Epistemic Modeling for Sustainability Knowledge Management in Construction

Lu Zhang1 and Nora M. El-Gohary, A.M.ASCE2

1Graduate Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 205 North Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801; FAX

(217) 265-8039; email: luzhang7@illinois.edu 2Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University

of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 205 North Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801; PH (217) 333-6620; FAX (217) 265-8039; email: gohary@illinois.edu

ABSTRACT One of the key factors for enabling sustainable construction is facilitating the

acquisition, transfer, and exchange of knowledge about sustainable construction practices (SCPs). However, knowledge about SCPs is complex, interdisciplinary, multi-faceted, and context-sensitive. Semantic modeling is a key to achieving context-awareness. The development of a context-aware knowledge management (KM) system can be successfully achieved based on a semantic (computer-understandable and meaning-rich) model. This paper proposes an epistemic model for SCPs based on epistemology (the theory of knowledge and knowing). The proposed epistemic model is a theory-based, semantic model for representing and reasoning – in a context-aware manner – about: 1) the knowledge of SCPs and 2) the process of knowing this knowledge. This paper starts by presenting our analysis of the requirements of sustainability KM in the construction domain and the limitations of existing methods and systems. It follows by presenting our modeling approach for KM system development, which is epistemology-based, context-aware, and semantic. Finally, the paper presents our initial modeling efforts towards a formal epistemology for SCPs and discusses its application as the backbone of our proposed KM system.

INTRODUCTION Construction practices performed during the construction phase may

significantly affect – positively or negatively – the society, economy, and the environment (Son et al. 2011). For example, construction practices may consume large amounts of water, energy, and natural resources; and may cause significant negative impacts, such as waste generation, air and water pollution, noise, health and safety problems, community disruption, etc. To alleviate negative impacts and encourage positive impacts, contractors are required to implement sustainable construction practices (SCPs) during the construction phase (CII 2009). Nowadays, the awareness and understanding of the importance of implementing SCPs during the construction phase is greater than that of the past (Son et al. 2011). There is also a strong realization that a knowledge-intensive mode is needed to promote the achievement of sustainability in the construction industry (Khalfan et al. 2002). As

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part of that, there is a stronger need for allowing project participants (e.g. contractors) to acquire, transfer, and exchange knowledge about SCPs to enable better selection and implementation of SCPs during the construction phase.

However, the acquisition, transfer, and exchange of knowledge about SCPs – for example which SCP to implement and how to implement it – is not an easy task, because SCPs are highly context-sensitive and the choice of which SCP to implement and how to implement it are, similarly, context-dependent (e.g. dependent on project type, project size, project location, regulatory requirements, site characteristics, etc.). In a similar way, the process of knowing about SCPs is context-sensitive; it is sensitive to the context of the knower (e.g. knower preference, knower background), the knowing process (e.g. knowing location, knowing device), and SCPs knowledge (e.g. SCPs implementation context). A new approach for the development of a context-aware KM system is, thus, crucial to enable the implementation of SCPs by facilitating context-aware acquisition, transfer, and exchange of SCPs-related knowledge within the domain.

CURRENT EFFORTS AND LIMITATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION DOMAIN

Research on KM has been growing and expanding rapidly in a variety of fields in recent years (Rezgui et al. 2010). The concept of KM is broad. Scarbrough et al. (1999) defines KM as “any process or practice of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge, whenever it resides, to enhance learning and performance in organizations”. In terms of KM in the construction domain, a variety of studies have been conducted, and a set of practical guidance, approaches, and systems have been developed. Examples include the Constructability Implementation Program led by CII (1993) – a program for capturing and sharing of constructability knowledge, CLEVER (Kamara et al. 2002) – a framework for knowledge transfer in multi-project environment, Dr. Check (Soibelman et al. 2003) – a system for incorporating personal experiences and lessons learned into corporate knowledge, and KLICON (McCarthy et al. 2000) – a project for providing an understanding of how knowledge is gained and how learning can be formalized. Efforts focusing on the management of sustainability knowledge in the construction domain include 1) C-SanD project (Wetherill et al. 2007), which uses KM and information systems to facilitate the creation, capture, and transfer of sustainability knowledge in the construction domain; 2) SMAZ (Shelborun et al. 2006), which maps sustainability issues onto a generic project process to identify sustainability actions needed at different stages of a project lifecycle; and 3) Classification System for Capital Project Offices (CPO) (Tan et al. 2012), which assists CPO organizations to store and manage their sustainability knowledge.

Collectively, existing research and system development efforts in the area of KM provide important and valuable work towards effective management of sustainability knowledge. However, in our analysis, these efforts have four main limitations: they 1) place more emphasis on sustainable design practices with inadequate attention to sustainability practices that can be implemented during the construction phase; 2) lack an epistemological foundation for KM; 3) offer tools that lack adequate awareness of and adaptation to the characteristics of the knower, the types of knowledge, and the circumstances of the knowing process; and 4) focus on

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the discussion of methods or tools needed for promoting KM for sustainable construction, but without offering a detailed-enough knowledge model that is needed to support day-to-day knowing (e.g. search, retrieval, acquisition, etc.) of sustainability knowledge.

