate the communication and information flow in a large manufacturing company that wanted to implement a knowledge management effort. They studied sample documents, analyzed communication processes, conducted two site visits, and produced a detailed report on their analysis of the communication flow. The paper covers how to conduct a site visit, how to structure on-site interviews, how to collect data, and how to analyze the data using well-established techniques and tools for communication optimization. We believe the results of our analyses are generalizable to other technical communicators involved in knowledge management efforts in manufacturing and industrial settings. http://tc.eserver.org/29555.html http://tc.eserver.org/29555.html An ongoing tension within Wikipedia is characterized as the inclusionists versus the exclusionists. The inclusionists argue that one of Wikipedia's core values is that it should be open to all ideas, that truth emerges from a variety of directions. Better to include than exclude. The exclusionists see Wikipedia's utilitarianism diminished if too much froth clouds the valuable information inside. These people delete material they consider inappropriate. The case offers students a chance to understand issues such as how online cultures are made and maintained, the power of self-policing organizations, the question of whether the service is drifting from its core principles, and whether a Wikipedia-like concept can work in a business setting. http://tc.eserver.org/28900.html http://tc.eserver.org/28900.html What I saw was a society of professionals emerging from a process of reflection and redefinition with a vitality and momentum that said, "There's a new sheriff in town, and she's brought the posse with her." The sheriff is Susan Burton, the new STC Director. http://tc.eserver.org/28649.html http://tc.eserver.org/28649.html All about automating, managing and aligning business decisions in a modern, digital, agile enterprise. http://tc.eserver.org/28577.html http://tc.eserver.org/28577.html The first of those challenges is merely getting individuals within the company to communicate with each other, wherever they are located. Many organizations have trouble getting people to share information who aren't on the same floor, so adding remote workers or those in other geographical locations can prove difficult. Corporations are realizing how important it is to 'know what they know' and to be able to make maximum use of the knowledge. This knowledge resides in many different places, such as, databases, knowledge bases, filing cabinets, and people's heads, and it is impossible to keep track of and make use of this distributed knowledge. Knowledge Management (KM) needs careful planning and analysis. While technology can support KM, it is not the be all and end all of KM. Knowledge Management decisions should be based on who (people), what (knowledge), and why (business objectives). Critical success factors for KM can be broadly categorized into four classes: people, processes, technology, and sustained strategic commitment. The four pillars of the model are also used to explain the critical success factors in Knowledge Management. http://tc.eserver.org/28135.html http://tc.eserver.org/28135.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28019.html http://tc.eserver.org/28019.html Knowledge gained from usability testing is often applied merely to the immediate product under test and then forgotten--at least at an organizational level. This article describes a usability knowledge management system (KMS) based on principles of pattern language and use-case writing that offers a way to turn lessons learned from usability testing into organizational knowledge that can be leveraged across different projects and different design teams. http://tc.eserver.org/27885.html http://tc.eserver.org/27885.html Collaboration and cooperation - real and virtual - among people with commonality of interests and practices have given rise to e-communities and web-based communities. This paper examines some intra- and inter-community communications and exchanges, other than scholarly and business communications, and the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in this context. With particular reference to rural and marginalized communities, it considers positive aspects of ICT applications, such as acceleration of empowerment, creation of a more level playing field, facilitation of expression of and greater visibility to their needs and 'dreams', and utilization of the tacit 'community knowledge' for the greater welfare of society. It presents a few illustrative cases. It suggests that Knowledge Management (KM) ideas usually applied to enterprises can be extended to cover e-communities taking into consideration some additional parameters or dimensions. http://tc.eserver.org/27883.html http://tc.eserver.org/27883.html Hsinchun Chen, in his book Knowledge Management Systems: A Text Mining Perspective, has made knowledge management look simple and understandable. http://tc.eserver.org/27879.html http://tc.eserver.org/27879.html As organizations realize the real benefits of knowledge management, they are prepared to invest in a consistent and long-term model to leverage their true potential. But what are the critical factors determining the success of these knowledge management programs? http://tc.eserver.org/27814.html http://tc.eserver.org/27814.html A single platform which gives links to useful information resources for people