Tech Reports

Tech Report kmi-00-08 Abstract

Rapid Knowledge Construction: A Case Study in Corporate Contingency Planning Using Collaborative Hypermedia
Techreport ID: kmi-00-08
Date: 2000
Author(s): Albert M. Selvin and Simon J. Buckingham Shum

Many knowledge management (KM) efforts revolve around managing documents in a repository or enabling better real-time communication. An ideal approach would combine these with the ability to create knowledge content that can be either formal or informal in nature, in a rapid, real-time manner. We will call this Rapid Knowledge Construction (RKC). This paper describes the concepts underpinning our approach to RKC, and provides a case study of the approach in an industry context. The Compendium approach, which has been applied in projects in both industry and academic settings, facilitates the rapid creation of the content of a KM repository, by combining collaborative hypermedia, group facilitation techniques, and an analytical methodology rooted in knowledge acquisition and structured analysis. Compendium addresses key challenges for the successful introduction of KM technologies into work practice: (i) customization for different use contexts; (ii) integration of formal and informal communication; (iii) integration of both prescribed and ad hoc representations; (iv) validation and cross-referencing of the repository 'on the fly' at the point of entry; (v) conversion of organizational documents / emails into a hypertext database, and (vi) conversion of hypertext databases into organizational document formats.

Publication(s):

Selvin, A. M. and Buckingham Shum, S. J. (2002). Rapid Knowledge Construction: A Case Study in Corporate Contingency Planning Using Collaborative Hypermedia. Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 9, Issue 2, pp. 119-128. < http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/93514037/START >

Future Internet

Knowledge
Management Multimedia &
Information Systems Narrative
Hypermedia New Media Systems Semantic Web &
Knowledge Services

Future Internet is...

With over a billion users, today's Internet is arguably the most successful human artifact ever created. The Internet's physical infrastructure, software, and content now play an integral part of the lives of everyone on the planet, whether they interact with it directly or not. Now nearing its fifth decade, the Internet has shown remarkable resilience and flexibility in the face of ever increasing numbers of users, data volume, and changing usage patterns, but faces growing challenges in meetings the needs of our knowledge society. Globally, many major initiatives are underway to address the need for more scientific research, physical infrastructure investment, better education, and better utilisation of the Internet. Within Japan, USA and Europe major new initiatives have begun in the area.

To succeed the Future Internet will need to address a number of cross-cutting challenges including:

Scalability in the face of peer-to-peer traffic, decentralisation, and increased openness

Trust when government, medical, financial, personal data are increasingly trusted to the cloud, and middleware will increasingly use dynamic service selection