Knowledge Architecture People

Designing a Knowledge Architecture Department Tom Reamy

Chief Knowledge Architect

KAPS Group

Knowledge Architecture Professional Services

http://www.kapsgroup.com

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Agenda

Introduction: What is Knowledge Architecture? KA Roles and Functions Skills and Backgrounds Tools and Technology Services and Partners Knowledge Architecture Real Life Example Organization and Location of the KA Team

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Introduction: What is Knowledge Architecture?

The people, processes, and technology of designing, implementing, and applying the intellectual infrastructure of organizations.

What is an intellectual infrastructure?– The poor neglected cousin of technology and organizational

infrastructures– It is just the set of activities that deal with creating, capturing,

organizing, visualizing, presenting, utilizing, understanding, the information part of the information age.

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Knowledge Architecture

Information + Contexts = Knowledge Information Architecture + Infrastructure of Contexts =

Knowledge Architecture Content Contexts

– Structured views Personal / Community Contexts

– Personalization, Virtual and real communities Activity Contexts

– Knowledge workers and embedded knowledge structures– Smart Applications

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Roles and Functions

Chief Knowledge Architect Knowledge Analysts Knowledge Engineers Knowledge Facilitators Knowledge Managers Additional Roles: Supplementary and Support

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Chief Knowledge Architect

Work with Chief Knowledge Officer– Build a Knowledge Culture– Advocate, Evangelize

Design & lead integration of all the elements of the Intellectual infrastructure of the Enterprise

Design measurement and analytics of KM in organization Define and lead the KA Team Research New Ideas and Technologies

– Personas, Stories, Semantic Web and RDF, Cognitive Anthropology, Complexity Theory

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Knowledge Analysts

Corporate Librarians + Content Specialists Knowledge Organization Structures

– Taxonomies, Classification Schemas– Metadata and controlled vocabularies

Search and Categorization Software Organization of people and activities

– Tacit Knowledge structures– Living map of communities and information needs

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Knowledge Engineers

User and task specialist Information Architect+ Collect, analyze, organize tacit knowledge Interview users, focus groups, persona Ethnographic studies Work with Business Analysts

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Knowledge Facilitators

Establish connections between individuals to facilitate knowledge transfer

Facilitate explicit knowledge transfer Train people to incorporate KM Understand the information needs of individuals and

communities and work with them to achieve business goals.

Incorporate KM into chat groups, story telling, email, collaboration and innovation efforts.

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Knowledge Managers

Project Management+ Capture the knowledge generated in a project Develop knowledge sharing practices Capture Best Practices Provide training and leadership on projects Moderate Communities of Practice

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Additional Roles: Supplementary & Support

Information Architects– Develop information navigation systems– Usability, user research

Web Design– User oriented web sites– Prototype IA designs

Business Analysts, Project managers E-Learning

– Performance Support, Learning Objects

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Skills: Backgrounds

Interdisciplinary, Generalists, Idea and People people Library Science, Information Architecture Anthropology, Cognitive Science Learning, Education, History of Ideas Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics Business Intelligence, Database Administration

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Tools and Technology: Used by the KA Team

Categorization, Unstructured Data Management Search Engines Analytics – usage, language and activity Important to use the information tools of the company

– Collaboration, ideas databases, content management, etc.

Polls and surveys Spreadsheets Brains

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Knowledge Architecture Partners

IT Applications and System– Implementation and Evaluation

Corporate Communication, HR Training

– Practical projects and theory – Learning Objects

Research Departments

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Knowledge Architecture Services

Knowledge Architecture Audit Knowledge Creating

– Innovation, E-learning– Content Management

• Taxonomic Model, Distributed Categorization

Knowledge Sharing / Transmission– Collaboration, Retrieval – content and experts

Knowledge Using– Smart Applications, CRM. Portals– Data warehouse, text mining, business intelligence

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Knowledge Architecture Services

Application of Intellectual infrastructure– People – even Amazon is moving away from automated

recommendations

Facilitate projects, KM Project teams – Core group of consultants and K managers

Facilitate knowledge capture in meetings Answering online questions, facilitating online discussions,

networking within a community Design and run forums, education fairs, etc.

