Semantic-Web-Based Knowledge Management

From IEEE Internet Computing, Sept./Oct. 2007

John Davies • British Telecommunications

Miltiadis Lytras • University of Patras, Greece

Amit P. Sheth • Wright State University

Hundreds of millions of users can now access several billion documents on the Web, and even larger data sets reside in organizations’ intranets and Web-accessible databases (the so-called deep Web). As the amount of available data continues to grow rapidly, it’s increasingly difficult for users to find, organize, access, and maintain the information they require.

At the same time, the notion of the Semantic Web1 promises to make Web-accessible data more amenable to machine processing. The Semantic Web is about labeling (annotating) information so that computer systems (and humans) can process it more meaningfully. The semantics underlying such annotations usually come from ontologies, which encapsulate agreement among information creators and users with help from common nomenclature and the use of rich knowledge representation. Just as the Semantic Web (also called Web 3.0) is beginning to empower and energize content on the Web, the underlying principles and technologies can energize and enhance the long-standing knowledge-management discipline. In this special issue of IC, we’re particularly interested in the new possibilities the Semantic Web affords for improved knowledge management...

Trends in knowledge management... Semantic-based knowledge management... continue reading

See also in this issue - IEEE Internet Computing, Sept./Oct. 2007:
The five articles selected for this special issue summarize our view of the Semantic Web’s strategic role toward more effective knowledge management. They provide sound propositions for supporting knowledge management at several levels. At the individual and artifact level, they highlight the concepts of automatic metadata extraction and service-oriented metadata management; at the group and organizational level, they promote the significance of peer-to-peer networks; and at the interorganizational level, they investigate ontologies’ significance.

In “Requirements and Services for Metadata Management,” the authors identify general requirements for metadata management and describe a simple model and service to address these requirements, with specific focus on RDF metadata.

In “Extracting Relevant Attribute Values for Improved Search,” the authors propose a new kind of metadata—relevant values—that provides a synthesized view of an attribute’s values directly extracted from the data.

“GridVine: An Infrastructure for Peer Information Management” describes a semantic overlay infrastructure based on a peer-to-peer access structure. In GridVine, users can query heterogeneous but semantically related information sources transparently using iterative query reformulation. The authors discuss their experiences using GridVine as a substrate for sharing semantic information.

“Using Semantic Web Technologies to Analyze Learning Content” demonstrates how Semantic Web technologies can improve the state of the art in learning environments and bridge the gap between students and learning content authors or teachers. The authors' ontological framework helps formalize the notion of learning object context.

Finally, in “Harvesting Wiki Consensus: Using Wikipedia Entries as Vocabulary for Knowledge Management,” the authors show that standard wikis are suitable platforms for the collaborative development of vocabularies that can be used to annotate documents. They prove that Wikipedia entries’ URIs are surprisingly reliable identifiers for conceptual entities.

The latest Semantic Web developments and insights in knowledge management challenge the new era of semantic-based knowledge-management systems. Semantic Web tools and applications contribute significantly to knowledge management’s performance, providing a definition for flexible reference mechanisms to knowledge objects and knowledge contributors;7
integration of knowledge creation and use;8,9
integral human involvement in information- and knowledge-management activities;10 and
a definition for and the exploitation of social networks, including social activities and context.2,11 continue reading

On the same shelf & aisle: A. Sheth and S. Stephens, “Semantic Web: Technologies and Applications for the Real World,” World Wide Web Conf. tutorial, 2007. (Also available at http://knoesis.wright.edu/library/presentations/WWW2007-Sheth-Stephens-Tutorial-Final.ppt.)

