Establishing Learning Goals as Boundary Objects for

Knowledge Organization Systems

Participatory Design Research

JÖRGEN JAANUS

Problem – Dysfunctional Knowledge Management Platforms• Knowledge Management platforms are taken as „nice to have“: They

fall between controlled work processes and endeavor for professionalgrowth and thus do not contribute to business targets.

• Knowledge Management platforms fall between ongoing andautomatic peer communication and reluctance to contribute to theabstract knowledge base beyond community and geographicallocation.

• Out of box software solutions – insufficient focus on cultural andbusiness aspects

Selected comments and expectations on Knowledge Management platform from case studies:

• Systems have to be more user friendly

• Knowledge Management is too complex

• We need to have context based search

• We want to have usable tool

• We need to get people to understand the system completely

• Information to be delivered just in time packed as snippets

• New (next generation) document management with collaboration space

• Clear expectations on KM roles and responsibilities within corporation

• LESS IS MORE

Case Study Background

• The professional services company operating in five European countrieshas gained several industry awards. Knowledge management has beenthe key part of their strategy and several KM platforms have beenimplemented. Those are: knowledge management module in CRM;automated documents; assignment library; lessons learned as a sectionin intranet.

• Case study on knowledge organization systems from integratedperspective comprising personal, organizational and industry-wideperspectives is well positioned in the company where the focus onknowledge management and related practices are relatively advanced. Itenables to shift the focus from dispersed technological agenda to moreintegrated organizational issues.

Knowledge processes in case study

• The Knowledge Processes represent a range of different ways ofmaking knowledge. They are forms of action, or things you do inorder to know.

• Based on tens of interviews, document analysis and applicationsoftware tests we have established the following knowledgeprocesses:

1) establishing context for the individual documents in assignment library forlearning and re-use;2) creating personal learning goals based on the types of assignment and roleswithing assignment;3) connecting internal and external knowledge bases for seamless performancesupport by presenting integrated information snippets.

Commodification of knowledge

• In a knowledge-based society, particular emphasis is placed on theutility of knowledge for commercial purposes.

• Commodification of knowledge, is defined not through what it is, butthrough what it can do (Gilbert 2013) and it pursues to capture thetransformation of knowledge embedded in working practices intoabstract systems of knowledge. (Hellström, Raman, 2001).

• The process of knowledge reuse and knowledge creation needs to bebalanced by integration of routine and structured informationprocessing, non-routine, and unstructured learning at collective levelin the same business model, and according to Ford et al (2013) KMefforts represent attempts to formalize these processes.

• Turning KM budget from cost to revenue budget

Current Progress - Publications• Dynamic and Stabilizing Forces in Knowledge Organization Systems for

Business Ecosystems (with Prof. Tobias Ley)• Knowledge Organization Systems• Knowledge Maturing• Digital Ecosystems

• Aligning Knowledge Development between Innovation-Driven Context and Knowledge Organization Systems (with Prof. Tobias Ley)• Social Semantic Technologies• Business Rules• Concept compounding• Knowledge alignment

• Managing Requirements Knowledge in Business Networks: A Case Study (with Prof. Tobias Ley and Maria Sihver)• Requirements Knowledge• Business Networks• Cross-organizational Requirements Engineering• Process Development

Research Questions

• Finding ways on how to integrate business and cultural aspects in KOSdesign;

• Investigating alternatives on how to integrate personal and collectiveperspective in establishing learning goals;

• How we could make corporate metadata more effective foraccommodating learning perspective.

Road Ahead - Conceptual Layers

Business Layer Products; processes

Embedded KOSTerm lists; taxonomies; glossaries; ontologies

Participatory Design

Direct participation of users and other stakeholders in system analysis and design work

Road Ahead - Conceptual LayersBusiness Layer Products; processes Knowledge organization systems (such as glossaries,

taxonomies etc.) connect services, organizationaldesignations, roles and types of information.

Embedded KOS Term lists; taxonomies; glossaries; ontologies

Knowledge management in inherently interwoven withlearning at collective level which integrates both the personaland cross-organizational perspective, represented by KOS.The inability to integrate those perspectives hinders thebusiness value of knowledge management systems.

Participatory Design Direct participation of users and other stakeholders in system analysis and design work

Working with communities to compose digitalrepresentations of themselves. Participatory design isdescribed as a highly dynamic process. Therefore, it issomething that also includes linear co-design processes andconsensus building.

Boundary object as a tool in design process

Case StudiesCase 1 Case 2 Case 3 ....... Case 4 Case 5

Theoretical Framework Connectivism learning theoryDigital anthropology

Activity theoryEnterprise architecture

Proposed Solution

• Ontology as shared conceptualization - connecting products; processes and tasks.• Postmodern view on the business value of knowledge

• Lingua franca

• Game theory

• Learning goals as boundary objects

• Participatory design which considers dynamic and stabilizing forces

Boundary Objects – real life examples

Risk materialized Risk management

(Customer) payment overdue Account management

Receivables management Legal

Cash flow management Financial management

Collateral Treasury management

Scoring process

Significant event audit

Overtime Department management

Shift planning Operations management

Additonal salary Accounting

Regulated working hours Employment administration

Identified unique skills Training department

Service level target

Concept of Boundary Objects

• Boundary objects are plastic, interpreted differently acrosscommunities but with enough immutable content to maintainintegrity.

• The role of the boundary object is not the by-product of organizingknowledge but it is essential to consider KOS as artifacts becomingmediators of distributed cognition as described by Wallace and Ross.

• This perspective has broadened the value of KOS from solelystandardization and findability to coordination and sense-making,consequently fueling the efforts to advance towards the higher end ofsemantic spectrum.

Process view on cases

Knowledge Organization(Taxonomy or

glossary)

Collaboration spaces

Connecting knowledge to

people and processes

Questions CommentsProposals

Extended knowledge base

Performance support

Innovation management

Learning goals

Preliminary conclusions

• Applying participatory design in developing Knowledge Managementplatforms shifts the focus from software to business and culturalaspects.

• Participatory design leads to connecting of private level KOS andcollective level KOS and consequent learning effort.

• Boundary objects supplement corporate metadata and createlearning oriented architecture.

Jörgen Jaanus

jorgen.jaanus@hotmail.com

Thank you!