Time value of knowledge: time-based frameworks for valuing knowledge
2007: Hall, W.P., Dalmaris, P., Else, S., Martin, C.P., Philp, W.R. Time value of knowledge: time-based frameworks for valuing knowledge. 10th Australian Conference for Knowledge Management and Intelligent Decision Support Melbourne, 10 – 11 December 2007.
To survive and flourish in a changing and unpredictable world, organizations and people must maintain strategic power... more To survive and flourish in a changing and unpredictable world, organizations and people must maintain strategic power over necessary resources - often in the face of competition. Knowledge contributes to that strategic power. Without vigilance to maintain its currency and accuracy, the value of knowledge depreciates as circumstances change over time. Karl Popper's evolutionary epistemology and Maturana and Varela's concept of autopoiesis provide a paradigmatic framework for considering the roles and importance of time in constructing knowledge and using it to maintain strategic power. Following Popper, knowledge is constructed, used and evaluated via cyclically-iterated processes. We introduce nine time-based frames of reference based in this Popperian autopoietic paradigm to explore the relationships between time and a utility-based valuation of knowledge as it is constructed and applied. We believe this framework and associated paradigmatically consistent vocabulary provide useful tools for analysing organizational knowledge management needs.
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Seen by:Using Google’s apps for the collaborative construction, refinement and formalization of knowledge
2010: Hall, W.P., Nousala, S., Vines, R. Using Google’s apps for the collaborative construction, refinement and formalization of knowledge. ICOMP'10 - The 2010 International Conference on Internet Computing July 12-15, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
The utility of knowledge depends on how it is developed, refined and tested. Where knowledge concerns more than one... more The utility of knowledge depends on how it is developed, refined and tested. Where knowledge concerns more than one individual, its value is increased through social processes involving cycles of tacit and explicit sharing for intersubjective criticism. Sciences and many organizations have well developed processes for managing the tacit-explicit cycling to produce what Vines and Hall call "formal knowledge". Nousala and Hall have studied the emergence of informal communities concerned to develop and refine bodies of knowledge relating to particular issues. The present paper describes one such emergent community’s use of ICT to facilitate knowledge formalization. Their most effective solution uses free Internet applications in the Google "cloud" made possible by changes to Google Docs only released in January 2010. Although involving several poorly documented "apps" and their "gadgets" the resulting architecture is surprisingly coherent, user friendly and apparently robust.
What is the value of peer review – some sociotechnical considerations.
2010; Hall, W.P., Nousala, S. What is the value of peer review – some sociotechnical considerations. Second International Symposium on Peer Reviewing, ISPR 2010 June 29th - July 2nd, 2010 – Orlando, Florida, USA
Scientific and technical knowledge of the world grows through individual processes of speculation, making and... more
Scientific and technical knowledge of the world grows through individual processes of speculation, making and documenting knowledge claims, the social processes of circulating and testing them, and the cyclic iteration of these processes to incrementally build on what is already known. Formal publication of claims in journals has been critical to circulating and critiquing new knowledge claims.
Editorial peer review supposedly justifies the costs of the publishing activities surrounding it. Yet publishing costs, largely paid by libraries, have become unsustainable. Also, the costs discourage many from publishing and limit access of others to what is published.
Today’s editorial peer review results from the exponential growth and specialization of the sciences in the second half of the 20th Century, but offers little genuine epistemic value. It may actually thwart the advancement of innovative and revolutionary research.
Following Popperian evolutionary epistemology, we consider the social and epistemological dynamics of editorial peer review. We also note that that the ever increasing sophistication of digital technologies extending our cognitive capacities provides a pathway to very substantially reduce the cost of publishing whilst at the same time increasing the transparency and value of genuine peer review.
Keywords: Organization Theory, Karl Popper, Evolutionary Epistemology, Internet Technology, Publishing
Tacit Knowledge Network Development: The comparative analysis of knowledge threads in complex systems
2010: Nousala, S. Jamsai-Whyte. S., Hall, W.P. Tacit knowledge network development: the comparative analysis of knowledge threads in complex systems. Knowledge Cities World Summit, 16-19, November 2010, Melbourne, Australia.
Knowledge-based groups or communities are complex systems that emerge, evolve and mature through stages that display... more
Knowledge-based groups or communities are complex systems that emerge, evolve and mature through stages that display specific features and capabilities of the community or group. Understanding these capabilities and features are fundamental to building sustainable economic, social and learning networks systems. Understanding emergent behaviour within and beyond organizational communities requires understanding the social or sociological aspects in relation to the explicit formal/physical structures in the organization. Looking deeper into the development of informal networks across boundaries highlights the geographic structures and scales of knowledge flows and their influence on urban communities.
Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine the theory of knowledge networks through applied research
Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study approach, incorporating action research through embedded practice, utilizing interdisciplinary (or rather non-disciplinary) techniques and is thus a novel approach and application.
