AS2202

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES, SYSTEMS, AND TOOLS

Technologies for Applying Knowledge

The technology is available to support the Knowledge Management process range from simple pen and paper
to high-tech expert systems and virtual reality displays. Telephones, tape recorders, whiteboards, and other
technology that most of us take for granted are examples of enabling technologies since they assist certain
phases of the KM life cycle. However, when most people talk about enabling technologies, they're talking about
higher-tech solutions. The technology is available to support the Knowledge Management process range from
simple pen and paper to high-tech expert systems and virtual reality displays. Telephones, tape recorders,
whiteboards, and other technology that most of us take for granted are examples of enabling technologies since
they assist certain phases of the KM life cycle. However, when most people talk about enabling technologies,
they're talking about higher-tech solutions.

The table below lists a variety of enabling technologies that may be used to facilitate different stages of the KM
life cycle, ranging from writing and decision support tools to controlled vocabularies and database tools. In
general, these technologies act as intellectual levers that enable the efficient movement of information among
knowledge workers, either in real-time or asynchronously. In this sense, a database archive may be seen as a
storage space that adds considerable latency to connections.

Life Cycle Phase Primary Life Cycle Phase Primary Enabling Technologies
Authoring tools, interface tools, data capture tools,
decision support tools, simulations, professional
Creation/acquisition databases, application-specific programs, database
tools, pattern matching, groupware, controlled
vocabularies, infrastructure, graphics tools
Modification Authoring tools, decision support tools, infrastructure
Interface tools, visualization tools, decision support
tools, simulations, application-specific programs,
Use
database tools, pattern matching, groupware,
infrastructure, web tools
Database tools, cataloging tools, controlled
Archiving
vocabularies, infrastructure
Transfer Groupware, infrastructure
Decision support tools, simulations, database tools,
Translation/repurposing
infrastructure
Database tools, pattern matching, groupware,
Access Interface tools
controlled vocabularies, infrastructure
Disposal Database tools, infrastructure

Knowledge Management uses technology and techniques from practically every computer science subject.
Information retrieval techniques such as data mining and text summarizing are used to create new knowledge.
Information repositories and database technologies help knowledge archiving and access. Interface tools,
intranets and internets, groupware, decision support tools, and collaborative systems help knowledge utilization
and transfer. Also, practically all KM systems presume an infrastructure capable of providing moderate-to-high-
speed connection, security, and failure tolerance.

Here are some primary classes of enabling technologies:

Groupware
Typically, groupware refers to any program that facilitates group collaboration across a network. Shared writing
tools, electronic whiteboards, videoconferencing tools, online forums, e-mail, online screen sharing, and
multimodal conferencing are all examples of groupware. Each of these technologies has the potential to
significantly improve remote collaboration by lowering the cost of travel and the time knowledge workers spend
in transit.

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• Shared authoring tools include typical word processing applications, graphics programs, and sound
editing facilities. Although they are not often marketed as such, many stand-alone programs may be
deemed groupware if they can access and alter a document on the internet or a shared server. Most
collaborative writing tools must be used asynchronously, which means that only one user may make
changes to a page at a time.

• The most commonly used groupware is undoubtedly e-mail systems that offer asynchronous text-based
conversations. Online forums, a related technology, is a real-time, text-based system that enables group
posting and responding to text messages. An online forum is self-archiving in the sense that the
sequence of text-based dialogues involving dozens or even hundreds of contributors is kept for others
to peruse. Instant messaging is a new kind of groupware that enables knowledge workers to share brief
packets of information while working away from their workstations. Unlike online forums, however, the
string of remarks is not immediately saved for future reference.

• Screen sharing enables a person with the necessary access credentials to connect to and operate a
remote PC. Screen sharing is very common in training and troubleshooting scenarios, where a support
person may demonstrate how to do an operation to a trainee at a distant location and then observe
while the learner tries to complete the operation.

Because of network bandwidth limitations,

video conferencing often is configured to use
the telephone lines for audio and the Internet
or other network for the video channels.
However, when the bandwidth is sufficient,
many companies embrace multimodal
conferencing to enable real-time
collaboration.

Multimodal conferencing represents the

pinnacle of groupware, in that the technology
supports real-time group sharing of an
electronic whiteboard, a text forum, audio,
and multiple-channel video.

For example, an e-mail system can handle a

virtually unlimited number of users, as long
as they don’t try to send e-mail at once. Also,
users typically read and respond to e-mail at
different times.

In contrast, videoconferencing, which is real-time communication, supports a limited number of users because
of limitations in the bandwidth of the network and the processing capacity of each user’s PC.

