Some Thoughts to Consider 4

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Some Thoughts to Consider 4

• Given the textbook emphasis in recent chapters on
  search techniques, and given the AI tradition of
  equating problem solving with search, is it true
  that all problems can be formulated as trees to
  search?
• What do we consider the Intellectual Capital of
  an organization or corporation?
• What are the responsibilities of a CKO (Chief
  Knowledge Officer) in a large corporation?
• What really is involved in the area called
  Knowledge Management, aside from all the
  industry hype and myths?
• Does it have anything to do with AI and knowledge
  representation?

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Knowledge ManagementSome Perspectives

• Definitions, key concepts, technologies, and
  more
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Management
• A collage of definitions, opinions, and positions
  can be found at
• http//www.brint.com/
• CIO magazine has a basic guide to Knowledge
  Management
• http//www.cio.com/article/40343/
• The American Productivity and Quality Center has
  pioneered numerous seminars and offers a
  bookstore with free resources (papers) at
• http//www.apqc.org/
• One of the more credible KM tool vendors is
  Autonomy, Inc., using industrial-strength AI
  techniques
• http//www.autonomy.com/

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The Learning Organization 1
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The Learning Organization 2
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The Learning Organization 3
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The Learning Organization 4
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Systems Thinking

• The key to thinking dynamically rather than
  statically is to practice Systems Thinking
  rather than Laundry List Thinking or Factors
  Thinking.
• Such thinking makes relationships among things
  explicit, rather than just the things themselves.
• Such thinking makes causal connectivity explicit.
• The reason for using such discipline is that
  different people employ different semantics, even
  though they think they are using the same words
  and concepts.

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Systems Thinking Resources

• Systems Thinking via Wikipedia
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking
• Systems Thinking via Peter Senge and his book The
  Fifth Discipline
• http//www.rtis.com/nat/user/jfullerton/review/lea
  rning.htm
• http//www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm
• Some Tools
• http//www.iseesystems.com/

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Systems Thinking Principles
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Systems Thinking Implies Modeling

• Modeling is fundamental to the understanding of
  business processes.
• Modeling is
• A way of learning
• Problem solving
• Communication
• System Specification
• Community Vernacular
• Syntax encourages focus
• Notation encourages common semantics
• Methodologies come in styles ways to express
  intuitive business story
• Use case style
• Scenario style
• Script style
• Workflow style
• Visualization style

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A Taxonomy of Information
(from John Perry Barlow, WIRED, March 1994)

• Information Is an Activity
• Information is a verb, not a noun.
• Information is experienced, not possessed.
• Information has to move.
• Information is conveyed by propagation, not
  distribution.
• Information Is a Life Form
• Information wants to be free.
• Information replicates into the cracks of
  possibility.
• Information wants to change.
• Information is perishable.
• Information Is a Relationship
• Meaning has value and is unique to each case.
• Familiarity has more value than scarcity.
• Exclusivity has value.
• Point of view and authority have value.
• Time replaces space.

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More Barlow
Notions of property, value, ownership, and the
nature of wealth itself are changing more
fundamentally than at any time since the
Sumerians first poked cuneiform into wet clay and
called it stored grain. Only a very few people
are aware of the enormity of this shift.
Information is a difference which makes a
difference. Thus, information only exists in the
?. The making of that difference is an activity
within a relationship. Information is an action
which occupies time rather than a state of being
which occupies physical space, as is the case
with hard goods.
The central economic distinction between
information and physical property is that
information can be transferred without leaving
the possession of the original owner. If I sell
you my horse, I cant ride him after that. If I
sell you what I know, we both know it.
One idea is central to understanding liquid
commerce Information economics, in the absence
of objects, will be based more on relationship
than possession.
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What if We Were toSimulate the Business

• Requires knowledge based models of
• Organizations
• Business processes
• Information holdings
• Decision making flow
• Market segments
• Requires extensive visualization capability.
• Analogies
• Games like SimCity and Sims
• Executive Dashboard
• Allows possible worlds testing of business
  knowledge.
• Provides perspective for senior leaders.
• Provides the testbed for business process
  reengineering and new business opportunity
  evaluation.

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Key Factors

• The key to building successful knowledge based
  systems
• is not in the tools
• It is rather in
• The people.
• Understanding and modeling the business problem.
• Taking a global perspective of the business.
• The empowerment balance between architects and
  project management.
• The culture of the company and of the IT
  organization.