in knowledge management. http://tc.eserver.org/27816.html http://tc.eserver.org/27816.html KM-Forum: an initiative from India for global knowledge management professionals. A discussion group on KM related topics for global KM Professionals. http://tc.eserver.org/27402.html http://tc.eserver.org/27402.html The next wave in the evolving dynamic outsourcing markets is here. The emerging Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is the process where businesses outsource high end knowledge or judgment services such as investment banking research, sales and marketing research, IP/patent research, R&D, legal research and case writing and even animation design. A provider must have an educated, skilled work force able to think independently and provoke their own free thought behind any research criteria. KPO involves a high degree of execution risk as providers look to create and combine complex levels of process, technology, and services. The business processes will require domain expertise and high-end talent such as MBAs, engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants and other highly skilled professionals. KPO will move outsourcing up the value chain from simply executing commodity processes to carrying out processes with advanced analytical and technical skills and more decision making. http://tc.eserver.org/27284.html http://tc.eserver.org/27284.html In 1998 ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment, launched an e-learning platform with the mission of sharing scientific knowledge among everyone, not just workers but also students and the unemployed, in order to use its research results to support competitiveness and sustainable development. In 6 years, more than 20.000 users have followed one or more of the 46 on line courses. Many agreements with schools, universities, private and public training organisation are now under way to improve the dissemination of scientific knowledge and to build an open data base of scientific learning objects that anyone can use. http://tc.eserver.org/27281.html http://tc.eserver.org/27281.html Heterogeneous research environments, interests and locations do not necessarily coincide, thus hitherto the primary method of communication amongst researchers has been email. In this article a novel unified polythematic, real-time, synergistic, data telecommunication system is proposed with peer-reviewed, bidirectional fuzzy feedback for research scientists, to facilitate scientific information exchange via the extensible markup language (XML) on multiple scientific topics, e.g. in mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry. http://tc.eserver.org/26811.html http://tc.eserver.org/26811.html Considers how the concepts and techniques of knowledge management can be applied in public schools. http://tc.eserver.org/26805.html http://tc.eserver.org/26805.html Are international corporations superior to markets and alliances in facilitating the flow of knowledge between countries? Despite widespread acknowledgement of the superior efficiency of the firm in international knowledge transfer, the theory remains underdeveloped, and empirical support is conspicuous by its absence. This paper has two primary goals. First, to use patent citation data to compare the relative performances of firms, alliances, and markets in the transfer of technological knowledge between countries. Second, to investigate the reasons for the superior capability of the international corporation in facilitating cross-border knowledge flows by examining the mechanisms through which international firms manage international technology transfer. Our findings confirm the superior performance of firms over both alliances and markets as conduits for the flow of knowledge between countries. A more detailed examination of the experiences of five large semiconductor firms suggests that this superiority is the result of its ability to utilize a wide range of knowledge transfer mechanisms flexibly and in combinations with one another, and to embed these transfer mechanisms within a social context that enhances their effectiveness. http://tc.eserver.org/26802.html http://tc.eserver.org/26802.html This site introduces training professionals to KM and helps orient them to opportunities for applying their training skills and knowledge to KM initiatives. http://tc.eserver.org/26804.html http://tc.eserver.org/26804.html Knowledge and learning have become the new strategic imperative of organizations. Recent surveys by The Conference Board and the American Management Association show that at least one-half of U.S. companies, and up to 72% of overseas firms, have some kind of knowledge management initiative underway. Other studies put the figure closer to 80% for global corporations. Chief Knowledge Officers and Chief Learning Officers are popping up everywhere. These strategic knowledge initiatives are ushering in a rich array of opportunities for applying OD expertise. This article will first describe the new logic driving interest in knowledge management and then focus on how OD practitioners can participate in that strategic conversation, and support knowledge creation and sharing through building communities of practice. http://tc.eserver.org/26806.html http://tc.eserver.org/26806.html To remain competitive, organizations must efficiently and effectively create, locate, capture, and share their organization’s knowledge and expertise. This increasingly requires making the organization's knowledge explicit and recording it for easier distribution and reuse. This article provides a framework for configuring a firm’s organizational and technical resources and capabilities to leverage its codified knowledge. This knowledge management architecture is illustrated with examples of two companies that are successfully competing based on their ability to manage their explicit knowledge. The lessons these companies have learned from their implementation experiences are summarized. http://tc.eserver.org/26803.html http://tc.eserver.org/26803.html The objective of this study is to provide empirical evidence of the role of information professionals in knowledge management programs. 