Originality/value –This methodology translation of knowledge networks from theory into practice to yield little known or understood technical issues when working in social complex adaptive systems.
Practical implications – The outcomes of the application contributes to the understanding of how, what and why sustainable social networks develop, offering the possibility of application in the field.
Keywords – tacit knowledge networks, small medium enterprise, company structure, formal and informal knowledge networks
Template for Knowledge Based Community Organizations
2010: Hall, W.P., Best, R.Template for Knowledge Based Community Organizations. Google Sites.
This site is presented both as a "working example" of how different forms of knowledge that may be useful to... more
This site is presented both as a "working example" of how different forms of knowledge that may be useful to knowledge-based community groups can be assembled and shared to support action, and as a template that can be readily modified by a community with little prior experience using web-based tools.
The specific scenario provided by this site is built around real activities involved in assembling a series of papers relating to the development of support functions community organizations who need to assemble, share, validate and present various forms of knowledge to support actions. These papers are being prepared for a special session of a conference that takes place in November 2010 in Melbourne Australia. Several of the pages here were taken with little change from the actual special session site. However, the type of activities involved in preparing for this special session would be comparable to those many community organizations would carry out to produce a tangible knowledge-based product.
Textual representations and knowledge support-systems in research intensive networks.
2011: Vines, R., Hall, W.P., McCarthy, G. Textual representations and knowledge support-systems in research intensive networks. (in) Cope, B., Kalantzis, M., Magee, L. (eds). Towards a Semantic Web: Connecting Knowledge in Academic Research. Oxford: Chandos Press, pp. 145-195.
To support the increased efficacy and efficiency of research intensive networks and their impact in the world, we... more
To support the increased efficacy and efficiency of research intensive networks and their impact in the world, we claim there is a need to expand the context of knowledge systems associated with research intensive networks. This idea for us involves the development of a public knowledge imperative. We suggest that textual representations expressed as knowledge claims can no longer be hidden away from the eyes of public scrutiny when there are important matters of public interest either implicitly or explicitly at stake. The recent catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico provides an example of how particular types of knowledge, for example, procedures associated with offshore oil rigs, can rise up to become of the highest public priority almost overnight. To neglect the potency of such knowledge through a lack of public scrutiny can have devastating consequences, as the whole world has found out.
In this chapter we set out to provide a rationale as to why we think a public knowledge imperative is so important. To give expression to this imperative, we think there is a need for a new type of institutional and regulatory framework to protect and enhance the role of public knowledge. We call this framework a public knowledge space. It is public by virtue of the fact that it relies on semantic technologies and web publishing principles. But more importantly, in order to understand the multiple functions of a public knowledge space, we suggest it is first necessary to develop a detailed ontology of knowledge itself. Our ontology outlined in this chapter is broadly based because we emphasise the value of experience and lifeworlds as much as we do the importance of rigorous critiquing and transparent review. By extension, our views are slightly orthogonal to prevailing perspectives of the semantic web.
Free technology for the support of community action groups: theory, technology and practice
2010: Hall, W.P., Nousala, S., Best, R.. Free technology for the support of community action groups: theory, technology and practice. Knowledge Cities World Summit, 16-19, November 2010, Melbourne, Australia
Purpose – Urban areas are administratively complex, and bureaucrats are often overburdened, which means they... more
Purpose – Urban areas are administratively complex, and bureaucrats are often overburdened, which means they are often working at what Herbert Simon called the bounds of their rationality. Thus, responsible bureaucrats may have little genuine knowledge of issues within their briefs that impact community members. Groups concerned with such issues may emerge in the community. Given their focus, members of such groups will have issue-related local knowledge; and probably also the time and effort to share and assemble such personal knowledge into practical and informative group proposals. This paper reviews this situation and demonstrates how simple to use and freely available socio-technical tools can be applied to support knowledge based community action.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a theoretical framework for community action, discusses some of the revolutionary cognitive technologies that provide tools for implementing the framework, and presents a template based on two of Google’s cloud computing applications: Google Sites and Google Docs to demonstrate how the technology can be used (see “Template for Knowledge-Based Community Organizations” - https://sites.google.com/site/organizingcommunityaction/)
Originality/value – The theoretical framework is new, and we are unaware that such an approach towards the support of community action groups has been previously documented.
Practical implications – The generic tools demonstrated are free and may be used by anyone with an internet connection and a Web browser. They provide action and other social groups with simple yet sophisticated tools to collect, and assemble personal knowledge; and to transform it into community knowledge. Properly used, the tools can provide bureaucrats with the necessary background knowledge to make rational decisions about allocation of resources, etc. to deal with various kinds of situations. The template developed for this project demonstrates capabilities of the cloud computing tools.
Keywords – Social technology; Community knowledge management, Cloud computing; Organization theory; Bounded rationality

