Managing Personal Knowledge: Understanding the Knowledge Expert

Across the literature, there is a gradual development of research on personal knowledge management (PKM) from theoretical to technical perspective on managing personal knowledge over the computer and internet technologies. This research domain has aroused the interest of researchers in Malaysia with the introduction of a PKM model to accommodate the understanding of PKM among knowledge workers. In this model, called the GUSC model, there are four main processes, which are get knowledge, understand knowledge, share knowledge and connect to knowledge sources. This model entails four cognitive enablers that are proposed to mediate the PKM processes. This paper analyses the quantitative data on the GUSC model to further understand the roles of software agents in mediating human’s PKM processes. It also analyses the role of cognitive enablers as mediating factors for the PKM processes, which are seen as potential strong notions for software agency. The results of the analysis show the significance of ‘connect’ as a role of an agent that depends on the rest of the factors. Based on the quantitative findings, it is recommended that the GUSC model is used to conceptualise an agent-based system, with cognitive enablers to determine the appropriate BDI structure for the system.

Background: Knowledge workers within the organisations still find difficulties in searching and locating knowledge resources and experts within their own firm. For organisations with high employee turnover, such as in the construction industry, this problem is deemed to be a risk that the organisations need to solve to succeed in achieving their goals. In another similar situation, knowledge management is highly expected to be well implemented in an organisation, especially in an institute of higher learning. Having academicians and researchers who work in silo in research projects would cause redundancy and waste of expertise, if the researchers are not sharing knowledge with each other due to lack of facilities and having an environment or culture that does not encourage knowledge sharing. There should be a facilitating condition, or ‘facilitating technology’, for sharing research expertise to these knowledge workers, to create awareness for acceptance of knowledge management. At the individual level, knowledge workers have their own way of managing knowledge, and this is considered as personal knowledge management (PKM), which has its own goals and objectives. This could lead to the collective goals and objectives of the organisation, if the PKM could be tapped in by the organisation and be made as part of the organisational knowledge management (OKM) strategy. On the technology perspective, there is still a gap between PKM and OKM, and how technology can help mediate between the two. Using artificial intelligence, or in particular, the software agent technology, PKM can be observed at individual knowledge worker level and an agent-mediated knowledge management framework, incorporating multi-agent collaborative framework, can be modelled to identify the possible ways the agent technology could be implemented to realise the OKM strategy from its roots. Aims: The aim of this paper is to study the issues in personal knowledge management and how agent intelligence can be used to identify and understand knowledge experts through their behaviour, diligence and intention. Method: The methodology starts with literature survey and review from both aspects –PKM and agent intelligence. This is followed by an analysis on how knowledge workers manage their personal knowledge from which some hypotheses are drawn up to be quantitatively and/or qualitatively proven. A conceptual model for agent-based PKM will be formalised by applying a human-agent collaborative framework. Results: Expected results are in the form of cross-reference of literature in the area of PKM and agent intelligence, with summary and outlook to conclude the literature findings. Pertinent issues and problems in PKM will be identified and a model for agent-based solutions will be proposed. Conclusion: Organisational knowledge management (OKM) starts from the individuals and their PKM. In order to achieve success in OKM strategy, there is a need to understand how individuals manage their knowledge at personal level. Agent intelligence can be used to tap into this PKM realm in order to locate and understand the behaviour, diligence and intent of the knowledge experts, and to match the knowledge and/or knowledge expert seekers. Possible Applications or Implications: Focus of area to be further developed by researchers, in terms of modelling a framework in the aspect of PKM for an agent-mediated knowledge management research. Agent technology could help knowledge workers to achieve their personal goals, and this can be further defined using a multi-agent collaborative framework.

This paper presents a multi-agent simulation that demonstrates personal knowledge management (PKM) processes among knowledge workers based on a PKM model. Two scenarios are simulated: the mediation of Knowledge Seeker-Knowledge Expert and Knowledge Seeker-Knowledge Collaborator tasks that are animated in an agent-oriented development platform. The results of the simulation validate the PKM model at agent-mediation level.