386 information professionals working in Canadian organizations were selected from the Special Libraries Association’s Who’s Who in Special Libraries 2001/2002 and questionnaire with a stamped self-addressed envelope for its return was sent to each one of them. 63 questionnaires were completed and returned, and 8 in-depth interviews conducted. About 59% of the information professionals surveyed are working in organizations that have knowledge management programs with about 86% of these professionals being involved in the programs. Factors such as gender, age, and educational background (i.e. highest educational qualifications and discipline) did not seem to have any relationship with involvement in knowledge management programs. Many of those involved in the programs are playing key roles, such as the design of the information architecture, development of taxonomy, or content management of the organization’s intranet. Others play lesser roles, such as providing information for the intranet, gathering competitive intelligence, or providing research services as requested by the knowledge management team. http://tc.eserver.org/26756.html http://tc.eserver.org/26756.html The KMBA brings together knowledge management professionals from a variety of companies. KMBA conducts benchmarking studies to identify practices that improve the effectiveness of Knowledge Management activities. http://tc.eserver.org/26736.html http://tc.eserver.org/26736.html A culture of change proficiency is an enabling element of response ability, one of the three cornerstones of enterprise agility. Change proficiency is a competency that is facilitated or impeded by an organization's culture; and is fostered, nurtured, and developed in organizations by people who recognize it as a worthwhile pursuit. It is practiced, refined, talked about, debated, valued, and taught; and seeps into the culture through this frequent exercise of language. http://tc.eserver.org/26732.html http://tc.eserver.org/26732.html Today it is accepted as fact that the enterprise exists in an unpredictable and uncertain environment. Under these conditions, sustainable viability and leadership are both dependant on effective response to the unexpected. This generally requires agility in business processes and business process support. http://tc.eserver.org/26737.html http://tc.eserver.org/26737.html Plain and simple, the value proposition for enterprise agility is rooted firmly in risk management. The purpose of agility is to maintain both reactive and proactive response options in the face of uncertainty. http://tc.eserver.org/26734.html http://tc.eserver.org/26734.html Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), a medium sized electric and gas merchant utility, provides an excellent case study of agility in response able business processes. This case study focuses on the application of agility-enabling principles, and the benefits these principles generate. These same principles can be applied to the design of any enterprise strategy, business process, or system design. The value of the case study is its demonstration of how agility in anything is achieved, and should be viewed with an eye for generalization to other processes that need response-ability. Chris Hickman, executive director of engineering and technology, and Gene Wolf, principal engineer, were kind enough to spend hours reviewing this case. http://tc.eserver.org/26738.html http://tc.eserver.org/26738.html Agility, like any business priority that gains strategic importance, creates demand for enabling products and services. The information technology sector is usually the first to respond, for it is the core of both enterprise infrastructure and business process implementation and management. This vendor-rush to establish proprietary beachheads typically results in a variety of disparate interpretations and a techno-centric solution focus. These are valuable and natural developments, but they are not sufficient. Solutions do not deliver real value if they are not fit to the true nature of the need—and the need for agility is highly organization and situation specific. http://tc.eserver.org/26733.html http://tc.eserver.org/26733.html The intent of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) can be characterized as risk reduction: reduce errors, inhibit fraud, and provide shareholders with transparent equal-access to material knowledge. But implementation is principally procedural controls and documentation, under threat of penalty. The vague parts of SOX are where the real leverage lies: principles of intent, and corporate transparency. http://tc.eserver.org/26730.html http://tc.eserver.org/26730.html The Frito-Lay portal has also been an invaluable tool for helping him assess employee skill sets, because each salesperson is required to catalog his or her strengths and