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Knowledge Architecture Services

Infrastructure Activities– Integrate taxonomy across the company

• Content, communities, activities

– Design content repositories, update and adapt categorization – Package knowledge into K objects, combine with stories,

learning histories– Metrics and Measurement – analyze and enhance– Knowledge Architecture Audit

• Enterprise wide • Project scale

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

A set of reports, catalogs, recommendations, and components characterizing the current state of an organization’s intellectual infrastructure.

A foundation and planning document for improving the intellectual health of the organization by incorporating knowledge architecture into a range of projects.

Can be done in a little as two days, five days, or 10 days And for the rest of your life.

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

Preliminary Information Gathering– CKA – design approach, identify people, work with primary

project owners– Knowledge Analyst – catalog content repositories, high level

characterization, identify content issues– Knowledge Engineer – identify representative sets of people

to interview and study, select set of approaches– Knowledge Facilitator – gather available documentation– Knowledge Manager – arrange interviews, meetings

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

Stakeholder Interviews– CKA, knowledge engineers, business analysts:

• executive sponsors, steering committees, content owners, publishers, technical and business support teams, representative user groups, and others.

– Map the strategic landscape– Map and engage components of the process and procedures

of information creation and application

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

Content Repository Catalog– Knowledge Analyst– Structured and unstructured content repositories– Source, publishers and authors, procedures – where add

structure– Metadata, vocabularies, taxonomies, dictionaries (formal and

informal – users)– Taxonomy and metadata Evaluation

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

Community Catalog– Knowledge Engineer– Formal and informal communities– Virtual and Real communities– Type – collaboration, communication, etc.– Business functions– Internal and external communication channels– Primary and secondary content repositories

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

User and Task Analysis– Knowledge Engineer, Facilitator– Usability plus information behaviors

• Frequency and depth of access• Known item, research, activity

– Interviews, focus groups, ethnographic studies– Knowledge Architect

• Search and usage log analysis

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

Technology Needs Assessment– CKA, Knowledge Mangers– In partnership with IT and business owners– Map infrastructure elements for each technology– Evaluation plans and design projects– Recommendations and real cost estimates

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Knowledge Architecture in Real Life:Knowledge Architecture Audit

Practical Foundation & Life After Audit– Seed taxonomies and/or controlled vocabularies– Metadata schemas, Persona Candidates and methods– Project recommendations– Prototype screens, applications, web sites– Monitor usage and design responses

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Why Knowledge Architecture?

Knowledge Management Foundation Immanuel Kant

– Concepts without percepts are empty– Percepts without concepts are blind

Knowledge Management– KM without applications is empty (Strategy Only)– Applications without KA are blind (IT based KM)

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Knowledge Architecture – Sight to the Blind

Search & Retrieval: Is anyone happy?– Trends – more articles on taxonomies, CM– New tools and approaches

Need an infrastructure team of general specialists

Anyone can organize information – card sorts, etc.– Web masters to information architects– Develop taxonomies – can’t be done by software or SME’s– Metadata, vocabularies – keywords don’t work – why?

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Knowledge Architecture: Taxonomies

Need a combination of formal and informal Difference between browse and formal taxonomies

– Hierarchy, lattice, semantic networks, folders, etc.– Important to know the differences

Quality Metrics– Corpus, Coverage, Nomenclature, terminology, dependency– Mixed classes, verbal forms, bad speciation, etc.– Bell Curve, balance of depth and width

Cognitive Difference – Geography of Thought– Panda, monkey, banana

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Place in the Enterprise: Intellectual Infrastructure

Would you try to run your company without organizing it?– Or let each project redefine the organization, jobs and pay,

reporting structures, etc.?

Would you try to run your computers without a networked infrastructure?

– Or let each person or team have a standalone, own software, own operating system, etc.?

Why do you think you can run your company without organizing your content in an integrated, systematic way?

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Organization and Location of the Team

Central, Dedicated Department– Cross Organizational

IT, HR, Corporate Communication, Library, Training Internal vs. Professional Services How much can be done at the beginning and then

maintained by small staff and how much ongoing?– Answer from Knowledge Architecture Audit

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Summary

In information age, need to treat information as central Information organization is an infrastructure element Knowledge architecture people need to be:

– Generalists, good with people and ideas– Smart, funny, and can dance real good

Knowledge architecture will:– Bring about the end of history– Usher in the third age of mankind– Help organizations work smarter and cheaper