Do Knowledge Managers Really Want to Share Knowledge?—Sharing as a Mating Game

Posted by Patrick Lambe:

I’ve had a creeping suspicion for some time that knowledge managers are fine about encouraging others to share knowledge, but that dictum doesn’t apply to them. In my role as President of iKMS I am always trying to get knowledge managers to share, and the ones who do are in the brave minority - even then, they tend to be far more reluctant to share in a public forum than in a private one. They have reasons, of course: lack of experience and confidence, lack of clear progress and successful results to show, restrictions by employers. But in such a young profession, with such instability of career progression and continuity of KM staff, with extensive inexperience among managers who are responsible for KM, sharing is about the only way to get access to experience faster. The obsession with success is an illusion born of that inexperience. We learn fastest through examining lack of success, and the more mature professions such as medicine and law and engineering recognise that. They have rituals for anatomising failure, and it’s not for fun, it’s because that’s how they learn and survive. Continue reading the Guru's words Categories: Communities, Expertise, Ignorance Management, KM Competencies, KM Critiqued, Knowledge Sharing Permalink

See also Patrick Lambe's new book:

Librarians as Knowledge Managers - Profiles of emerging leaders

NB. This page will be continuously updated (last update Dec 13, 2011). Bookmark it. And, if you know a KM Librarain, send me his / her profile, and it will be posted here.

Who's in this room:
Prasannna Mnazhiyil Kesavan; Vandana Ranjan; ; Uma Narayan ; Vijaya C. Menon; Deb Rash; Bhojaraju D Gunjal; Susan Braun; Ben Skinner; Ginny Browne, Karen Huffman Dennie Heye.

Prasannna Manazhiyil Kesavan: INFORMATION OFFICER- Motorola India Electronics, Ltd. (MIEL) Hyderabad. (April 2000 to the present).

"My strength lies in maintaining a fine balance between being a user friendly support based on sound professional foundations. I am known for conceptualizing library & non-library initiatives and cultivating a holisitic work culture; as well as leveraging maximum knowledge and support from varied resources to help make informed decisions and implementing initiatives with maximum efficiency. I am interested in contributing to Elearning / Training Management, Enterprise Information Management, Facilities Management, Team building and corporate social commitments. My other interests are in the fields of Digital Library, Content Management and Knowledge Management."

Bhojaraju D Gunjal lives in Bangalore, India and serves as the Assistant Consultant (KM Practice) at TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) - one of the world’s leading information technology companies. He has more than eight years of professional experience in Knowledge/Content Management & Library Administration in IT Sector. [source]

Vandana Ranjan is Knowledge Management Specialist at Bates WorldWide. Prior to that she worked at the Brooklyn Public Library's fast paced Telephone Reference Center.
Vandy has several years of experience in reference and library management. She worked as a solo librarian in India and built, from the ground, up, two successful libraries -- one academic library and one special library.
She came to the United States in pursuit of online information retrieval skills and received her second Master's in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
In her spare time she enjoys nature-gazing, biking, photography and classical music. [source: sla.org]

Mrs. Uma Narayan, Currently: Board of Directors, International Association of Law Libraries (2007- to date); Chief Librarian, Honourable Judges Library, Bombay High Court, India (1998- to date)
Previously: Knowledge Manager, Nishith Desai Associates: Legal and Tax Counselling Worldwide, India (2007).
Was invited by the U.S. Department of State to participate in the Individual International Visitor Programme in June-July 2003. Was awarded Professional Development Bursary by International Association of Law Libraries to attend their 23rd Annual Course in International Law Librarianship in August, 2004 at Helsinki, Finland. Was awarded Commonwealth Professional Development Fellowship tenable at Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London between January 6, 2006 and April 5, 2006. Was also awarded Visiting Fellowship in Law Librarianship by Institute of Advanced Legal studies, University of London for the period of Commonwealth Fellowship.

Ben Skinner: After a first degree in mathematics Ben moved into librarianship, working in the universities at Bath and Salford and gaining his Masters at MMU.

Moving to Brighton in 2004, Ben took up the post of Evidence-Based Knowledge Management Librarian at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. This role focuses on the running of a unique information service aimed at supporting evidence-based practice (EBP) throughout the local trusts.

