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Personal Knowledge Management for Disaster Mitigation

Learn how personal knowledge management tools like Wikis and Semantic Wikis can help mitigate disasters by ensuring accessibility and organization of key information and resources in critical situations.

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Personal Knowledge Management for Disaster Mitigation

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  1. The Ark Group’s 2nd Annual KM for the Government Sector:Using People-Based Social Network Initiativesto Fuel an Effective KM ProgramUsing KM to Reduce Operational Risk: Business Continuity, Disaster Planning, and Beyond Brand L. Niemann US EPA Office of Environmental Information, Enterprise Architecture Team and Co-Chair, Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP), Best Practices Committee (BPC), Federal CIO Council October 25, 2006

  2. Personal KM To Mitigate a Disaster • October 5, 2006: EPA Post Flooding Updates: • “After months of hard work by EPA’s facilities staff and GSA representatives, I am pleased to announce that we have made significant progress in restoring service lost during this year’s flooding and power loss at the EPA Headquarters complex.” • My EPA office’s experience: • Worked at home for a week. • Worked in alternate work space for 6 weeks. • Working in restored work space while it is still being completely restored. • Other EPA office’s experience: • Lost PCs, paper files and office space.

  3. Personal KM To Mitigate a Disaster • My experience: • Worked at home the entire time because I had copies of my key paper documents, high-speed Internet – cable service, and Wiki and Semantic Wiki technology for infrastructure. • Key email, files, and Web content are organized like a document and records management system and accessible 99.99% of the time (one the 15 most reliable Internet infrastructures). • Wikis and blogs have served this purpose for many others: • See for example: KatrinaHelp Wiki, TsumaniHelp Wiki, etc. • The following slides explain Wiki and Semantic Wiki technology in KM in general.

  4. Some Details • Dates our office worked: • From home and; • June 26-30th (on Administrative Leave) • From an alternate work space – due to flood damage? • July 3-21st • Other offices (see http://www.epa.gov/epa/); • Current status - as of last update Friday, October 13, 2006, 1:00 p.m.: • EPA headquarters is open. All EPA employees are to report for duty as usual. Employees who work in the basement of EPA West should report to the alternative work locations designated by their supervisor. • Dates I worked from home using Wiki and Semantic Wiki technology during all of this? • June 26th – July 27th • EPA deployment of infrastructure agency-wide and/or remotely, to facilitate COOP and disaster response? • Several offices are piloting or planning to pilot Wikis and Blogs and have asked me to brief them.

  5. Some Details • Recent Press: • Federal Computer Week, Tips for teamwork in an online world: Groups discover how collaboration software can boost productivity if used properly (see under 4. Give in to peer pressure), September 18, 2006 at http://www.fcw.com/article96045-09-18-06 • Government Computer News, The amazing Wikis: From the CIO Council to the CIA, the lightweight collaboration platform is taking hold—but it’s not a no-brainer, August 21, 2006, at http://www.gcn.com/print/25_25/41673-1.html • Recent Publications: • March 2006, Disaster Management, Newsletter 17, at http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/Disaster%20Management%20Mar%202006_R2641S_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf • See SICoP Pilots on page 18 for "Public-Private Collaboration for Semantic Interoperability in Emergency Management Information Sharing," and page 32 for "Disaster Response Pilot Demonstrates Web Services and Semantic Naming Technology" • July 2006 , GSA Pilots Working Together to Improve Citizen Services (COLAB Wiki) see pages 11-12 in GSA Newsletter, Issue 18, at http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/OCSC%20Newsletter%20Jul%2006_R2952-l_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.pdf

  6. Background • Some recent developments: • Sir Tim Berners-Lee (World Wide Web inventor): • On the current mania for Weblogs (on-line journals) and Wikis (pages anyone can edit) as a step in the right direction: • “One of the things that makes wikis and blogs attractive is that everybody is able to express themselves, but there is still room to make them easier to use.” • On the Semantic Web which involves labeling information on Web pages and databases with “metadata” – data about data – saying what it is that improves searching and allows deductions using the retrieved information. • “Large software vendors that have pooh-poohed the idea of the Semantic Web for several years, have started to understand it.” Source: Smithsonian, Special Anniversary Issue, November 2005, 35 Who Made a Difference, pages 77-78.

