MTG, OneGeology, and their relation to Knowledge Management - Lessons from epistemology

1. MTG, OneGeology, and their relation to Knowledge Management - Lessons from epistemology

2. Is knowledge explicit: codified, separable, easily written down? or tacit: unarticulated, personal, biased, unspecific, and difficult to communicate?

3. Traditions and experiences of a person tacit / implicit Expertise articulated / explicit Information tacit / implicit Expertise Traditions and experiences of a second person

4. Moya K. Mason: „… knowledge management goes far beyond the storage and manipulation of data, or even of information. There is a need for a more structured approach to transferring knowledge … and enabling access to information ...“

5. Guba &Lincoln, Hirschheim et al. 1. The ontological questionWhat is the form and nature of reality and what can be known about it? 2. The epistemological questionWhat is the nature of the relationship between the knower and what can be known?

6. Knowledge grows Traditions and experiences of a person Expertise Information shared knowledge But knowledge can vanish

7. A group of experts may share vocabularies without sharing beliefs and values. Example: A descriptor error may have different meanings depending on context and expertise. This can be solved by an ontological concept. A descriptor error can be interpreted in an unintended sense due to a different understanding of the concept.

8. Ontologies usually represent a mono-cultural view Actual ontologies often use the „justified true belief“ concept: To have knowledge of something, it must be true, it must be believed to be true, and the belief must be justified. Problem: What is justified as true in one culture will probably not be justified in another. Things justified today can be questioned tomorrow. Current debate on ontology doesn‘t consider multilinguality

9. Nelson Goodman, Sabine Ammon: Knowledge needs the cognitive effort of understanding. Conclusion: Knowledge Management must foster understanding. Information Management has to avoid misunderstanding. MTG must be helpful for the transcultural understanding of concepts => not only a simple translation of terms.

10. What does it mean? Descriptors must represent the intention of the indexer. • All descriptors should be placed in a thesaurus structure • Descriptors should be easily found in the thesaurus • Any thesaurus structure or hierarchy should be understandable for all participating cultures

11. MTG should preserve knowledge and should assist the development of new knowledge. • Suggestions: • Structure but no constraints • Flat hierarchies • Facets as a base for transcultural understanding • Adjustable substructures for users with other cultural background

12. MTG database • should offer a scheme for categorization of information (e.g. of websites) • should be adaptable by other information systems • should support specific search engines and web2.0 tools