PROPOSED MODELING APPROACH FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

This paper proposes a modeling approach for KM system development that aims at facilitating effective, context-aware, and meaning-rich management of sustainability knowledge during the construction phase. This approach: 1) utilizes epistemology (theory of knowledge and knowing) as a theoretical, epistemological foundation for KM; 2) focuses on context-awareness and proposes a wider, multi-faceted perspective in modeling the concept of “context”; and 3) employs a formal semantic (computer-understandable and meaning-rich) model to represent the knowledge of SCPs and the process of knowing this knowledge. EPISTEMIC APPROACH

Our proposed modeling approach is based on epistemology – theory of knowledge and knowing. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the knowledge nature and scope of knowledge (Muis 2004). The term “epistemology” is derived from the Greek word “epistēmē” meaning “knowledge and science”, and “logos” meaning “study of” (Honderich 1995). It attempts to answer the questions: What are the types of knowledge? What is the structure of knowledge? What are the sources of knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? How are knowledge claims justified? How does knowledge flow (Steup 2011)?

In modeling a KM system, “it is necessary to understand the broad epistemological spectrum that can enable effective utilization of computerized systems for knowledge management” (Jayatilaka and Lee 2003). In order to better manage knowledge, one has to understand what the nature of knowledge is, what the sources of knowledge are, and how knowledge can be acquired, etc. Epistemology provides a rationale for managing knowledge, defining the process of managing knowledge, and enabling the acquisition of knowledge by giving sufficient answers to these questions. The investigation of the knowing process, the factors affecting the knowing process, the knowers, etc., enhances the analysis of system requirements and facilitates the understanding of how knowers can effectively and efficiently acquire, transfer, and exchange knowledge using that system. It is through this type of integrative understanding and modeling that a successful KM system can be designed and developed (Chun et al. 2008). CONTEXT-AWARE APPROACH

Industry professionals (a type of knowers) consistently report difficulties in efficiently finding and accessing the information/knowledge they need – information/knowledge that is relevant and specific to their needs (TRB 2006). “Lack of such access to appropriate information may often result in less effective decisions, duplication of effort, and greater cost” (Harder and Tucker 2003). A context-aware modeling approach would facilitate more relevant and specific knowledge acquisition by adapting to the various contexts of the knower, the knowing process, and the

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knowledge. This is essential since the process of knowing is highly context-dependent: 1) the knowing process can be conducted in a variety of knowing locations, be affected by the knowing environment (e.g. noise, weather, etc.), and be performed using various knowing devices (e.g. laptop, smartphone); 2) every knower who is involved in the knowing process may have different interests or preferences which may vary by age, gender, academic level, etc.; and 3) the same piece of knowledge may have different semantics in different contexts. In terms of acquisition of SCPs knowledge in particular, 1) projects have different contexts in terms of location, type, size, budget, schedule, etc.; and 2) construction sites have dynamic contexts in terms of terrain, soil, water, air, weather, etc. SEMANTIC APPROACH

Semantic modeling is a key enabler in our proposed approach, in three main ways. First, semantic modeling represents the epistemology (theory of knowledge and knowing) of SCPs in a formal and semantically-rich way, thereby serving as a backbone for the development of an epistemologically-grounded KM system. Second, semantic modeling is a key for facilitating context-awareness (Yilmaz and Erdur 2012) by offering a way to formally model the concept of ‘context’, its subconcepts, and its interrelationships with other epistemic concepts (e.g. knowing process). Third, semantic modeling can provide a domain-specific, unambiguous, and formalized representation of SCPs knowledge and the relations 1) between the knowing process and SCPs knowledge, and 2) between the contexts and SCPs knowledge.

INITIAL EPISTEMIC MODEL FOR SUPPORTING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION

Our proposed epistemic model is a formal, theory-based, meaning-rich, and domain-specific semantic model. It is composed of concepts, inter-concept relations, and axioms. Concepts represent the “things” that describe the knowledge of SCPs and the process of knowing this knowledge in a context-aware manner. Relations define the interactions between the different concepts. Axioms 1) specify the definitions of concepts and relations, and constraints on their interpretation; and 2) define the rules and requirements for context-aware knowing and the implementation of SCPs.

