Knowledge Maps White Paper

Summary of Collaborative Knowledge Mapping in Business Information Management

This is my first attempt at distillation of knowledge mapping and management strategies I have found via Web research. I don't claim to be an expert so please feel free to make corrections in accord with your expertise.

by: Kirk Kitchen

5/27/2001

1. Introduction

Knowledge Engineering is an emerging science based on managing the effective construction and maintenance of knowledge networks. The old model of "knowledge = power, so protect it", is being challenged by the notion of "collaboration = wealth, so share knowledge". Companies that intend to succeed must become agile users of internal knowledge as well as information shared across multiple organizations (communities of practice)(1).

Knowledge Mapping (2), (Knowledge Management = KM) is the brain's own process for organizing concepts. Any printed matter or electronic visualization is a translation of the mental map onto a symbol set. The map helps humans keep track of informational objects and the relationships between these objects (which are also informational objects).

Knowledge Mapping, is the practice of organizing concepts into connected hierarchies (or networks) of containers called Boundary Objects(3) connected by references or transclusions. A reference is a pointer to a boundary object. Common references include bibliographies and more recently, hyperlinks. A boundary object may be of any size, and may contain other boundary objects. For example, a library contains books which contains sections which contain chapters which contain paragraphs which contain words which contain letters. All of these are boundary objects. Information may be shared between multiple boundary objects. For example, your public library may contain a copy of a book also contained in other libraries. Information that is identical may be cloned into multiple copies, or one copy may be referenced in multiple libraries.

A representation is a translation of the information of a boundary object into a visual or audible means for the user. An access method is a system, either automated or manual, for translating information into a representation.

A source document is the physical collection of print or bits and bytes that may be viewed or translated into a representation by the access method. One source document may have many representations.

Trans Clusion (coined by Ted Nelson) (as opposed to referencing through links) is another way of presenting a single informationally-consistent copy of a boundary object within multiple other boundary objects for view and/or edit. Although there is only one transcluded source document, the information appears as if original content when viewed. Edits to one transcluded object (if permitted) may or may not immediately appear in all other containers of that object depending on the access method (see Observer Pattern). Transclusion presents some interesting challenges to the information management system and is not universally implemented, although the World Wide Web, (WWW) provides mechanisms to do just that and even dynamic update capabilities.

Versions of a document arise when the document is circulated and then a copy is changed and re-circulated with the altered content.

Collaborative knowledge mapping lets all individuals in an organization or department contribute to the collection, maintenance and indexing of knowledge topics. Hypertext (now sometimes called hypermedia) systems such as the WWW have enabled public collaboration to create a huge knowledge map.

Other, hybrid systems may blend WWW links and internal hypertext links, and limit use and visibility to restricted user groups within a corporation or other user community.

2. The Version Problem

Electronic text provides an efficient way for information users and providers to capture and communicate documents, however, it introduces a version control problem. The speed with which documents can be modified often causes printed copies to become quickly out of date. Attempts to create the paperless office where one copy of the latest revision lives on a centralized server have generally failed. Users clone a version to become a working copy for edit, offline use, or create a printout.

In the Software Engineering domain, revision control becomes especially important. Round Trip Engineering is a form of knowledge mapping that creates documentation from the software or visa-versa. In large projects with multiple software engineers, knowledge mapping tools are useful for managing complexity, although good design is still the cornerstone of software performance. Creating a good design means accurately mapping requirements to an appropriate solution. In mission critical applications, the version management of design and user documentation is essential.

3. The Information Carry Forward Problem

Information carry forward is an insidious manifestation of the version problem that is frequently found in email. The email generally contains abstracted content artifacts, either clipped from original documents or produced on the fly. Email chain letters provide a humorous although sometimes harmful example of carry forward. Chain letters exist that have been circulated for years and contain misinformation about a variety of topics.

This problem also plagues corporate email systems. Email threads are created that eventually result in unsynchronized information. Resolution of conflicting information can consume considerable corporate resources.

4. Collaborative Editing

Collaborative Editing(4) is a method for making one electronic version of a document available where anyone with write access permission can make changes. Append-only systems let users serialize input to the document, creating a thread. Web discussion groups provide an excellent tool for creating multiple threads.

