Christina E. Evangelou

Interweaving knowledge management, argumentation and decision making in a collaborative setting: the KAD ontology model

Admitting that ontologies are a means to accomplish a shared understanding of different knowledge domains and to facilitate sharing and reuse of bodies of knowledge across groups and applications, this paper presents an ontology model, namely KAD, which applies to argumentative discourses carried out in collaborative decision making settings. The proposed model interweaves concepts from the Knowledge Management, Argumentation Theory, Decision Making, and Multicriteria Decision Aid disciplines. Through the case of manufacturing management, it is shown that KAD can be easily expanded in order to apply to any particular knowledge domain, after the proper definition of the relevant semantics.

Towards an ontology for knowledge management in communities of practice

The work presented in this paper is about learning in Communities of Practices (CoP). It is situated in the context of Knowledge Management (KM) services that we are developing in the Palette project dedicated to learning in CoPs. The approach is based on several models detailed in this paper. These models constitute the theoretical grounding upon which the KM services will be based; they are organized in order to constitute a generic meta-ontology, from which a CoP-dependent ontology can be built, so as to annotate the CoPs knowledge resources.

A computerized knowledge management system for the manufacturing strategy process

This paper presents Co-MASS, a computerized knowledge management system for the collaborative development of manufacturing and operations strategy. The system supports the social and knowledge processes of collaborative strategy development by integrating a domain-specific modelling formalism based on the resource view of the firm, an associated structured dialogue scheme, an argumentation-enabling mechanism, and an efficient algorithm for the evaluation of alternatives. The competence-based manufacturing strategy paradigm behind its design rationale, its main elements, and a use case in a real setting are presented. Evaluation results provided positive feedback for the usability of the system, the discourse structure and the functionality of the user interface. The main contribution of our system lies in the integration of knowledge management, decision support and argumentation features, which constitutes a novel approach to develop manufacturing strategy.

On the interaction between humans and Knowledge Management Systems: a framework of knowledge sharing catalysts

Admitting that knowledge workers and Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) are valuable organizational assets whose interaction should be augmented, this paper presents a thorough exploration of incentives leading to the stimulation of knowledge sharing activities. Towards this end, we comment on a series of critical issues that affect the knowledge sharing behaviour of individuals. Considering previously discussed, but scattered or not clearly identified socio-cultural and technological factors that stimulate or impede knowledge sharing activities, this paper proposes a framework of incentives of positive and negative reinforcement that act as catalysts to the knowledge-sharing procedure. Adopting the social–technical systems theory, our approach builds on the joint consideration of the above factors to facilitate knowledge sharing in an organizations every day practices. The proposed framework contributes to the surpassing of knowledge-sharing impediments and advocates enhanced human–computer interaction. It can be exploited towards both the cultivation of an organizations knowledge-sharing culture and the development of a KMS that helps an organization meet its business objectives.

On the Development of Knowledge Management Services for Collaborative Decision Making

Admitting that the quality of a decision depends on the quality of the knowledge used to make it, it is argued that the enhancement of the decision making efficiency and effectiveness is strongly related to the appropriate exploitation of all possible organizational knowledge resources. On the other hand, software is perceived as an encapsulation of knowledge. Especially software tools offering Knowledge Management can become substantial organizational artifacts. Developing such tools should be in absolute compliance with the organizational practices so as to be easily integrated with and augment every day activities. Towards this end, this paper presents a multidisciplinary approach for developing knowledge management services for the capturing the organizational knowledge in order to augment teamwork in terms of knowledge elicitation, sharing and construction, thus enhancing decision making quality. Based on a properly defined ontology model, our approach is supported by a web-based tool that serves as a forum of reciprocal knowledge exchange, conveyed through structured argumentative discourses, the ultimate aim being to support the related decision making process.

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR SUPPORTING KNOWLEDGE-BASED DECISION MAKING IN COLLABORATIVE SETTINGS

Collaborative decision making is a core organizational activity that comprises a series of knowledge representation and processing tasks. Moreover, it is often carried out through argumentative dis...

Augmenting Collaboration with Personalization Services

Collaboration is considered as an essential element for effective learning since it enables learners to better develop their points of view and refine their knowledge. Our aim being to facilitate communities of practice members as learners, we argue that collaboration tools should provide personalization features and functionalities in order to fit the specific individual and community learning requirements. More specifically, we propose a framework of services supporting personalization that being embedded in collaboration tools, can act as catalysts for individual and community learning. The proposed set of services has derived after the careful consideration of a generic learner profile, developed to formalize human actors in settings where learning takes place.

Exploring the interplay between domain-independent and domain-specific concepts in computer-supported collaboration

Communities of practice need the appropriate means to collaborate in order to reach decisions by exploiting all possible knowledge resources. To address this issue, we have developed a web-based platform that enables members of such communities collaborate through carrying out well-structured argumentative discourses. Our approach comprises a variety of concepts, methods, models and techniques, deriving among others from the decision making, knowledge management and argumentation fields, and properly interweaves them with the aid of an ontology model. This paper explores the interplay of the domain-independent and domain-specific concepts coming from the above fields, and comments on their embodiment in the above platform. Our multidisciplinary approach provides the foundations for developing a platform for brainstorming and capturing of the organizational knowledge in order to augment teamwork in terms of knowledge elicitation, sharing and construction, thus enhancing decision quality.