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KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATIONTOOLS
Noorabsya Mohamed, Azizah Abdul Rahman, and Wardah Zainal Abidin
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia
ABSTRACTThis paper reviews several types of knowledgedissemination tools. Initially, the definitions ofknowledge and knowledge dissemination are explained indetail. This paper highlights the importance of knowledgedissemination in developing knowledge community.Secondly, the suggested leT tools for knowledgedissemination will be presented. The suggested ICT toolsfor knowledge dissemination are RSS feeds, phone textmessaging (SMS), internet telephone, and intelligentagents. These tools are then analyzed into categoriesaccording to its technology strategy and mobility aspects.These will help in understanding the usage and thepurpose of the tools. These ICT tools were compared inorder to demonstrate their suitability with the respect tothe context. In conclusion, this paper shows that ICT hashigh potential to support knowledge expansion processeffectively.
1. INTRODUCTION
Knowledge is information that is organized,synthesized, or summarized to enhance comprehension,awareness, or understanding (Bergeron 2003). Todifferentiate knowledge from information, knowledge isalso known as actionable information (Tiwana 2003).Therefore information needs to be disseminated in orderto make them actionable.
There are three types of knowledge. They are tacit(know how), implicit and explicit (know what)knowledge. Below are the definitions from differentauthors.
Table I Tacit, Implicit and Explicit KnowledgeDefinitions.
Authors Tacit Implicit ExplicitKnowledge Knowledge Knowledge
(Bergeron Knowledge Like tacit Knowledge2003) that is knowledge, that easily
ingrained at typically is conveyeda sub- controlled by from
consciOUS expert. someonelevel and However, it proficient attherefore can be a task to
difficult to extracted from someoneexplain to the expert else through
others. through a written orprocess termed verbal
knowledge communicaengineering. -tions.
(Rao 2005) Likely the The Knowledgeproperty of knowledge that cannotfirm such that is implicit be codified
as in and remainstransaction communities the propertydata, work and of theproducts, relationships is knowledgeresearch often workers
notes, accessible only such ase-mails and in a social expenence,
others context expertise,reputationand others.
2. KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION
To disseminate information or knowledge means todistribute it so that it reaches the masses or organizations(2003). Dissemination is generally seen as a measurethrough which the results are brought into the awarenessof certain target groups (Suurla, Markkula et al. 1999).According to both of these definitions, it is obvious thatdissemination is to distribute or diffuse any informationor knowledge to other party for their usage.
In knowledge management, knowledge disseminationprocess supports the knowledge sharing process.Knowledge in the form of topics can be discussed inknowledge sharing platforms and disseminated using
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3.ICTTOOLS
dissemination tools. These tools will create awareness ofknowledge to the target users. This process will enhancethe knowledge sharing processes.
Users who are interested in the topics will be attractedto share their knowledge and visit the knowledge sharingplatform. After sharing the knowledge, new knowledgewill be produced. This knowledge then once again will goback to the knowledge dissemination tools in order todistribute updates to the target users. And this cycle willbe repeated many times. This action shows thatknowledge dissemination and knowledge sharingprocesses need and support each other. Figure I (a)visualized the process how knowledge disseminationwork together within knowledge sharing process.
Fig. 1 (a) How knowledge dissemination worktogether within knowledge sharing process.
Knowledge dissemination is a process whereknowledge or actionable information is distributed toothers for some attentions. There are several reasons thatexplain the benefit of knowledge dissemination whetherin the society or in the organization surrounding. Forexample:
• Product advertisements (Shelly and Vermaat2008).
• To enlighten the society due to some issues• To acknowledge community in new ideas• To inform updates of news or websites• Event announcements (SheIly and Vermaat
2008).• Job vacancies (Shelly and Vermaat 2008).
Knowledge need to be disseminated in order to buildknowledge society. Knowledge society is about creating,sharing, and using knowledge to bring prosperity andsense of well-being to its people (Al-Hawamdeh and Hart2002). Government who need to acknowledge the citizenabout new economic strategy needs to find the way todisseminate the knowledge to them effectively.Knowledge dissemination encourages knowledge sharingprocesses while knowledge sharing processes occurred inknowledge society. Therefore knowledge disseminationprocesses are needed in building knowledge society.
The success of knowledge dissemination depends onthe level of previous knowledge held by the audience andthe effectiveness of the channels available to share theknowledge (Debowski 2006). Information andcommunication technologies (lCT) are one set of majorforces that has moved knowledge management front andcentre. These technologies have made it possible forpeople to share enormous amounts of informationunconstrained by the boundaries of geography and time(Bukowitz and Williams 1999).
