Knowledge Management and Information Systems

1. Knowledge Management and Information Systems Presentation at Telebalt conference, the 21st of October 2002 Jouni Meriluoto, Nokia Research Center

2. done WISE Project • Web-enabled Information Services for Engineering: Knowledge Management for Engineers [www.ist-wise.org] • European R&D project in IST programme • Duration 2001-2004 • 10 partners : • Industrial: Airbus (France, Germany), Nokia • Software providers: PACE, Interface, Cyberstream • Universities (Helsinki, Berlin) • Research institutes (Norske Regnesentral, Eurisco) • Approach: State of art, Requirements, Design, Implementation, Test

3. WISE Keywords Web-enabled - web technology is becoming the backbone for knowledge & information exchange. WISE intends to design a platform that enables easy integration of existing and future KM tools and approaches and making them easily accessible from everywhere. Information - what is transferred among people: data, information and knowledge. Data is un-interpreted information, whereas knowledge is already processed information. Information is shared between systems and users. The scope of KM includes knowledge acquisition (education, training, purchase), formal and informal knowledge, knowledge maintenance, distribution and usage. KM is accomplished through changes in culture and process, supported by technology. Services - In WISE, services are viewed as functions that need to be developed in order to empower the user – enabling them to design better product in shorter time, and more fluently. Engineering - WISE supports engineers / designers – during their task of developing complex and safety critical products. Engineers produce a large amount of documents and knowledge. They interact among each other and with external bodies via documents. A goal of WISE is to ease this interaction process in order to improve the engineering processes. Engineering has special requirements towards Knowledge Management.

4. Four Paradigms and Two Interpretations • Ontology (in philosophy) concerns beliefs about the form and nature of reality • Epistemology concerns the nature of knowledge and the relationship between those who know and knowing • Paradigms [Yolles] 1) Positivism 2) Post-positivism 3) Critical Theory Postmodernism Poststructuralism 4) Constructivism • Interpretations of Information [Virtanen] • Quantitative, based on probability • Qualitative interpretation in a) Communication, b) Presentation, and c) Processing

5. Positivism • Ontology: Reality can be apprehended, Observer independent data: facts • Epistemology: Objectivity, Possibility to find universal truths • Simple belief in science in Western industrial history • Mechanistic science extended to behaviourism in psychology • Naïve systemic thinkers

6. Post-positivism • Ontology: Objective reality Apprehended imperfectly and probabilistically • Epistemology: Only a approximate image of reality is possible "Engineering View" [Fivaz] • Observers can have their own perspective that can influence the way they see things. • Observers have consciousness which (in extension to simple behaviourism) is seen to be a set of engineering processes that converts information acquired as observation from "outside" into information implemented. • People can be better or worse at this engineering process, and at least fuzzy optimisation becomes relevant. • Mind is biased machine, reality is actually out there, and knowledge is objective.

7. Critical Theory • Ontology: Reality is virtual Social, political, economic, ethnic and other factors shape reality • Epistemology: Subjectivist Findings are value laden with respect to the world view of an inquirer • Inquiry is value determined in both postmodernism and poststructuralism

8. Constructivism • There exists both local and specifically constructed realities • Ontology: Reality is relative phenomenon • Epistemology: Knowledge is created in interaction between inquirers in a situation and its participants Subjectivist epistemology, relates to created findings • There are no observers, only viewers. Views, like behaviours are derived from worldview. • Interaction of different worldviews occurs through a semantic communication process [Luhmann] • Interaction occurs in a framework, "lifeworld" [Habermas] • Cognitive oriented constructivist theories and Socially oriented constructivist theories.

9. Probability Probability Syntactic Communication • Semantic • Presentation in language • novelty • content • relative information Physical Existence Information Species based on probability – Quantitative interpretation

10. Communication Qualitative interpretation Pragmatic information communication • Expressive • Truth value • not necessary • assumptions, moods, • intuitions, beliefs • absolute values, norms • questions, orders, • exclamations, requests… • Knowledge-related • Truth value • necessary • singular, • general, • explanatory, • instrumental, • evaluative • Value • novelty • utility • exchange • Transmission • verbal • non-verbal

11. Presentation Qualitative interpretation Presentation • Modal • No truth value • absolute values • and norms • experiences • commands, • exclamations, • questions, • advices… • Epistemic • Truth value • Evidence • singular • general • explanatory • instrumental, • evaluative • Doxastic • Truth value • No evidence • beliefs, intuitions, • guesses…

12. Processing Qualitative interpretation Processing Metadata Data Not processed Data-logical Data-derived Media Data Algorithmic Numeric Heuristic Symbolic Knowledge System Procedural, declarative

13. Semiotics KM system based on object-oriented analysis can utilise the concepts from qualitative information species. Knowledge resides in human beings - not in the media. However, in sociological constructivism the context is part of the knowledge.

14. Semantics Cognitive oriented constructivist theories emphasize the exploration and discovery on the part of each learner as explaining the learning process. Knowledge is still very much a symbolic, mental representation in the mind of the individual. But collaborative system for engineering needs a socially oriented approach.

15. KM Systems as Technologies Information technologies for managerial and professional workers evolved already several decades • Management Information Systems (MIS) • Decision-Support Systems (DSS) • Executive Information systems (EIS) • Information Management Systems • Artificial Intelligence • Semantic Network • Collaboration (Groupware…) • (Re)engineering

16. Information Systems as KM Tools KM Tool survey can be downloaded from www.ist-wise.org

17. WISE System Architecture Web Browser Eng. tool plug in 1 Eng. tool plug in 2 Mobile client WISE clients display management Rules database WISE Knowledge server Administrative functions capture re-use monitoring Process flow control Query engine retrieval storage management modelling indexing WISE Knowledge base knowledge base distribution mechanism DB1 DB2 DBn WISE will support engineers with context-sensitive knowledge management functions based on web technologies

18. KM System as a Human Process Knowledge management system, however, does not have to be a computer system. It can be a process of • finding, selecting, organizing, distilling and presenting information in a way that improves comprehension in a specific area of interest, and • acquiring, storing and utilizing knowledge for such things as • problem solving, dynamic learning, strategic planning and decision making.

19. Human Factor Issues in Engineering • Knowledge = most important personal asset of an engineer in a quickly changing business environment • reluctance to share • Time pressure to get the job done • no time for documentation, making knowledge explicit, abstraction… • Very high need for knowledge from previous experience, neighbouring departments • readiness to share? • The internet experience (easy access to tons of useful information) • experience that knowledge exchange works Human factors form the basis for KM systems

20. WISE Results • User interviews at three industrial sites • what are the real needs of engineers regarding information and knowledge? • corporate KM strategies and instruments already in place • 3 industrial scenarios with big common scope (80%!) • High need for KM adapted to engineering needs • Goal: Build a Knowledge Portal – get a focused access to all the information you need, integrated with your work tools • Challenges: • Multiple platforms & proprietary engineering tools • Select information according to context • Convince engineers and managers to share knowledge • Provide methods and processes for practical KM • Holistic WISE approach: Looking at technological, organisational and human-factors issues Thank you. www.ist-wise.org