As part of this service Ben has taught both critical appraisal skills and literature searching for EBP, initially to NHS staff and more recently for the Brighton & Sussex Medical School. [source]

Vijaya C. Menon is the Knowledge Management Head - Grey South Asia at Grey Global Group, Mumbai, India. An experience spanning 15 years, Vijaya started her career with University & College libraries and changed streams to manage corporate libraries. Her previous work experience includes positions at J. Walter Thompson, & Arthur Andersen (now Ernst & Young) where she worked as a solo librarian.
Vijaya holds a B.A. in Economics, Bachelor in Library Science and a Diploma in Marketing & Advertising Communications from the University of Mumbai. She is currently pursuing her MLIS degree from the University of Aberystwyth, Wales via Distance Learning. Vijaya has been a member of SLA for the last 6 months.
Leading a team of two, her work at Grey includes overseeing collection development at all branches in South Asia, handling industry information queries & disseminating advertising & marketing data. Currently she is involved in setting up the library intranet at Grey.
Outside of work Vijaya enjoys gardening, exercising, traveling and watching movies. [source: SLA.ORG] see also Award

Deb Rash joined Iconoculture as their Knowledge Manager in May 2006.

Previously, Deb was the Knowledge Manager at Carmichael Lynch. Her prior advertising career included working as a media planner at several agencies in Minneapolis.

She graduated in May 2004 with an MLIS from Dominican University/College of St. Catherine where she has returned as an Adjunct Instructor to team teach the class "Issues in Special Libraries." Deb has held the Membership Chair position for the Advertising & Marketing Division and Secretary and Continuing Education Chair positions for the Minnesota Chapter. She was a recipient of the MN Chapter�s Quality in Action Award in 2004.

Deb earned her BA in English from Carleton College. Outside of work, her passions are baseball and running. source]

Susan Braun, Manager, Lauritsen Library Research Services, The Aerospace Institute

{picture/ details awaited}
see also: [il2007] Librarians as Knowledge Managers

Ginny Browne is OCLC's Knowledge Management librarian. She runs OCLC's internal website, called C-Web, and manages internal knowledge transfer. Ginny also is one of the three editors of this nifty little glossary that we have behind our firewall (sorry) that defines library jargon, acronyms, initialisms, and, especially, OCLC-speak. (...) For her day job, Ginny works in our Library and Information Center, and serves as the recorder for the Members Council's State Academic Libraries group. [source]

Karen Huffman,
Vice President, KMPro DC Chapter; SLA member since 1999. Currently a member of the Washington, DC/SLA Chapter and Knowledge Management division

National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., 1985 to Present. Information Systems & Technology: Senior Applications & Database Administrator (June 2008 to Present); Libraries & Information Services: Manager of Knowledge Initiatives (March 2005 to May 2008); Senior Librarian (April 2002 to March 2005); and Systems Specialist (April 1998 to March 2002). Administrative Services division: Administrative Assistant with managerial responsibilities (September 1994 to April 1998);

Dennie Heye is global knowledge manager for the Human Resources IT division at Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands. He has a LIS degree and a university degree in marketing, which he thinks makes a strong combination of skills to succeed in an organisation. He has worked in different library roles in Deloitte & Touche and Royal Dutch Shell, most recently as library portfolio manager for scientific & technical electronic sources and library innovator.
As knowledge manager for the Human Resources IT division he is responsible to define and implement a strategy covering the technical, content and organizational aspects of knowledge management.
He has written two books: "Characteristics of the Successful Twenty-First Century Information Professional" and "obnoxious librarian from hades". You can read more about him at his website.

Digital pens more trouble than they're worth

Oct 29, 2007 Robert Cribb Toronto Star
No matter how modern technology advances, our most ancient devices seem to remain with us.

And when it comes to the written word, that's a good thing.
Computerized writing devices that double as mini computers are an attempt to merge the primitive with the contemporary. continue reading

See also: Future Technology- Are digital pens something to write home about? "Saying that, it is hard to imagine how the convenience and portability of the pen could be bettered. Stuff a pen and notebook in your pocket and you can write a novel in a cafe or in the middle of a desert. The same is true of digital pens -- although you would need to carry a mobile phone to transmit the data to a storage device for processing later. In the future, though, it might be possible to store gigabytes' worth of text and image data in the pen itself. A development like that could see the (not so humble) pen living on for a further 5,000 years...