  7. Background • Some recent developments: • Gartner on Web Conferencing Amplifies Dysfunctional Meeting Practices: • Without effective meeting discipline, Web conferencing can waste more people's time across a broader geographic range than before. Group decision support tools can cure much of the dysfunction. Act now — don't wait for the feature mergers we expect to see in the next three years. • Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) combine a many-to-many communication paradigm with a one-to-many facilitator role, are structured around meetings — not presentations — where people participate (instead of passively listening), and contribute to the process (instead of watching someone else's material show up on screen). • This is not an endorsement of GroupSystems' product, but it serves as the best "exemplar" of the GDSS product category. See http://www.groupsystems.com. Source: Gartner Research, 13 March 2006, G00138101, 7 pages.

  8. Background • John Yanosy, Chair Semantic Interoperability WG, Net-Centric Operations Industry Consortia: • The key capability of the Semantic Wiki is its ability to capture and represent knowledge in an open web environment and at a granular level sufficient to enable customers to make queries about the full range of NCOIC derived concepts across multiple domains from its working groups. Key to this is the ability to relate the concepts and patterns created by the different WGs to each other. This is the ultimate goal of the NCOIC to be able to answer complex questions about solution and requirements at a level of detail that would be beneficial to experts in their respective domains. Source: John Yanosy, Cooperative Agreement with SICoP, September 15, 2006.

  9. Background • A Senior Manager in the EPA Office of Compliance: • I heard you speak at the June 21st Managing Environmental Information Conference and found the Semantic Wiki approach interesting. We'd like to talk to you about your work in this area and how it might apply to some of the "web work" our office supports. • “Our regional offices and fielded workers want to use Wikis and Blogs.”

  10. Background • The Semantic Wiki for Managing Environmental Information: • Three examples: • 1. A new CoP formed out of the Managing Environment Information Conference. • 2. An already established CoP for Environmental Health Data. • 3. An entirely new concept and technology to an agency that relates to our Segment Architecture (see Appendix). • Rationale: • This low-cost and versatile infrastructure supports data architecture, data management, and data-driven applications that are both DRM 2.0 compliant and critical to the segment architectures that OMB has asked us to focus on in the coming year.

  11. Background • The Semantic Wiki for Managing Environmental Information (continued): • Five steps for their moving forward: • 1. Prepare a CoP Mission Statement • 2. Prepare a CoP Membership List • 3. Prepare a CoP Strategy • 4. Hold a Wiki Training Conference Call (with items 1-3 entered into the Wiki space) • 5. Get commitments to collaboratively publish and edit trusted reference knowledge sources in the Wiki space.

  12. Background • Wiki Basics: WikiWords and Purple Numbers • Structure: Not pre-determined, but invented and evolved by the community in neither a top down or bottom up manner. • Data Reference Model 2.0: Three types of data for three purposes (see slide 11). • DRM 2.0 Compliant Documents: Repurpose content to conform to DRM 2.0 Metamodel (see slides 11 and 14). • SICoP Knowledge Reference Model: DRM 2.0 + Semantic Metadata (recall slide 2). • The 7D Semantic Wiki: DRM 2.0 + Semantic Metadata for Trusted Reference Knowledge in a Network Data Modeling Environment! (see next slide).

  13. Background Source: Mills Davis, Project10x.com and SICoP Co-Chair, September 22, 2006. Note: See Jim Disbrow’s Presentations at this Conference!

  14. Outline • 1. Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model 2.0 • 2. Wikis • 3. Semantic Wikis • 4. Piloting Opportunities • 5. Questions and Answers • Appendix: EPA Segment Architecture

  15. 1. Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model 2.0 DRM 1.0 SICoP All Three Ontologies Source: Expanding E-Government, Improved Service Delivery for the American People Using Information Technology, December 2005, pp. 2-3. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budintegration/expanding_egov_2005.pdf Slides 4 & 6 from June 21st Presentation #1

  16. 1. Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model 2.0 • Applying this to the “cross-states compliance history of facilities problem”: • Facility data is structured (tables), but there may be unstructured and/or semi-structured information (documents, emails, etc.) as well associated with it that needs to be related to the tables and accessible as well. • A “distributed but connectable” network can be built by having each facility and/or state publish the facility databases as standard nodes (e.g. Exchange Network and Central Data Exchange) or write/upload those data to a collaborative Wiki that is able to handle structured data by W3C standards and semantic agents. Slides 4 & 6 from June 21st Presentation #1

  17. 1. Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model 2.0 http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EPAPerformanceDataforDRM2

  18. 1. Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model 2.0 http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EPAPerformanceDataforDRM2

  19. 1. Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model 2.0 http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EPAPerformanceDataforDRM2

  20. 2. Wikis • "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication of "wiki", a Hawaiian-language word for fast. • A wiki is a type of website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. • See Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki • The GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions provides COLAB: An Open Collaborative Work Environment to Support Networking Among Communities of Practice: • COLAB includes a wiki, email discussion forum and message archive, shared file workspace, full text search, and portal (see next slide).

