Knowledge Mapping: An Overview Prof Elaine Ferneley

Knowledge Mapping: An OverviewKnowledge Mapping: An Overview

Prof Elaine FerneleyProf Elaine Ferneley

Prof Elaine Ferneley

Revisiting the Definition of Knowledge Revisiting the Definition of Knowledge Management (Skyrme’s)Management (Skyrme’s)

Knowledge Management is the explicit and Systematic management of vital knowledge - and its

associated processes of creation, organisation, use & exploitation

Surface assumptions,Codify what is known

Don’t leave it toserendipity

KM has its own tools &techniques

Focus, resources are limited


Seven Strategic Levers Seven Strategic Levers [Skyrme, 2002][Skyrme, 2002]

Customer Knowledge - the most vital knowledge in most organizations

Knowledge in Processes - applying the best know-how while performing core tasks

Knowledge in Products (and Services) - smarter solutions, customized to users' needs

Knowledge in People - nurturing and harnessing brainpower, your most precious asset

Organizational Memory - drawing on lessons from the past or elsewhere in the organization

Knowledge in Relationships - deep personal knowledge that underpins successful collaboration

Knowledge Assets - measuring and managing your intellectual capital.


Practices & ProcessesPractices & Processes

Creating &Discovering

creativity techniques data & text mining knowledge elicitation business simulation, content analysis

Sharing & Learning

communities of practice, learning networks share fairs, share best practice cross functional teams, action reviews

Organizing & Managing

knowledge centres, knowledge audits expertise profiling, knowledge mapping measurement of intellectual capital

Our focus today


What is Knowledge MappingWhat is Knowledge Mapping

Ongoing quest in an organisation (includes supply & customer chain): Discover knowledge location and ownership; Identify value and use of knowledge artefacts; Learn roles & expertise of individuals; Identify constraints in flow of knowledge; Highlight opportunities to leverage existing knowledge.

Knowledge mapping activities: Survey, audit and synthesis; Identify where knowledge is being acquired and lost; Personal and group competencies and proficiencies; Identify how knowledge flows through an organisation.

Knowledge mapping helps organisations: Appreciate how loss of staff influences Intellectual Capital; Select teams Match technology to knowledge needs.


Key Principles of Knowledge MappingKey Principles of Knowledge Mapping

Understand that knowledge is transient; Explain boundaries & respect personal disclosures; Recognise knowledge comes in a variety of forms:

Tacit ‘v’ explicit; Codified ‘v’ personal; Short ‘v’ long lifecycle.

Locate knowledge in processes, people, relationships, documents; suppliers, customers etc.

Be aware of organisational hierarchies, cultural issues, reward mechanisms, sharing & value, legal processes & protections (patents, NDAs, MoUs etc.)


What is a Knowledge Map & Why Use One ?What is a Knowledge Map & Why Use One ?

Navigation aid to explicit and tacit knowledge; Portrays sources, flows, constraints and sinks of

knowledge within an organisation; Encourages re-use and prevents re-invention, saves

search time; Highlights expertise, discover communities of practice,

helps staff to find critical resources; Improves decision making, problem solving and

customer response time by providing access to information;

Provides an inventory of intellectual and intangible assets;

The start of a corporate memory or collective mind.


How & Where Should I be Looking?How & Where Should I be Looking?ActiveActive Knowledge Elicitation Techniques Knowledge Elicitation Techniques

Formal and informal interviews: Interviewer asks the expert or

end user questions relating to the specific topic

Adv: well known, comfortable for interviewees

DisAdv: time consuming, expensive, interviewer expertise required, interviewee cooperation required

Verbal Protocol Analysis: Experts report thought

processes involved in performing a task or solving a problem

Adv: rigorous DisAdv: time consuming, hard

to analyse

Group Task Analysis: A group of experts describes and

discusses processes pertaining to a specific topic

Adv: multiple viewpoints, concensus building

DisAdv: how to validate Narratives, Scenarios,

Storytelling Expert or end user constructs

stories to account for a set of observations

Adv: rich insight, good for ill defined problems

DisAdv: reliance on self reports Questionnaires:

Users respond to specific questions

Adv: usually quantitative, easy to code

DisAdv: low return rate, responses are difficult to validate


How & Where Should I be Looking?How & Where Should I be Looking?ActiveActive Knowledge Elicitation Techniques Knowledge Elicitation Techniques