Pattern Matching
Pattern matching, a key element of programs in the area of artificial intelligence (AI), serves as the basis for
many aspects of Knowledge Management. From a commercial standpoint, the technology ideally allows a
knowledge worker with minimal expertise to make judgments that would normally need someone with
considerably more experience. Expert systems, intelligent agents, and machine learning systems are all
examples of pattern matching applications in the domain of AI.

• Expert Systems
Pattern matching is the fundamental technique behind expert systems, which are computers that can
make human-like choices, particularly when faced with ambiguity. Expert systems may also assist
specialists in figuring out a process, such as a medical diagnosis. Once the process has been reduced

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to rules, the logic may be embedded in a typical programming environment or given as a graphical
decision diagram.

• Intelligent Agents
Intelligent agents, commonly known as bots or software robots, do their tasks using pattern matching
technologies. Intelligent agents are particularly useful for gathering information from the web,
commercial databases, and intranets or corporate intranets. Intelligent agents, which may be PC-based
or web-based, receive user inquiries, transform them into the right language, and then send them to the
proper search engines. The intelligent agents then delete duplicates, format the results, and rank order
the results.

The vast majority of intelligent agents take natural language input. Natural language processing (NLP)
is the pattern matching technique that enables this. NLP front ends, in addition to being beneficial for
automatically constructing queries for search engines, may make database front ends more user
pleasant.

Database Tools
The long-term memory of a Knowledge Management system is referred to as a database. Database
technologies enable storing and retrieving historical corporate data, which may subsequently be used to make
future projections. For example, a data warehouse is a huge central database that allows authorized individuals
to view all corporate data. Data warehouses generally incorporate data from disparate sources.

The data mart is a smaller-scale database system arranged to meet the user's requirements. Unlike a data
warehouse, a data mart focuses on data unique to a workgroup or job. These databases enable knowledge
workers to store, process, and systematically manage data. A data repository, on the other hand, is a database
intended for information storage with minimum analysis or querying.

Data mining is the process of extracting significant links from massive volumes of apparently unconnected data.
Managers may use data mining technologies to do competitive analysis, market segmentation, trend analysis,
sensitivity analysis, and forecasting.

Controlled Vocabularies
A restricted vocabulary is one of the prerequisites for data mining and archiving. A data dictionary is a software
that maps or translates identical ideas represented in various words or phrases into a single vocabulary.

Creating information, storing it, and distributing it to people and computer systems is difficult. There must be a
common language and vocabulary, as well as a common taxonomy—a description of word relationships. The
simplicity with which knowledge workers and managers can save and retrieve data in Knowledge Management
technologies is crucial from a business standpoint. Like the best-stocked library or bookstore, the most
comprehensive business intelligence is meaningless without a way to identify it for storage and eventual
retrieval.

Every effective KM endeavor requires a shared contextual framework since words have diverse meanings
based on context and views. For a youngster, the term “fish” may conjure up images of goldfish in a tank, a
marlin fighting on a line, a meal of grilled salmon, or a package of frozen fish sticks.

Professional Databases
Almost every knowledge organization uses professional or commercial databases and search engines to
acquire knowledge. Having access to these professional databases saves time and money that would otherwise
be wasted searching for information. Also, the company definitely wouldn't fulfill the quality criteria set by
professional database providers. With the right database and search tools, in-house expertise may quickly be
complemented by external knowledge. There are dozens of fee-based databases with thousands of journal
articles and industry-specific data.

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Application-Specific Programs
Groupware and other networked applications are often used to aid the KM process. Hundreds of stand-alone,
application-specific apps, on the other hand, may be utilized in specialty areas to save knowledge workers time
and reduce mistakes. There are, for example, dedicated, stand-alone software available to help with employee
evaluations, balancing a budget, graphing a process, or privately brainstorming. The drawbacks of employing
application-specific, stand-alone systems for Knowledge Management include needing to learn several
interfaces, duplicating data input, and the mistakes that come with it.

Simulations
Simulations are programs that imitate reality by animating complicated processes—is perhaps the most
powerful class of KM tools. Simulations are particularly beneficial for conveying complicated linkages to a
knowledge worker who has difficulties reading tables of numbers or equations. Simulations are a fantastic tool
to explore what-if situations interactively since they can depict complicated processes in an easy-to-understand
manner.

Decision Support Tools

Decision support tools are software tools that enable managers and other knowledge workers to make choices
by evaluating and manipulating data stored on anything from a personal digital assistants (PDA) to a data
warehouse. Many of the technologies covered here may be used to aid with decision-making.

Decision support tools, which employ technologies like expert systems, simulations, and statistical analysis tools
to analyze or edit information housed in the corporate data warehouse, are one method of disseminating best
practices. Text summarizing utilities—programs that extract a paragraph from lengthy documents—outline
generators, statistical programs to evaluate data, and decision tables to ensure that every potential option has
been addressed are among the tools available.