Full collaborative editing lets users both add and delete content. Collaborative editing presumes a level of trust among the user community. Regular database backups as well as rollback to previous edits through version control ameliorate unintentional deletion.

Collaborative editing alleviates some of the carry forward and version problems and offers forums that encourage synergy. When a document is collaboratively edited, users tend to return to the one current copy of the source document for reference and document maintenance. Collaborative ownership turns users into co-owners of documentation, and mistakes are often corrected immediately rather than being redlined for future change, once they are discovered.

In Synchronous Editing, all simultaneous users of a document see the same view of the screen, their cursor positions within a document are locked together and keystrokes are entered as they arrive from each user. Synchronous Editing requires that all clients are notified for each user operation on the document.

In Asynchronous Editing, all simultaneous users of a document may view and navigate within a document independently. Often there is a locking mechanism that allows only one of the users to save a document at a time and notifies all others who attempt to save when the file has been modified. Most Wiki Wiki Web editors provide Asynchronous Editing.

5. Knowledge Annealing

Knowledge Annealing is a process of refining a Knowledge Map. In a collaborative environment, this is an ongoing process that starts as participants make changes to the documentation.

One problem with collaborative annealing is that conflicting opinions of the users may cause the information base to become unstable as each user tries to make his or her edits for correctness. Informal moderation tactics should be adopted to ensure that conflicting opinions are adequately juxtaposed before the decision is made to commit changes to information reputed as fact.

6. Discovery of Tacit Patterns

A variety of tools may be used to discover patterns in large bodies of information such as searching for keywords and organizing documentation according to interconnected topics. While not related to the collaborative aspect of mapping, such tools can augment user abilities to discover patterns in information or provide automated discovery through intelligent agents.(5)

Another approach is to encode semantic information using additional markup. The WC3 consortium is working on a definition for a Semantic Web.(6)

7. Collaboration Tools

Automated information mapping systems were proposed as early as 1945 with Memex(7) (microfilm). Experiments during the 1960's provided prototypes for information management. Xanadu, started in the 1970's was a hypertext project of ambitious scope that has been superseded by WWW and other systems, although its authors contributed significantly to the body of KM.

Automated mapping tools such as hypertext systems provide richly linked knowledge maps, however, their widespread use is determined by the efficacy of the tools and the learning curve to use them. World Wide Web pages provide an excellent model for richly-linked knowledge maps, and a variety of tools are available such as Amaya Browser and Manila By Dave Winer to make editing a web page as familiar as the use of word processing software.

Hybrid systems that provide a localized hyperlinked database for some information but extend to the WWW, are available such as Lotus Notes, a feature-rich information management system that includes email.

An evolving collection freeware known as Wiki Wiki Webs provides a very low cost hybrid collaborative, KM tool. Wiki Wiki Clones have various features to provide collaboratively edited documents and version control. Their main advantages are simplicity and low cost.

8. Perspective within the Corporation

In organizations, the efficiency with which knowledge can be captured and linked is key to creating the knowledge base upon which the company depends. Historically, this task has been relegated to an authority within the corporation such as the document control department. Although there is a good argument for providing a department to manage the corporate knowledge, information producers are often well equipped to create the knowledge map, and may contribute significantly when asked and provided with the appropriate tools.

9. Security and Trust

Most small organizations have a sufficient atmosphere of trust to allow safe collaboration. Larger organizations can create department-wide KM tools that permit collaboration within a department, but limit levels of participation by others to view only, or completely restrict access.

The self-censuring nature of collaborative communities is evidenced even in public Wiki Wiki Web servers that can be used anyone connected to the Internet. In theses communities, one finds remarkable evidence of cooperation and trust. Newsgroups are notorious for collecting spam, however collaborative tools that provide edit and delete capability to all seem to encourage an etiquette of consideration and restraint.

Available collaborative KM tools have various security mechanisms for protecting knowledge maps. The degree of protection should be dictated by the risk of data corruption or loss and need to restrict access to domains, in conjunction with an assessment of the trustworthiness of the users.(8)

10. Migration to Collaborative KM Systems

Getting information users accustomed to collaborative editing and mapping tools can be a challenge. Old habits are hard to break and not all users will contribute content. Some user will stubbornly cling to conventional methods and domains are carefully protected.