Internet is one of the medium for communication. It isa tool that may be used as knowledge disseminator.People use the internet as knowledge disseminatorbecause internet is:
• Fast and efficient• Readily available• Easy to update• Cater for wide audience groups• Easily accessible for users anytime anywhere• Lower cost compared to conventional
dissemination process.This paper analyzed the knowledge dissemination
tools 2 aspects; technology strategy, and mobility. Intechnology strategy, there are two strategy catered forknowledge dissemination. They are push and pulltechnology.
Push technology automatically delivers data to theuser based on pre-defined information profiles orfilters(Shelly and Vermaat 2008). Push technology is aprocess of a web server sending content to a computer atregular intervals, such as current sport scores or weatherreports (Shelly and Vermaat 2008). Users of pushtechnology may obtain leads from the informationreceived and then search for more in-depth information(Powis-Dow 2006). This shows that using pushtechnologies, user will take an action due to thedisseminated information. In simple words, pushtechnologies will disseminate knowledge or actioninformation straight to the target users. This action willcause target users who are interested in the knowledge todo some action in order to know more about theknowledge.
PuIl technology is a process where the target usersrequest information from the web server (Shelly andVermaat 2008). This shows that the users are interested inthe information or knowledge available at certain sites.The target users may notice the knowledge in the specificsites before visiting them. For example, most of the booklovers know that Amazon.com sells book. Therefore theywill go straight to Amazon.com to know more about theproducts available.
Mobility comes from the word mobile which meansto describe something large that can be moved easilyfrom place to place(2003). This paper will discuss someof the relavant dissemination ICT tools. They are RSSfeeds. phone text messaging (SMS), internet telephone,and intelligent agents.
Target,l.(sers
Knowledge
DisseminationProcess
Generates newknowledge
3.1 RSS Feeds
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1999):• The world wide availability and popularity of an
inexpensive SMS• The evolution of Subscriber Identity Module
(SIM) in phone into a standardized and secureapplication platform for the next-generationnetworks.
• The demand for applications that let people usestheir mobile phones for more than just talking.
Knowledge
2006
Fig. I (c) Statistic of cellular phones in Malaysia(Malaysia 2008).
Figure I Cd) shows the suggested mechanism of SMSfor knowledge dissemination purpose. Initiallyknowledge contributors such as the government or anyother service provider, send their knowledge to SMSserver. Then SMS will be posted to GSM modem in orderto submit them to the users. From GSM modem, SMS issubmitted to SMS Center (SMS-C) so that the SMS wil1be delivered to the target user's mobile. Therefore,knowledge dissemination processes are able to be doneusing SMS technology.
1001
Rather than conventional mails, electronic mails(e-mails) are now more popular among the internet users.It is not just because they are fast but they also free. Thisis one of the suitable ways to disseminate knowledgethrough the internet. E-mail is the transmission ofmessages and files via a computer network (Shelly andVermaat 2008). Several knowledge dissemination toolsusing e-mails as their medium to pass the knowledge tothe end users such as RSS feeds.
RSS feeds stands for real1y simple syndication. RSS isa specification that content aggregators use to distributecontent to subscribers (Shelly and Vermaat 2008). Acontent aggregator is a business that gathers andorganizes web content and then distributes, or feeds, thecontent including news, music videos and pictures tosubscribers for free or fee (Shelly and Vermaat 2008).
RSS is obviously using push technology to distributethe information and knowledge to the target users. RSS isconsidered static because this tool did not move from oneplace to another.
Figure 1 (b) shows the suggested knowledgedissemination mechanism using RSS feeds. Knowledgecontributors wil1 adapt RSS feeds machine to theirwebsites, blogs or portals. This machine then willdisseminate the updates of these sites to all the targetaudience. Therefore an RSS feed is suitable forknowledge content dissemination in any website, blogs orportals.
Fig. I (b) RSS feed mechanism for knowledgedissemination process.
3.2 Phone Text Messaging (SMS)Other than the internet, mobile application such as
phone text messaging or short message services (SMS)are also had been a trend in disseminating informationand knowledge. Information or knowledge passed withinthis medium may be formal or informal. In Malaysiaitself, total subscriptions for cellular phones draws a verylarge numbers within the year 2007 and 2008 (Malaysia2008). Figure I (c) shows the statistics of cellular phonessubscribers in Malaysia.The reasons why SMS is one of the suitable tools forknowledge dissemination are (Guthery; and Cronin
SMS
Targetuser'smobile
Fig. I (d) Suggested mechanism of SMS for knowledgedissemination purpose.