Data Capture Tools

Data capture—whether it's a payroll total or the notes from the most recent community of practice meeting—is
often the most difficult component of a Knowledge Management endeavor. Even if knowledge workers and
experts are eager to contribute their rules and heuristics to the corporate data warehouse, there remains the
challenge of efficiently and properly collecting the information. However, without knowledge, a KM program
cannot be expected to boost the company's bottom line.

The technologies used for data collecting are often determined by the source. On the internet, for example,
public search engines serve as the foundation for data collecting. Optical character recognition (OCR)
technology, ranging from flatbed scanners to hand-held wands, may be utilized in the workplace to transform
printed text to machine-readable text. Traditional whiteboard transcription may be saved using whiteboard
recorders and digital cameras. Similarly, tape recorders may be used to capture speech for subsequent
transcription, either manually or automatically (through voice recognition).

Data capture methods, in addition to dealing with text, sounds, and pictures, may be used for physical things.
For example, bar codes provide for quick inventory monitoring. Similarly, real-time position sensors enable item
monitoring, whether it is knowledge workers in a factory or widgets on an assembly line.

Visualization Tools
A slide presentation using histograms and other graphics is typically considerably more appreciated and
successful than a written presentation on the same topic. Graphics and animations, when properly rendered,
may reduce the time necessary for knowledge workers to comprehend complicated processes and enable
nonexperts to check the authenticity of linkages that would have been cumbersome to express using tables of
data. Simulation-based animations are extremely effective in conveying the dynamic connection between
variables. Examples of visualization tools include three-dimensional graphic packages as well as basic pie chart
and histogram output from spreadsheets and other standard office applications.

Interface Tools
Getting information out of a database is just as crucial as getting it in. The interface determines the quality and
effectiveness of human-computer communication. The better the interface, the simpler it is for knowledge

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workers and managers to communicate with computer-based technologies. Aside from a mouse, keyboard,
speakers, and a visual display, a range of specialized software and hardware may improve the user interface.

Text-to-speech (TTS) engines, for example, may generate voice from the text presented on a screen. TTS is
often used in combination with avatars, which are graphical representations of some element of the computer,
data in a data warehouse, or another knowledge worker.

Authoring Tools
Creating information is an essential part of almost every knowledge worker's job in a knowledge firm. However,
the less time knowledge workers and managers spend composing, the more time they have to accomplish other
jobs. Since the advent of the first word processing applications, authoring tool technology has advanced swiftly.
Today, multimedia editors are nearly as often used for content creation as text editors. Graphics packages for
making print documents and projecting to an audience are available, as are image editors for rendering web-
friendly pictures and animations. Similarly, sound editors for making sound effects or editing voice, as well as
video editing tools for preparing video for transmission via the web or corporate intranet, are widely accessible,
reasonably priced, and appropriate to the information writing process.

Infrastructure
All of the aforementioned technologies—and all of their potential commercial benefits—assume some sort of
information infrastructure, which includes at the very least a computer platform or image-capture gear of some
kind, ranging from desktop PCs to laptops, handhelds, and mobile phones. The infrastructure also comprises
data storage medium, such as magnetic tape and floppy disks, as well as hard drives, CD-ROMs, and DVDs.
Depending on how they are implemented and the synergies that exist between infrastructure and the
technologies it supports, these infrastructure technologies may either contribute to or subtract from the bottom
line.

Groupware is based on a high-speed network connection between knowledge workers as well as between
knowledge workers and computer systems. The network may take the shape of the Internet and the web,
intranets, and internets, as well as the cables, servers, network operating system software, and browsers that
go with it. Wireless systems eliminate the need for connections, but they also create new concerns, such as the
need for improved security.

To ensure that copyright holders' rights are not infringed, the security infrastructure may involve the usage of
biometrics and other authentication methods, encryption, use tracking, and digital rights management software.
With the convergence of voice and data in much of corporate America, telecommunications infrastructure is
becoming more important in providing conventional phone and teleconferencing services.

References:
Becerra-Fernandez, I., & Sabherwal, R. (2014). Knowledge management: Systems and processes. Routledge.
Bergeron, B. (2003). Essentials of knowledge management. John Wiley & Sons.
Clegg, S. R., Kornberger, M., Pitsis, T. S., & Mount, M. (2019). Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. SAGE.
Dalkir, K. (2017). Knowledge management in theory and practice (3rd ed.). MIT Press.
Jennex, M. E. (2008). Knowledge management: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. IGI Global.
McGraw , K. , and K. Harrison-Briggs . (1989). Knowledge acquisition: Principles and guidelines. Englewood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice Hall .
Syed, J., Murray, P. A., Hislop, D., & Mouzughi, Y. (2018). The palgrave handbook of knowledge management. Springer.

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