Managers are often reliant on proactive notification of crucial developments by other department members. Many managers do not feel they have time to browse an evolving database. That problem can be solved by using the KM system in conjunction with judicious email notification, when information changes that deserves user attention. Automated email notification features are offered in some KM tools, to email users when topics of interest are changed.

Undoubtedly, collaborative KM tools must be phased in slowly, and used in conjunction with existing systems. Not all users make good librarians. Placing a KM tool in the hands of the existing document control department first, can be an effective way to ensure that collaboration is well managed.

Not all users will collaborate. Not all users will contribute content. Not all users will readily understand how to take full advantage of a knowledge map. However, the introduction of a user-maintained map can be a powerful technique for improving information accessibility, efficiency, and accuracy. Migration needn't be swift beyond what is comfortable for the organization.

Usually, introduction of KM tools must be shepherded by one or more persons who are dedicated to mapping a portion of the knowledge base. Once a critical mass of information is available, other users begin to contribute content.(9)

11. Cost

The cost of implementing KM can be anywhere from nearly free (Wiki Wiki Web tools) to quite expensive (Lotus Notes or other knowledge management systems range from $100 to $1K per seat). The integrity and security of commercial tools is generally not significantly different from that of the free tools available. It is unclear if expensive, commercial tools provide significant advantages over their freeware alternatives. It is clear that the both provide important features, so that the choice may be dictated more by available budget than features offered.

The slick user interface provided by commercial products is often not better or more efficient. Excessive and unnecessary features can present a longer learning curve, excessive time spent tweaking, and result in hard-to-maintain documents with obscure formatting features only understood by guru users.

Furthermore, the free tools are open source and are written in common web-scripting languages such as Perl and Python, permitting extensive customization, provided that appropriate programming resources are available within the company.

12. Summary

Tools that provide electronic, collaborative knowledge collection, maintenance, and mapping can potentially improve the quality and efficiency of knowledge management in an organization. The reduction of redundancy and elimination of conflicting versions are definite material advantages.

The creation of user-maintained richly hyper-linked information bases provides an operational advantage for information retrieval and effective understanding of complex domains. It also raises the awareness of the corporate mission and sense of the corporate culture because everyone in the department or company can view a dynamic body of corporate knowledge and contribute to its formation.

Managers who understand how to use knowledge maps can quickly browse topics of interest to create a snapshot of current developments within the corporation, provided that they have been captured in the knowledge base. They can also be automatically notified when a topic of interest changes by notification features of the KM system.

The ability to share selected infomation across trans-organizational communities of practice, offers the opportunity for companies to leverage their knowledge through collaboration.

Security is an issue, but a variety of tools exist to limit the use of domains. Some systems have the ability to group user communities so that some may edit a document while others may only view the information. Other levels of security prevent any unauthorized access to private domains.

Collaborative KM tools can improve the efficacy of knowledge management within an organization, provided that users are made aware of their availability, and encouraged to participate in the creation of the KM. The cost of current tools is either nearly free or insignificant when compared with the advantages.

Bibliography:

(8) Examples of collaborative editing addressing permission:
gsulaw.gsu.edu

Commentary: Nice Job! I hit this quote from Stephen Denning in an article at:

"The most important thing that we learned was that communities were the heart and soul of the whole thing. This was something we learned by experience, not by design. When we started, there were just one or two communities organization-wide. After a year, we looked around and saw that the only areas where knowledge sharing was happening effectively was where there were communities. So the programming increasingly revolved around supporting, nurturing and strengthening those communities. By the end of '98, there were over 100 "thematic groups" covering every aspect of World Bank operations and activities."

The importance of "Communities" struck me as a vaild point. -- Jim Russell

Thanks. I was trying to hit the main points of current KM. We have recently installed an intranet accessible copy of Use Mod Wiki where I work, upon my recommendation. I'll relate my experiences to the Wiki forum after we gain some experience using it. --Kirk Kitchen

Category Knowledge Category Collaboration

See original on c2.com