Pierre-Emmanuel Arduin

On the Use of Cognitive Maps to Identify Meaning Variance

Cognitive science, as well as psychology, considers that individuals use internal representations of the external reality in order to interact with the world. These representations are called mental models and are considered as a cognitive structure at the basis of reasoning, decision making, and behavior. This paper relies on a fieldwork realized as closely as possible from the respondents. We propose an approach based on graph theory in order to study the meanings given by several people to the same concept, and to identify those who give it the same meaning. The use of tools from graph theory combined with the study of cognitive maps leaded us to highlight the importance of interaction notably within group decision making. This idea, as well as the limits of our approach, are discussed at the end of this paper.

On the measurement of cooperative compatibility to predict meaning variance

Computer Supported Cooperative Work may rely on information technology in order to share information regardless where stakeholders are. Nevertheless, cooperative work needs more than just information sharing, notably because of meaning variance. Considering that during cooperative work the same information may have different meanings from one person to another, we propose an approach in order to predict meaning variance by measuring cooperative compatibility. We study the expectations individuals may have from their colleagues during a given cooperative work. Such study leads to the measurement of cooperative compatibility, which has been used to predict meaning variance. The calculation method proposed, as well as its relationships with meaning variance are discussed in this paper and currently tested within organizations.

Sharing Knowledge in a Shared Services Center Context: An Explanatory Case Study of the Dialectics of Formal and Informal Practices

This study focuses on how knowledge sharing across boundaries of merging entities during an information system (IS) implementation project in a shared services center (SSC) context affects the resulting system functionality. Although the literature stresses the growing adoption of the SSC as an outsourcing model, there is a lack of studies that examine shared services as a dynamic process of knowledge sharing across the organizational boundaries. We draw on a sociomaterial practice perspective and on the theory of workarounds to analyze an IS implementation project in a healthcare organization resulting from a merger of previously independent hospitals. The results suggest that new technology can be enacted in different ways as it links up with practices of different communities of users. We propose a multilevel process model that indicates at the end of the project a resulting mix of formal and informal (workarounds) practices that emerged from a dialectic process of resistance to, and negotiation of, the IS configuration during its implementation.

Knowledge and decision for smart cities initiatives: Cases of Paris and Nice

Smart City is a concept for which no standard definition has been adopted either in theoretical researches or in empirical projects. Several definitions and classifications, different from each other, have been proposed. However, all definitions agree on the fact that a smart city is an urban space that tends to improve the daily life (work, school, etc.) of its citizens (broadly defined). This is an improvement from different points of view: social, political, economic, governmental, etc. This paper presents a case study by comparing two French cities considered smart by different classifications: Paris and Nice.

Knowledge Sharing in Design Based on Product Lifecycle Management System

Working together within an extended enterprise is not as natural for people as working alone to pursue their own objectives. It has been observed that the specification and development of information systems often strengthens this preference for working alone: interoperability as much as interpretation variance restrain the ability of people and systems to interact and to work together within an extended enterprise. This paper introduces an approach in order to highlight how product lifecycle management (PLM) systems could be extended so that not only data and information are shared in design, but also knowledge, meaning and individual cognition. This approach will be practically studied through the use of the MEMORAe approach at the end of this paper.

Evaluer la prise en compte des connaissances tacites dans un système d'information. Vers un système d'information et de connaissance

Cet article introduit une approche afin d’estimer le niveau de prise en compte des connaissances tacites par un systeme d’information. Cette approche repose sur des theories originales dans le domaine de l’evaluation des systemes d’information comme l’etude ethnographique de l’environnement de travail et l’incommensurabilite des schemas d’interpretation vue comme la source de ruptures dans la communication au sein des systemes d’information. En nous inspirant du modele d’evaluation du standard international ISO/IEC 15504, nous proposons une approche pour evaluer dans quelle mesure les connaissances tacites sont considerees par un systeme d’information. Une etude de cas vient illustrer l’utilisation de cette approche, qui est actuellement testee dans plusieurs grandes entreprises, et pourra etre affinee dans des travaux futurs, ce qui est discute a la fin de cet article.