phd proposal feedback discussion pacis 2010

8/9/2019 PhD Proposal Feedback Discussion PACIS 2010

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Agenda

Short Summary of Research Feedback Discussion 1: Bridging social and technological

world

Feedback Discussion 2: Dealing with Unpredictability ofdiscover through design

Feedback Discussion 3: Dimensions for the emergence ofknowledge


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Short Summary of Research

Technological mechanisms to design information to supportbuilding up sustainable and actionable knowledge without

interfering with every-day processes?

Improve these mechanisms using design science research The aim is to create technological artifacts which are well-

aligned with theories concerning the social issues ofknowledge management. Principles: Traceability and Coherence

The current second iteration of the prototype is usable andused by me and a small group of people; theoretical

discussions are published as conference papers.

In 1 years time, a highly improved version of the prototype isto be released to the public and usage data is to be analyzed.


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Iteration 2: Network Composition

Environment

Driven by conceptualartifacts (Rohde and

Sundaram, 2010a; Rohde and

Sundaram, 2010b)

Heavily based on standardsto assure sustainable storage

of information (XML, HTML,URI, RDF, OWL, Java)

Domain-Independent asknowledge is without

boundaries

Iteration 2 is a usable artifactEvaluated through constantuse and analysis of userfeedback, usage logs and

networks created by users.


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Iteration 2: Conceptual Artifacts

K

nowledgeEmergenc

e

Knowledge

Interaction

Design

Discover Disseminate

T

echnicalRequiremen

ts


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Feedback Discussion 1: Social and

Technological World

The initial research design proposes to design a number of artifacts birdingthe entire dimension from social world to technological world.

The feedback is that this might be too big a scope as it would result in anentire enterprise architecture

I agree completely but I would like to make contributions both in form of atechnological artifact as well as conceptual artifacts. Design requiresprescriptive theories, which are not as widely available as explanatory andpredictive theories (Gregor, 2006).

Social World Sustained Competitive Advantage, Innovativeness,MindfulnessValueVery important for knowledge related phenomena

Technological

World

Knowledge Composition EnvironmentProof of concepts


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Research Design

Bridging Social and Technological World by applying theprinciples:

Coherence: close alignment of artifacts on differentsemiotic levels (Purao,2002; Sheffield, 2005)

Traceability: well-reasoned and well-documented designprocess (Hevner et al., 2004; D'Souza and Wills, 1998)


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Examples Conceptual Artifacts

Artifact DescriptionKnowledge Emergence:

Theory of DynamicKnowledge Potentials

Discusses the dynamics of emergence of knowledge

entangled between the dimensions of individual-collective, explicit-tacit and static-dynamic into sustained

competitive advantage, innovativeness and mindfulness.

Knowledge Representation:

Network language

Knowledge conceptualization, which allows to represent

dynamic knowledge using few fundamental networkstructures.

Knowledge Interaction:

Conceptual Framework

Conceptualizes a number of basic interactions, which

individuals and collectives undertake with knowledgenetworks.


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Feedback Discussion 2: Dealing with

Unpredictability

discover through design (Baskerville, 2008)You need to design first in order to discover I would like to be surprised by the usage of the artifact. Open user feedback: In the initial stages do not control

who is using it or how they are using it.

The feedback is that this approach is very risky. Can modularity mitigate the risks of unpredictability?


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Validation: Coherence

Artifacts will be validated with different methods and mayexhibit varying levels of validity

The contribution is driven by validity of the individual artifactsbut also by the coherence of the whole artifact system.


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Feedback Discussion 3: Dimensions for the

emergence of knowledge

The initial review of knowledge management theories hasyielded in three themes for the emergence for knowledge:

Explicit to Tacit Individual to Organization Static to Dynamic

The feedback is that there might be more themes to consider. I totally agree but am concerned that more themes might lead

to too much complexity.


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Research Issues Explicit - Tacit

Explicit knowledge is relatively easy to represent and manage (Zack, 1999). Tacitknowledge is often seen as being far more valuable while also being more difficult tomanage (Grant, 1996).

Individual - Organization Individuals are evidently able to apply knowledge and use it in a creative way (Grant,

1996; Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Davenport and Prusak, 1998). It is far more difficult tounderstand how organizations as a whole can coordinate their knowledge resources

in order to react to a complex environment (Weick, 1979; Kogut and Zander, 1992). Static Dynamic

The level of knowledge appears to differ in different organizational entities (Kogut andZander, 1992; Blackler, 1995; Gold, Malhotra and Segars, 2001). However, thesecapabilities are only of real value in the contexts in which they are enacted (Feldmanand Pentland,. 2000).

There is a leap from the basic phenomena to the complex phenomena Further possible themes: structured-unstructured, time (short term, long term)


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phd proposal feedback discussion pacis 2010

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