Modelling knowledge through user focused design in knowledge management applications

Cunningham, JA 2009, Modelling knowledge through user focused design in knowledge management applications , PhD thesis, Salford : University of Salford.

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Abstract

Knowledge management, as an organisational management technique, aims to capture the knowledge of the members of an organisation and to distribute it among those members in a way which encourages new knowledge to emerge. Software, explicitly designed to aid these goals, is seen as a useful tool for knowledge management. The core focus in the design of such software is in creating structures which allow the knowledge being captured to be represented in the software. However this ability to represent knowledge, on its own, will only serve to make explicit what is already there and will not provide the ability to capture new knowledge in different forms to the knowledge already represented. This thesis examines the question of how best to resolve this apparent conflict through the construction of an argument that rethinks the role of the end user and their relationship to software design in knowledge management, along with the development of a knowledge management-specific software development methodology. Through an in-depth analysis of the 'eCognos' project, which aimed to provide knowledge management software for the construction domain, the notion that a key aspect of knowledge management software design must be the realisation that modelling specifically against a single domain will lead to the development of software artefacts which fundamentally constrain their goal of enabling knowledge management is explored.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Contributors:	Ferneley, E (Supervisor)
Schools:	Schools > Salford Business School
Depositing User:	Institutional Repository
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2012 13:34
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2022 11:26
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/26630

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