areas of expertise. http://tc.eserver.org/26735.html http://tc.eserver.org/26735.html This paper defines the agile enterprise as one which is able to both manage and apply knowledge effectively, and suggests that value from either capability is impeded if they are not in balance. It looks at the application of knowledge as requiring a change, and overviews a body of analytical work on change proficiency in business systems and processes. It looks at knowledge management as a strategic portfolio management responsibility based on learning functionality, and shares knowledge and experience in organizational collaborative learning mechanisms. It introduces the concept of plug-compatible knowledge packaging as a means for increasing the velocity of knowledge diffusion and the likelihood of knowledge understood at the depth of insight. Finally, it reviews a knowledge portfolio management and collaborative knowledge development architecture used successfully in a sizable cross-industry informal-consortia activity, and suggests that it is a good model for a corporate university architecture. http://tc.eserver.org/26731.html http://tc.eserver.org/26731.html One law firm strives to transform scattered file cabinets into an online knowledge-management system. http://tc.eserver.org/26739.html http://tc.eserver.org/26739.html The project was a good test of the personal and portable knowledge worker tools that I have been recommending over the past four years, and a chance to reflect on how they all fit together. These are the items of hardware and software that proved most valuable to me. http://tc.eserver.org/26743.html http://tc.eserver.org/26743.html 'There's always been information,' said a member of an information architects mailing list I audit. I think that's probably not true, and it has implications for what we think our businesses are made out of. http://tc.eserver.org/26696.html http://tc.eserver.org/26696.html If knowledge management is an appropriate framework for technical communication, how should technical communicators define their roles in knowledge management systems? Perhaps more importantly, how do technical communicators want others in their organizations to perceive them? http://tc.eserver.org/26508.html http://tc.eserver.org/26508.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/26507.html http://tc.eserver.org/26507.html The role of knowledge brokers as the gatekeepers of information is vital for successful knowledge management. In this context, the role of librarians who act as knowledge brokers in creating a market for both buyers and sellers often goes unnoticed. Librarians with their access to information and people, bridge the gap between knowledge seekers and knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/26506.html http://tc.eserver.org/26506.html The following paper discusses my experiences with knowledge management at a large pharmaceutical company. I will begin with a brief description of the operation of my department. Then I will go into some detail about the knowledge market at my job. I will continue with a discussion on knowledge mapping and finally the importance of a common language. http://tc.eserver.org/26504.html http://tc.eserver.org/26504.html Knowledge management plays a very critical role in the day-to-day operations of my organization. The transfer of knowledge is shared verbally through casual conversations, meetings, conference calls, brainstorming sessions, and voice mail. Written communication appears daily in the form of memos, sticky notes, and e-mail. Documents such as records, change control forms, policies and standard operating procedures must be retained by my company. These papers often contain business critical data that needs to be stored and referenced at a later time. In order to manage this extensive list of documents, there are several management systems implemented throughout the corporation. Areas such as Human Resources, Finance, Clinical Research and Content Management utilize these systems to support their business activities. As a content specialist in the Pharmaceutical industry, I am responsible for supporting some of these systems. Some of the content that I support can be considered simply data. This type of material includes image files, such as GIFs and JPEGs, javascripts and customized ASP or JAVA files. These files are not referenced by employees and are used to support the functionality of the management systems. The primary system used throughout the organization for managing content is Documentum. http://tc.eserver.org/26505.html http://tc.eserver.org/26505.html While helping sailors at sea remain paramount, GDSC’s delivery of additional attributes demonstrated that knowledge could be used and reused to advantage. In a true knowledge organization, roles evolve and new knowledge customers may be served just as we did in the GDSC. http://tc.eserver.org/25824.html http://tc.eserver.org/25824.html The knowledge that we have within a corporation is valuable to internal employees to ensure that they are able to do their jobs as accurately and efficiently as possible, and our customers are requesting more and more information to enable them to use our products correctly. For years this knowledge resided in peoples’ heads and in volumes of paper. Now that information is being moved onto the Internet/intranets and extranets. http://tc.eserver.org/25825.html http://tc.eserver.org/25825.html Large paper documents can be difficult to manage and control, but large