  21. 2. Wikis http://colab.cim3.net/wiki

  22. 2. Wikis • July 18, 2006, Open Collaboration: Networking Wiki Information Technology for Information Sharing and Knowledge Management: • http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ExpeditionWorkshop/OpenCollaboration_NetworkingWikiInformationTechnology_2006_07_18 • August 21, 2006, The amazing Wikis: From the CIO Council to the CIA, the lightweight collaboration platform is taking hold—but it’s not a no-brainer. • http://www.gcn.com/print/25_25/41673-1.html

  23. 2. Wikis • Federal Computer Week Survey: • Please describe the type collaboration technology you have adopted and the application for which it is used. • 1. COLAB: An Open Collaborative Work Environment (Wiki) and 2. Semantic Wikis (Data Modeling): • See 1. http://colab.cim3.net/wiki • See 2. http://vkwiki.visualknowledge.com/ • What lead you to settle on this particular approach? • 1. Evolved from needs to support Monthly Collaborative Expedition Workshops over past 4 years and 2. Need for SICoP to implement W3C Semantic Web Standards: • See 1. http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ExpeditionWorkshop/OpenCollaboration_NetworkingWikiInformationTechnology_2006_07_18 • See 1. http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ExpeditionWorkshop/OpenCollaboration_NetworkingSemanticInteroperability_2006_08_15 • See 2. http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?SICoP

  24. 2. Wikis • Federal Computer Week Survey: • How has the technology improved operations or your agency's overall mission? • 1. EPA can now implement the new 2. Federal Enterprise Architecture's Data Reference Model 2.0: • See 1. http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?EPADataArchitectureforDRM2 • See 2. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/a-5-drm.html • What is the main advantage of this technology? What are its drawbacks? • The writeable Web (publish then edit), easy to learn, supports the way you work, inexpensive, supports W3C standards and open collaboration with open standards, supports distributed data modeling on the Web, and provides the common solution - shared services infrastructure the OMB Federal Enterprise Architecture is striving for to provide better citizen-centric services.

  25. 2. Wikis • Federal Computer Week Survey: • What advice would you offer other government users interested in adopting collaboration tools? • Try conventional and Semantic Wikis before deciding on proprietary, expensive, thick client, hard to learn systems. • Any other thoughts on this subject? • How would you do data modeling on the Web without a Semantic Wiki? How would you provide every government employee a way to document their work, preserve their knowledge, and continue to contribute after retirement?

  26. 2. Wikis • September 18, 2006, Tips for teamwork in an online world: Groups discover how collaboration software can boost productivity if used properly, http://www.fcw.com/article96045-09-18-06: • When in doubt, look for solutions based on standards, advised Brand Niemann, data architect in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the CIO and co-chairman of the CIO Council’s Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice. • Because he is co-chairman of a CIO Council working group exploring the use of wikis based on World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards, Niemann nudges agencies in that direction. A wiki is a collaborative Web site with content that can be edited by any user with access to the site. • “The writeable Web is easy to learn, supports the way you work, is inexpensive and uses W3C standards to promote open collaboration,” Niemann said. “Try wikis before deciding on proprietary, expensive, thick-client, hard-to-learn systems.”

  27. 3. Semantic Wikis • Natural evolution of work on the Federal Enterprise Architecture Data Reference Model 2.0: • DRM 2.0 developed using the COLAB (Wiki). • DRM 2.0 evolved to a Knowledge Reference Model with semantic metadata (RDF and OWL) by SICoP. • SICoP asked if the Knowledge Reference Model can be implemented in a Semantic Wiki. The answer was yes! • SICoP is tracking the research and development of about 20 Semantic Wikis and piloting several early implementations (see next slide).

  28. 3. Semantic Wikis • Can your WIKI do security, custom forms or even basic semantics? The Visual Knowledge Semantic Wiki lets you decide who can see what concepts, how they see them and ultimately allow even a computer to understand the concepts in your Community. Check out some semantic WIKIs and start your own Semantic Wiki (see next slide).