The concept embodying agent-mediated personal knowledge management (PKM) manifests a bottom-up process of organisational knowledge management (OKM) in achieving collective goals. Exploiting this concept from the perspective of crossing organisational boundaries and into the realm of social network, the concept of social intelligence is proposed. Social intelligence has been defined in many aspects, one of which is the sociability characteristics of a software agent in performing tasks over a social network. In modelling the PKM framework, intelligent agents are assigned with tasks to assist their human counterparts, where the PKM processes are enacted as a series of getting, understanding, and sharing knowledge and connecting to others for knowledge, over the social network. The critical issue is to identify and ‘locate’ knowledge experts for further enlightenment of one’s personal knowledge. Considering the advantages of social network and the congruence between PKM processes and Nonaka’s SECI model, the emergence of social intelligence is investigated in this paper by analysing the responses to a questionnaire survey on PKM processes. This paper also discusses the limitations of this research vis-à-vis the current practice in which the e-mail is predominantly used to manage personal knowledge. In resolving the issues identified, a nodal approach to agent-mediated PKM is proposed to model the emergence of social intelligence, where knowledge workers work cooperatively with software agents in a virtual workspace called a node. It then analyses the processes by characterising these nodes as intelligent social entities.

OR Insight, 2009

Organisations nowadays are determined to achieve their business goal and objectives of being the leader of the industry and being point of reference in terms of knowledge expert in the field. The issue arises in achieving these goals, whereas the people (or knowledge workers) within the organisations still find difficulties in searching and locating knowledge experts within their own firm. For organisations with high employees turn over, such as in the construction industry, this problem is deemed to be a risk that the organisations have to solve to succeed in achieving the goal and objectives. In addition to that, knowledge workers work in silo and have their own way of managing knowledge to be experts in the field. Organisations should look into a solution to ensure that these knowledge workers can find and assist each other in achieving their objectives, especially when the knowledge is required to perform certain task quickly. Collectively, their personal objectives would be the objective of the firm, so the organisation should implement a suitable organisational knowledge management framework to overcome this problem...

Personal knowledge networks have been primarily conceived by researchers with regard to the inter-firm knowledge sources between organisations, where networks are informal and personal. Instead of looking at the organisational context, some researchers investigate the intra-firm aspects at personal level of organisational knowledge networks, where knowledge management processes start and end. In a recent study on agent-mediated personal knowledge management (PKM) processes, an interview survey has been conducted to investigate the needs of organisations in tapping the personal knowledge networks among the employees by understanding the processes of managing knowledge at personal level. It also attempts to justify the knowledge sources for agent-mediation that are not only characterised by the usual knowledge repositories and databases, but also the knowledge experts within and outside of an organisation. The survey covers two main industries in Malaysia, which are Service and Education, in which the sampling of experts for respondents is made on these two industries. This paper analyses and discusses the results of this interview survey, to contribute to the domain of agent technology in mediating the human knowledge worker’s PKM processes. It then recommends future works in modelling the bottom-up approach of PKM-OKM, where personal knowledge networks manifest the organisational knowledge management with the help of software agents.

Advances in IT Standards and Standardization Research, 2019

Knowledge-work is a discretionary behavior, and knowledge-workers should be viewed as investors of their intellectual capital. That said, effective knowledge-work is mostly dependent on the performance of individual knowledge-workers who drive the success of knowledge-intensive organizations. Therefore, the study takes the perspective of personal knowledge management in enforcing the effectiveness of knowledge-work activities. This study empirically demonstrates that knowledge-workers' behaviors are dependent on their motivation, ability and opportunity to perform knowledge-work activities. This study provides insights and future directions for research on knowledge-work as a discretionary behavior in organization and the factors influencing it. Scholars can investigate the effect of empowerment of individuals on their tendency to knowledge-creation, knowledge-sharing and knowledge-application. Since personal-knowledge often raise the issue of knowledge ownership, further attent...

Organizational Learning and Knowledge

Prados Martínez, F. y Gutiérrez Soler, L.M. (2024): “El sillar con volutas del Museo Íbero de Jaén: propuesta de reconstrucción de un nuevo monumento de Giribaile (Vilches, Jaén)”. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 50(1): 181-202, 2024

(ENG) In this paper, the study of a corner ashlar decorated with volutes is presented. The piece is currently part of the collection of the Museo Íbero of Jaén. This architectural element, found out of context on the eastern face of the oppidum of Giribaile (Vilches, Jaén) was published in a succinct form in 1998. Now, thanks to the 3D scan-ning and digitalisation, a more complete study is presented. This includes a trial restitution of the piece, its ar-chaeological analysis and a proposed dating. This date coincides with the last phase of the archaeological site. (ESP) El trabajo presenta el estudio de un sillar de esquina decorado con volutas que forma parte de la actual colección del Museo Íbero de Jaén. La pieza, hallada fuera de contexto en la ladera oriental del oppidum de Giribaile (Vilches, Jaén) fue publicada de forma preliminar en 1998. Ahora, gracias a su escaneo en 3D y digitalización, se presenta un estudio más completo que incluye un ensayo de restitución de la pieza, su análisis arqueológico y una propuesta de datación coincidente con la última fase de vida del yacimiento.