Although the mechanism to send SMS seems to bestatic, users will received their message anywhere theyare. Therefore SMS is considered mobile. The technologystrategy for SMS is pull technology. Message sent
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through SMS is considered using pull technology.
Table 2 Characteristic of intelligent agents and thereasons why they are suitable for knowledge
dissemination processes.
3.4 Intelligent AgentsIntelligent agent is defined as an object or entity that
understands their position in an environment throughsensor and reacts to the environment througheffectors(Russel and Norvig 2003). In computer science,intelligent agent may be in form of software, system orother object that are applicable to the computer or internetenvironment. In order to make any applications to beintelligent or expert, there must be some knowledgefeatures added in them.
The characteristic of intelligent agents makes themsuitable for knowledge dissemination tools. As listed intable 2. are the characteristic of intelligent agents(Kasabov and Kozma 1998) and the reasons why they aresuitable for knowledge dissemination processes.
3.3 Internet TelephoneThe most common way of the telephone system is
analog. The inexpensive analog technology has manyadvantages such as it is simple and keeps the end-to-enddelay of voice transmission very low because the signalpropagates along the wire almost at the speed of light(Hersent;, Petit; et al. 2005).
Conversation may be the fastest way to spread outknowledge. Although analog phone have manyadvantages, there are still many drawbacks suchas(Hersent;, Petit; et al. 2005):
• Unless you use manual switchboards, analogswitches require a lot of electromechanical gear,which is expensive to buy and maintain
• Parasitic noise adds up at all stages of thetransmission because is no way to differentiatethe signal from the noise and the signal cannotbe cleaned
Internet telephone not only allows the users to talkmore, but it also let users to get connected throughout theword without any geographical barriers. Since knowledgeis better to be explained by the knowledge contributors,internet telephone is one of the solutions.
Internet telephone is mobile if users who access themare using wireless internet connection. But it may bestatic if users only access them through local areanetwork. This tool is using both pull and push technology.It allows service provider to call the target users and pushthe knowledge to them and the target users also may getinterested and started to dig more about the disseminatedknowledge from the net.
processes required aninteraction between one site
to another in order to doknowledge or information
collecting or to disseminatethe knowledge and
infornlation.[n order to crawl in the web,adaption of online and real
time is important forknowledge dissemination
tools in terms of distributingknowledge to all target users
at the right so that it mayescape from online traffic.
As a knowledgedissemination tools, an agent
shall know whether theknowledge that they pick is
suitable for the target users ornot.
[fthe knowledge that theagent found are new, theyshall know whether it is
suitable for them to cater ornot.
Accommodatereal-time problem
solving rulesincrementally
Adapt online and inreal time
through interactionwith the environment
Learn quickly fromlarge amounts of data
To show the mechanism of knowledge disseminationin intelligent agent, figure 1 (e) are the modified modelsof intelligent agent mechanism adopted from the modelsof goal-based intelligent agents by Russels and Norvig.
First the sensors of the agent sense the knowledge inthe environment. The agent then has to know whatenvironment are they in by referring to the state of theenvironment. Agent has to suit themselves in theenvironment. To know the consequences if any action istaken in the environment, agent have to know how theworld evolves. Knowledge dissemination agents shallknow that the knowledge is created or updated in thewebsite that they visited.
The agent has to know what they should do when theyvisit a website. In dissemination, the agent has to collectthe infornlation or knowledge in websites. To gather theknowledge or information in certain website, the agentshall not destroy nor change the contents.
After gathering the knowledge and information, theagent shall know the goal for their actions. [n this case,the goal for the agent is to disseminate knowledgegathered to target users. Then the agent will send themessage to their reactors to react according to the goal.Reactors will get back to the environment anddisseminate the knowledge. Intelligent agents are suitablefor knowledge dissemination processes since it mayperform these processes in the internet environment.
Intelligent agent may be used for many purposes. Inknowledge dissemination, it may be used as a tool tocrawl in the web to collect and distribute them to thetarget users. The intelligent agent may also be used as atool to pick which knowledge available that the targetKnowledge dissemination
Reasons why it SuitsKnowledge Dissemination
Processes
Learn and improve
Characteristic ofIntelligent Agents
(Kasabov and Kozma1998)
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CONCLUSION
Table 3 Comparison between tools by looking atfour categories; pull technology, push technology,
mobility, and level of collaboration.