  29. 3. Semantic Wikis http://vkwiki.visualknowledge.com/

  30. 3. Semantic Wikis • What does Visual Knowledge do? • Over the past 16 years Visual Knowledge (VK) has built an environment for developing applications for its clients which encompasses a broad architecture - one that is remarkably elegant in its small footprint and internal size. We build conventional applications that are driven by ontologies rather than by code. A great deal of our underlying systems and frameworks are also model driven; the entire architecture is extremely portable, fast and robust.

  31. 3. Semantic Wikis • What does Visual Knowledge do (continued)? • Our software environment can provide real-time, virtual representations of a business, industry or culture. A key differentiator is our Semantic Agent architecture: a model-driven architecture from the application layer down to its infrastructural levels. It utilizes packages of Semantic Agents to provide web service and web-enabled applications. These models can also be built from ontologies using OWL or RDF.

  32. 3. Semantic Wikis • What does Visual Knowledge do (continued)? • Our environment permits knowledge modelers, ontologists, or even domain experts, such as a business people or scientists, to create flexible and mutable models without needing to communicate through a programmer or a database. VK permits an expert in a particular domain to not only craft a model or simulation, but to actually turn on Semantic Agents so that they can operationally interact for a business or industry.

  33. 3. Semantic Wikis

  34. 4. Piloting Opportunities • What issues, such as content accuracy, do non-governmental networks need to address? • Answer 2: This is what I would like to pilot using a Semantic Wiki that addresses the scenario: “What is the compliance status of facility X?”, Using the following data sources: • US EPA • State • Facility Itself • Other • Answer 3: An example of how I would do that is shown in the following slides. Slides 15-16 from June 21st Presentation #2

  35. 4. Piloting Opportunities • Current Work Flow Process: • Search for data and metadata sources. • Cut-and-paste those data sources to your tools, e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. and deal with multiple proprietary formats. • Resolve the difference in semantic naming and identification technologies and standards used. • Model your information, e.g. table of contents, relational data structure, etc. for analysis and reporting. • Enter your information in a network collaboration tool to share it and connect it with others. • Semantic Wiki Work Flow Process: • Subscribe to information services. • Import, integrate, and analyze multiple proprietary formats. • Discover and connect relationships with Semantic Agents. • Make part or all of your information available on the public Web and/or secure private networks in W3C standard formats. Slides 15-16 from June 21st Presentation #2

  36. 5. Questions and Answers • Contact Information: • Brand Niemann • Niemann.brand@epa.gov • 202-564-9491 • http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?BrandNiemann • Upcoming Free Conference in October: • 2nd SOA for E-Government, October 30-31st, MITRE, McLean, VA: • http://www.mitre.org/register/soa • Upcoming Free Workshop in November: • November 28, 2006, Net-Ready Sensor Standards Harmonization Meeting Using the VK Test Semantic Wiki • http://www.sensornet.gov/net_ready_workshop/index.html • http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?NetReadySensorsWorkshop_2006_08_0203 • http://vkwiki.visualknowledge.com/wiki/sensors

  37. Appendix: EPA Segment Architecture • EPA Segments: • Services to Citizens (only 4 of 11 listed here): • Air Quality Management • Water Quality Management (I have the external-to-agency part of this) • Toxic Substances Management • Clean-up and Restoration • Support Delivery of Services: • Research & Science • Geospatial Services • Regulatory Development • Management of Government Resources: • IT Management • Records Management • Official Agency priority as reported to OMB –Serves as Test Case for Segment Architecture* • Administrative Services * I suggest using the Wiki and Semantic Wiki Infrastructure!

  38. Appendix: EPA Segment Architecture • Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office (FEA-PMO) Update* – Dick Burk, Chief Architect, Office of Management and Budget (OMB): • New guidance regarding segment architectures: • The beginning of the fiscal year kicks off the six month period when agency architects should be working with program managers to design segment architectures for lines of business. Agencies can take the opportunity over the next several months to develop Line of Business (LoB) architectures that meet business needs while aligning to their agency enterprise architecture. A key to success is building a level of trust and cooperation between the architects and program officials. This partnership requires time listening to business leaders, and replacing architect-speak with business-speak. • ‘Get out of your offices and stop drawing Visio diagrams and start helping the your business people and areas’ * The Federal Architect, December 2005, Volume 1, Issue 2, and the September 21st Architecture and Infrastructure Committee Meeting.

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