A preliminary upper-level epistemic model, showing the most abstract epistemic concepts of the model, is depicted in Figure 1. A “knowing process” has a “knower” involved, is conducted in a “knowing context”, aims at a “knowing objective”, results in a “knowing outcome”, uses a “knowing technique” and a “knowing resource”, and is constrained by a “knowing constraint”. A “knower” acquires “knowledge”. “Knowledge” has a “knowledge attribute” and a “knowledge modality”, belongs to a “knowledge family”, comes from a “knowledge source”, and can be represented in a “knowledge item”. “Epistemic context” and “knowing technique” directly affect the “knowing process”, and indirectly affect the “knowing outcome”. “Knowledge” is any information, fact, description, or skill acquired through experience or education and processed in human mind. A “knowing process” is a process of acquiring, transferring, and exchanging “knowledge”. A “knower” is a person or a group of persons who is/are involved in the process of knowing. A “knowing objective” is a goal that the “knowing process” aims at achieving or will be able to achieve. A “knowing outcome” is a final result that a “knower” acquires or

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should be able to acquire through “knowing process”. A “knowing technique” is any method, means, or way that is adopted to know certain “knowledge”. A “knowing resource” is a source of supply, support, or aid to the process of knowing. A “knowing constraint” is a limitation or restriction that constrains the “knowing process”. A “knowledge attribute” is a characteristic that can define or describe “knowledge”. A “knowledge modality” is a characteristic that defines the belonging criteria to a “knowledge family”. A “knowledge family” is a group or classification of knowledge. A “knowledge item” is a physical repository that stores such “knowledge” or is a symbolic manifestation of the “knowledge”. A “knowledge source” is an essential origin or prime cause of “knowledge”. An “epistemic context” is any situation, setting, environment, or set of parameters that affects the knower’s knowing process directly and affects the “knowing outcome” indirectly.

Figure 1. Preliminary upper-level epistemic model. The most abstract concepts (shown in Figure 1) have a set of sub-concepts

forming a concept hierarchy. For space limitations, the full concept hierarchy is not presented in this paper. But, as a partial example, the upper-level part of the preliminary ‘epistemic context’ hierarchy is presented in Figure 2. An “epistemic context” is a “knower context”, a “knowing context”, or a “knowledge context”. A “knower context” is a specific interest, preference, or personal profile that a “knower” has. Different “knowers” may have different “knower contexts”. A “knowing context” is a background, environment, setting, or situation where a “knowing process” occurs, Figure 2. Partial epistemic context hierarchy.

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such as a “knowing location”, a “knowing environment”, a “knowing time”, or a “knowing device”. A “knowledge context” is a collection of relevant conditions and surrounding influences that make the semantics or function of the knowledge unique and comprehensible to that condition. Knowledge context supplements knower context and knowing context with domain-specific relevance related to the types of knowledge. Since our scope is limited to SCPs knowledge, our model focuses on describing the “SCPs knowledge context” (a type of “knowledge context”); for example, describing its implementation context in terms of “project context”, “construction site context”, and “construction sequence context”.

APPLICATION OF THE EPISTEMIC MODEL IN A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Our proposed epistemic model will serve as a foundation for developing a KM system that can support context-aware acquisition, transfer, and exchange of SCPs knowledge within the construction domain. The proposed KM system consists of four main modules, as illustrated in Figure 3: search and retrieval module, summarization module, recommendation module, and classification module. For search and retrieval, we are taking a federated search approach, which enables users to search multiple sources of data that are related to SCPs knowledge through one single query. For such federated search, data remain in their sources, while our KM system serves as an integrator to federate and search all these sources. Users would be able to view all retrieved data in one single list and link directly to their sources. In our KM system, data sources include publicly available online databases, online journals, web pages, etc. from researchers, government agencies (e.g. EPA, CADOT, etc.), non-profit organizations or consortiums (e.g. CII, USGBC), and professional societies (e.g. ASCE), etc.

For better illustration of how the epistemic model would support the search and retrieval module, an example use case scenario for context-aware semantic search and retrieval is illustrated in Figure 4. The example deals with searching and retrieving knowledge about silt fence as a sediment control practice. A construction engineer who works for a project in California wants to know about the installation method of a sediment control practice that captures sediment that 1) runs off from a slope and 2) caused by storm water. The KM system being aware of the project context, construction site context, knower context, knowing context, and domain knowledge, can automatically extract relevant and specific knowledge about the installation method of silt fence, applicable to the subject contexts. The knowledge is

Figure 3. Main modules of our proposed KM system.

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extracted from the California Department of Transportation (2003) Construction Site BMP Field Manual and Troubleshooting Guide. This search aims at improving the search accuracy by addressing the specific needs or requirements of acquiring SCPs related knowledge, as well as implementing SCPs.

Figure 4. Context-aware search and retrieval in the proposed KM system: an

example use case scenario. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

This paper proposed a modeling approach for knowledge management (KM) system development that aims at facilitating effective, context-aware, and meaning-rich acquisition, transfer, and exchange of sustainability knowledge during the construction phase. Towards developing the proposed KM system, an epistemic model (semantic model based on epistemology (the theory of knowledge and knowing)) for supporting context-aware KM in the constructing domain has been developed and presented in this paper. The proposed model will serve as a foundation for developing the proposed KM system. It offers a leading effort in the area of formal epistemic modeling and application in the sustainable construction domain. Future/ongoing research by the authors will focus on evaluating the epistemic model, implementing the model within the proposed KM system, and evaluating the performance of the various modules (e.g. search and retrieval) of the system.

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