Fig. 1 (e) Suggested mechanism of SMS for knowledgedissemination purpose.
Just like internet telephone, intelligent agent is mobileif users who access them are using wireless internetconnection. But it may be static if users only access themthrough local area network.
Yes
Yes(using
wirelessinternet)Yes (may
crawlthroughout the
internet)
x
x
have many choice ofthe knowledge providerstools to disseminate the
xxSMS
Internettelephone
Intelligentagents
Knowledge communitiesknowledge source. Thereforehave to choose the suitableknowledge effctively.
In the future, intelligent agent tools shall have bettercapability to directly involve the target users so that theknowledge will be disseminated to the targeted person ina timely manner.
REFERENCES (lOpt.)
(2003). Collins COBUILD Advance Leamer's EnglishDictionary, HarperCollins Publishers.
Al-Hawamdeh, S. and T. L. Hart ( 2002). Information andKnowledge Society, McGraw-Hill Education(Asia).
Bergeron, B. (2003). Essentials of KnowledgeManagement. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons.
Bukowitz, W. R. and R. L. Williams (1999). TheKnowledge Management Fieldbook, PearsonEducation Limited, Britain.
Debowski, S. (2006). Knowledge Management, JohnWiley & Sons, Australia Ltd.
Guthery;, S. B. and M. J. Cronin (1999). MobileApplication Development: with SMS and theSIM Toolkit, McGraww-Hill Companies, Inc.,United States ofAmerica.
Hersent;, 0., J.-P. Petit;, et a1. (2005). IP Telephony:Deploying Voice-over-Internet Protocols. WestSussex, Egland, John Willey & Sons Ltd.
Kasabov, N. and R. Kozma (1998). "Introduction: HybridIntelligent Adaptive System." InternationalJournal ofIntelligent Systems 13: 2.
Malaysia, D. o. S. (2008). "Cellular phones in Malaysia."from http://www.statistics.gov.my/eng.
Powis-Dow, D. W. (2006). "Reconciling Push vs. PullTechnologies." Dialog.
Rao, M. (2005). Knowledge Management Tools andTechniques, Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann.
Russel, S. and P. Norvig (2003). Artificial Intelligence: AModem Approach, Prentice Hall.
Shelly, G. B. and M. E. Vermaat (2008). DiscoveringComputers 2009, Course Technology. UnitedStates ofAmerica.
Suurla, R., M. Markkula, et a1. (1999). Methods andTools for Effective Dissemination: A Guide tothe Dissemination of the Result of InternationalEducational Projects, International Associationfor Continuing Engineering Education, IACEE.
Yes(using
wirelessinternet)
Mobility
x
Pull Pushtechnology technology
RSS
Tools
There are varieties of ways to perform knowledgedissemination processes using ICT. However each of theleT tools may have their strengths and weaknesses. Itdepends on the contents and structures of the knowledgethat need to be disseminated.
The service provider shall know what are the contentsand structures of knowledge that they want to disseminate.Then they may choose the most appropriate tool in orderto disseminate their information or knowledge. Therefore,this paper provides a comparison between tools bylooking at four categories; pull technology, pushtechnology, mobility, and level of collaboration.
users prefer the most before they disseminate it to them.In this case, intelligent agent is using both pull and pushtechnology. First, user need to initiate the knowledge areain the intelligent agent interface (pull technology). Thenthe intelligent agent passed back knowledge retrieval forthe target user.
worldevolves?
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Tiwana. A. (2003). The Knowledge Management Toolkit,Perantice Hall, United Kingdom, London.
Noorabsya Mohamed receivedthe Bachelor Degree (2008) inInformation Science from theNational University of Malaysia(UKM).
She is a master student inDepartment of Information System,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Hercurrent interests include knowledgemanagement and intelligent agents.E-mail address:[email protected]
Azizah Abdul Rahman receivedthe Bachelor Degree (1986) inComputer Science at the Universityof Sauthwesten Lousiana; master incomputer science (1988) at WesternMichigan University and her PhD(2003) at Universiti TeknologiMalaysia.
She is a lecturer in Department ofInformation System, UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia. Her currentinterests include knowledgemanagement and informationarchitecture. E-mail address:[email protected]
Wardah Zainal Abidin receivedthe Bachelor Degree inPharmacology at NationalUniversity of Malaysia (UKM). Shecompleted her master in computerscience at Universiti TeknologiMalaysia.
She is a lecturer in Department ofInformation System, UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia. Her cunentinterests include knowledgemanagement and special children.E-mail address:[email protected]
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