Focus Groups A group discusses different issues Adv: allows exchange of ideas,

good for generating complete lists DisAdv: an individual may

dominate, not good for discovering specific problems

Wants & Needs Analysis: Users brainstorm about what they

want/need from a system Adv: exchange of ideas, determines

areas for focus, allows prioritisation DisAdv: wants and needs may not

be realistic Observation:

Observe users in their natural environment

Adv: see it as it really is (but not ethnography)

DisAdv: time, depends on observer note taking & observation skills

Ethnographic Study: Users culture and work

environment are studied via emersion

Adv: see it as it really is over a long time period

DisAdv: time consuming, hard to distance yourself from the domain

User Diary Users record and evaluate their

actions Adv: real time (almost) tracking DisAdv: invasive, possible delay

in recording Concept Sorting

Users determine relationships between concepts

Adv: helps structure information DisAdv: grouping is user

specified, structure may be too elaborate


How & Where Should I be Looking?How & Where Should I be Looking?PassivePassive Knowledge Elicitation Techniques Knowledge Elicitation Techniques

News feeds: Discussion groups; Company magazines; Bulletins.

Contact addresses Organisation charts; Home pages.

Network transactions: Email tags; Semantic analysis.

Helpdesks and CRM systems: Interaction logs; Process scripts.

Asset and HR databases (company CVs);

LAN directory structures: Who has access to what; Why do they have access.

Library & record archives Process descriptions:

QA documents; Procedure manuals.

Meta-data directories: Standardisation documents; Meta-tags on electronic

data sources.


What do I do with the information?What do I do with the information?

Compile: Yellow pages/register of interests; Best practice/lessons learnt databases; Prototype ontology/taxonomy

Identify: Knowledge stewards/gatekeepers; Isolated islands, narrow communication

channels; Critical sequences/dependencies.

Explore reuse opportunities: Attempting to create a knowledge network of

people, processes and data.


We Will Now Look at Some Specific ExamplesWe Will Now Look at Some Specific Examples

Spreadsheets – great and simple to use, disseminate and for all to understand

Cause and effect models The example we will use is from ISEEE


Simple SpreadsheetsSimple Spreadsheets

Explicit model of who has what knowledge

Value of various knowledge items can be weighted

Allows transparency Encourages people to state their

knowledge and expertise Cheap and one of the most effective tools

I’ve seen, everyone understands a spreadsheet


SBS Staff Expertise – figures are fictional! SBS Staff Expertise – figures are fictional!


Auditing ToolsAuditing Tools

Tools that allow you to classify expertise, apply some sort of rating or ranking to knowledge domains;

Useful as brainstorming tools Strongly encourage you to download

Assistum: http://www.assistum.com/2002/products/examples/java/project.htm

http://www.assistum.com/2002/products/examples/java/project.htm



Assistum Knowledge Editor - Assistum Knowledge Editor - http://www.assistum.com/2002/products/examples/java/project.htmhttp://www.assistum.com/2002/products/examples/java/project.htm



STELLASTELLAhttp://www.iseesystems.com/community/downloads/http://www.iseesystems.com/community/downloads/EducationDownloads.aspxEducationDownloads.aspx


ExamplesExamples


ExamplesExamples


Mind Mapping Mind Mapping – For Brainstorming, Knowledge Elicitation – For Brainstorming, Knowledge Elicitation and Knowledge Mappingand Knowledge Mapping

Mind Mapping is a technique developed by Tony Buzan to help individuals organise, generate and learn ideas and information

Pictorial representation – detail and overview together

Consider spatial relationships and anticipate consequences

Supported by visual processing – improved recall, aids understanding

Explicit representation acts as a creativity trigger


Hand Drawn Mind MapHand Drawn Mind Map


MindJet MindmapMindJet Mindmap


Why Mind Map Software Why Mind Map Software – the Pro’s and Con’s– the Pro’s and Con’s

Supports continuous refinement

Allows variable granularity

Brings formality (validity?) to the process

Integration with other tools

Cross ref & re-assembly of elements of the knowledge base possible

Slow Horde mentality

(difficult to throw away early versions)

Semantics – in large implementations is the same vocabulary being used

Common understanding Maintenance –

especially due to the transitory nature of the output


The Next StepThe Next Step

Consider further mechanisms to encourage: Relinquishing of knowledge; Creation of new knowledge; Brainstorming tools; Capturing of the brainstorming activity.

Representing knowledge in a highly structured database does not encourage this ….

Documents

Knowledge Mapping: An Overview Prof Elaine Ferneley