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PIERRE DERRIER
- #203293 UNIVERSITAD DE
LAS AMERICAS Cholula, Puebla MEXICO |
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
READING REPORT :
An Intelligent Agent-Based
Framework for Knowledge Management on The Web:
An
Exploratory Study of A Virtual Team in Designing A Multimedia System
Seung Ik Baek, Jay Liebowitz, and Srinivas Y. Prasad
Mary J. Granger
Management Science Department
School of Business and Public Management
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
CONTEXT DESCRIPTION
The recent proliferation of personal
computers and communication networks has enabled organizations to acquire and
retain their distributed organizational structures. Using a computer network,
geographically distributed people with common goals can communicate,
coordinate, and collaborate their work efforts across time and space barriers.
These "virtual teams" can bring together the right mix of people who
have the appropriate set of knowledge, skills, information, and authority to
solve difficult problems quickly and easily.
The challenge that modern
organizations face is to turn the scattered, diverse knowledge of their
knowledge workers who are working in a virtual team into a well-structured
knowledge repository.
Knowledge Management (KM) is suggested as a
methodology for creating, maintaining and exploiting a knowledge repository. KM
is defined as the collection of processes that support the creation,
dissemination, and utilization of knowledge between appropriate individuals,
groups within an organization, and independent organizations
ABSTRACT OF THE
PAPER
This research focus on developing a
conceptual model for KM and a framework for the roles of intelligent agents in a
conceptual KM model. Furthermore, it will implement and evaluate the
intelligent agent-based framework on the Web under a collaborative environment
for designing a multimedia system.
SUMMARY
OF THE PAPER
A. CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Spek and Spijkervet (1996) identify three basic
activities necessary to build a well-structured knowledge repository:
1. Creating knowledge
2. Securing/combining knowledge
3. Distributing/retrieving knowledge.
1. Creating Knowledge
Knowledge
is created by designers, developers and users of the system. The knowledge is
refined continually by other group members throughout a design process. A
highly expressive, precisely defined set of attributes for design knowledge
representation can facilitate the ability to create new knowledge in a
knowledge repository.
2. Securing/Combining Knowledge
All new knowledge must be validated
by all team members, in order to make sure they understand it clearly, and can freely
integrate their own knowledge into the new knowledge. All these can happen by
storing and indexing knowledge properly.
3. Distributing/Retrieving Knowledge
The new knowledge must then be
shared and easily accessible. In a rapidly changing environment, keyword-based
knowledge retrieving is no longer productive. The dynamic nature of such an
environment requires content-based, context-based knowledge retrieving.
B. IMPLEMENTATION WITH
KM AGENTS
To enhance knowledge flow in a conceptual KM
model, three KM agents are designed and implemented:
1.
User agent
2.
Knowledge manager
3.
Knowledge agent.
|
KM Activities |
KM Agents |
Major Functions |
|
Creating Knowledge |
User Agent |
Remember all KM activities of
users; Dynamically organize a person's agenda. |
|
Securing Knowledge |
Knowledge Agent |
Index knowledge; Detect inconsistency;
Save, retrieve, and update knowledge from a knowledge repository. |
|
Distributing Knowledge |
Knowledge Manager |
Monitor all changes that occurred
in a knowledge repository; Provide critics to new knowledge |
|
Retrieving Knowledge |
Knowledge Manager |
Reformulate queries based on an
ontology; Determine the most favored alternative based on preference
weighting and ranking. |
C. VALIDATION
STRATEGY
This
section focus on a way for validate the framework in a real-world setting. For
that, it lists the KM activities of designers as they use an intelligent
agent-based KM system.
For each, it proposes perfomance evaluation
criterias :
|
KM Activities |
Related Theories |
Theoretical Propositions |
Design Features |
Performance Evaluation Criteria |
|
Knowledge Creating |
Gestalt Theory (Mayer, 1992) |
In Gestalt Theory, problem
representation rests at the heart of knowledge creating activity. The theory
suggests that tools and techniques should be invented for helping people to
represent problems in useful way. |
Storyboard-Based Knowledge Creating |
Ease of Use of Storyboards;
Clarity/Ambiguity of Storyboards; Richness of Storyboards |
|
Knowledge Securing |
IPS Model (Newell & Simon, 1972) |
The IPS model assumes that human
memory consists of two major components: long-term memory and short-term
memory. |
Content-Based Indexing for
Storyboards and Feedback Messages |
Easy of Storyboard Editing;
Effectiveness of Intelligent Access Control |
|
Knowledge Distributing |
Information Theory (Shannon, 1948) |
Information Theory argues that the
ability of individuals to generate and transmit knowledge has the potential
to promote interdependency among individuals. It states that mutual awareness
is an important issue for supporting collaboration. |
Feedback |
Timeliness/Responsiveness of
Feedback; Negotiation Productivity |
|
Knowledge Retrieving |
Cognitive Flexibility Theory
(Spiro et al., 1988) |
Cognitive Flexibility Theory
states that, if users can access various perspectives for solving a problem,
they might get a deeper, clearer understanding about the problem. Because of
the limited capacity of human memory, too much knowledge makes users
experience cognitive overload problems. |
Hypermedia-Based Knowledge Presentation |
Cognitive Overload;
Intuitive/Disorientation of Interface; Flexibility |
REFERENCES
Full paper
“An Intelligent Agent-Based Framework for Knowledge Managementon The Web: An
Exploratory Study of A Virtual Team in Designing A Multimedia System”
Pierre Derrier #203293