online documents and huge volumes/suites of information can be a nightmare if you do not use management software from the beginning. There are many different types of ways you can approach managing your materials. http://tc.eserver.org/25668.html http://tc.eserver.org/25668.html Current methods of access to the electronic resources offered by the Internet make little use of basic principles of information organization and retrieval, relying instead on relatively informal and, at times, ad hoc approaches. This creates problems in terms of the volume of information retrieved by a user of the Internet and the precision with which that information matches the user's information need. There is a plethora of engineering resources available on the Internet, yet no systematic method of retrieval is available to engineers who are in need of the most current information in their discipline. The Internet is often the only immediate source of the most current engineering resources. The purpose of this project is to identify electronic resources that could be of value to engineers and to represent these resources in a manner that enables engineers to make timely, informed decisions about the usefulness of the resources. This paper addresses the specific objectives the project which include: 1) the development of selection criteria for electronic engineering resources; 2) the identification of electronic resources of interest to engineers, as defined by the selection policy; and 3) the creation of abstracts for these electronic resources that will include at least two hyperlinks to other related electronic resources. http://tc.eserver.org/25475.html http://tc.eserver.org/25475.html Web-logging software has received plenty of attention as a quick and easy way to post content to a web site. Web logs (blogs) tend to fall into two categories: personal web logs that function sort of like diaries, and informational blogs that target a readership with a shared interest. But web logging can also be used to support knowledge management (KM)¡ªthe effort within an organization to share knowledge and help the organization achieve its mission. This form of web logging, called knowledge logging, or k-logging, is emerging as an inexpensive alternative to large-scale KM solutions. http://tc.eserver.org/25488.html http://tc.eserver.org/25488.html This article compares the historical and contemporary clothing industry with the current microelectronics industry. It argues that the development of paper patterns, along with the perfection of the sewing machine as a technology in the 1870s, democratized fashion for lower and middle class women just as the development of the World Wide Web and Web-making software has democratized publishing for authors before unable to gain access to an audience for their writing. Comparing the businesses of three groups of women using the World Wide Web, this article finally problematizes these historical and contemporary democratizing technologies the sewing machine and the computer by pointing out both obvious and more subtle socioeconomic realities which undercut some utopian promises of publishing in Cyberspace. http://tc.eserver.org/25382.html http://tc.eserver.org/25382.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/25177.html http://tc.eserver.org/25177.html Libraries historically have been identified with the functions of storage and retrieval. In recent years, they have expanded their role to include information transfer and the creation of the networked, digital library for information access and dissemination. More recently, the William H. Welch Medical Library (WML) of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has been exploring strategies to integrate the library more fully into the scholarly and scientific communication process. The result is a new role we call knowledge management. http://tc.eserver.org/24772.html http://tc.eserver.org/24772.html Object oriented coding languages are used to more accurately label and search for content embedded in electronic texts. An object can be a graphic, a row of specific data housed in a table, a written text, or any other piece of information that conveys meaning. XML, XLink and RDF are second-generation object-oriented coding languages and tools derived from SGML. I illustrate how these object-oriented languages can effectively deploy the indexing techniques and systems traditionally used by information professionals. http://tc.eserver.org/24771.html http://tc.eserver.org/24771.html One of the reasons that people who seek out information on web sites often feel powerless is that when they do not find what they are looking for, their own tacit sense of what they know is not validated. If tacit knowledge is not calculated for in the design of a web site, it puts the people navigating the site in the position of passive observers. The primary reason for this can be found in the rigid organization schemes in place on many sites. Even the most sophisticated manuals that offer methods for designing web site architectures fail to suggest how they can replicate what is known in knowledge management circles as an “enabling environment.” http://tc.eserver.org/24725.html http://tc.eserver.org/24725.html The digital technology today allows you to manipulate or construct content in different ways not possible before. The same technology allows content to be carried across different platforms.We are providind informations in six major sectors http://www.hunt99.com http://tc.eserver.org/24554.html http://tc.eserver.org/24554.html Within work sites that engage in knowledge work, newcomers have particular difficulty acquiring knowledge because knowledge keeps changing. Newcomers have to assimilate currently accepted knowledge while remaining open to learning and even generating new knowledge. Such acquisition and generation of communal knowledge are examples of distributed cognition. In workplaces engaging in knowledge work (where knowledge is the primary product), distributed cognition aims at a less stable goal than the one that Hutchins describes for ship navigation. A study of six summer interns in an engineering development center shows that, for them and their more experienced colleagues, learning did not precede activity but rather was the means by which they remained attuned to activity and able to function. Cognition was distributed not only among people but also among people and their tools. Communication tools were particularly important because communication was the means by which the system functioned as a unified whole. http://tc.eserver.org/24211.html http://tc.eserver.org/24211.html Many companies are using knowledge management to stay competitive in today's economy. One of the primary premises of knowledge management is that an individual's knowledge can be captured and converted into group or organization-avaliable knowledge. This gives an organization a sustainable advantage in what their employees know and what they do with what they know. There are several tools available to aid in knowledge management but before these tools can be implemented, a company must first understand the principles of knowledge management. http://tc.eserver.org/23944.html http://tc.eserver.org/23944.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/23938.html http://tc.eserver.org/23938.html The growth of e-business is driving organizations to manage and distribute digital content, including images, computer-generated output, business documents, rich media and more. http://tc.eserver.org/23948.html http://tc.eserver.org/23948.html As more organizations embrace e-mail as their primary method of communication, most overlook the fact that e-mail contains evidence of business decisions, actions and transactions. http://tc.eserver.org/23943.html http://tc.eserver.org/23943.html We are drowning in a sea of information. The challenge is to learn to swim in that sea, rather than drown in it. http://tc.eserver.org/23946.html http://tc.eserver.org/23946.html With the penetration of Internet technologies into global business operations, employees at every level are collaborating across multiple geographies. http://tc.eserver.org/23945.html http://tc.eserver.org/23945.html We live in a market of instant information, where perception and image are increasingly linked to stock prices and the best strategic plans can be undermined in the course of a morning. http://tc.eserver.org/23788.html http://tc.eserver.org/23788.html Document review is an important tool for knowledge management and socialization. However, because the relationship between texts and work is changing with advances in information technology, we must reconsider the necessity and practice of document review. We need to examine what reviewers are currently doing to see how those practices match with or can be complemented by the classroom based review practices that are commonly used. This paper sketches out a new model of review (mediated practice) that combines the strength of workplace and classroom based models of review. http://tc.eserver.org/23630.html http://tc.eserver.org/23630.html The Rockley Report is a quarterly journal with information about content management topics. The Rockley Report provides knowledge to help you make the case for, plan, and execute content management initiatives. http://tc.eserver.org/23607.html http://tc.eserver.org/23607.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/23453.html http://tc.eserver.org/23453.html Knowledge management - is it a challenge for technical editors? Shouldn't knowledge management be more than just taken for granted in technical editing? And isn't the technical editor also the knowledge manager, per se? http://tc.eserver.org/23454.html http://tc.eserver.org/23454.html We haven't just been doing this since the term 'knowledge management' has been floating around. We’ve been at it for a long time now. http://tc.eserver.org/23035.html http://tc.eserver.org/23035.html In an increasingly information-based world, we turn out complex products that are less tangible than they are knowledge-based. The very complexity of the decisions we make and the products we manufacture makes it impossible to check, test and retest them adequately enough to be sure that they will function properly in any circumstance. Information disasters are a growing threat, and one that few businesses can ignore. http://tc.eserver.org/23052.html http://tc.eserver.org/23052.html Is the portal a task-oriented platform for applications, e-services and cross-functional business process integration or a tool for enterprise-wide knowledge management? Is it a bottom-up enabler of communication and collaboration or a top-down channel for broadcasting official corporate propaganda? Inevitable consensus answer? It's all of these things and more, and the IT folks better be ready to support this exciting new paradigm! http://tc.eserver.org/23036.html http://tc.eserver.org/23036.html For finance organizations, process and organization matter more than vendor.