REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOLS

KIT – die Kooperation von Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH und Universität Karlsruhe (TH)

REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Max Völkel, Andreas AbeckerFZI Forschungszentrum Informatik Karlsruhe11.06.2010


2

Personal Knowledge Management?

Why?

The knowledge-based organisation is no more effective than the sum of its knowledge workers’

effectiveness.

Davenport, 2004


3

Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

What?

PKM is a set of concepts, disciplines and tools for organizing often previously unstructured

knowledge, to help individuals take responsibility for what they know and who they know

European guide to good practice in knowledge managementCWA 14924-1:2004 E, part 5, p. 12.

European Committee for Standardization, 2004


4

Focus of this talk: PKM Tools

Organize often previously unstructured knowledge

Support personal note-taking Extend the human memory by information

management Make knowledge workers more productive

Many PKM tools have been built and even more tools are (ab-)used for PKM tasks.

How to build a good PKM tool?


5

Analyze what knowledge workers do

What is note-taking?Creating an external reminder (a note, a knowledge cue) to help a

person coming back to a previously experienced mental state (knowing something).

What is a knowledge cue?Definition: A knowledge cue is either

a piece of content, containing – plain text, – semi-structured text, or – arbitrary binary content

– such as images or desktop objects, or a connection between other knowledge cues.

– Such connections can be unspecified relations, directed hyperlinks and formal statements.


6

Knowledge-Cue Life Cycle


7



8



9



10

Economic Analysis

Goals: Low costs High benefit


11

Requirements for...

(Conceptual) model vs. Tool


12

Req for model:

Knowledge model should be a superset of existing conceptual models To reuse content residing in one kind of

representation in another tool, it needs to be transformed.

Convert between n formalisms? Naive: n2

transformations Common intermediate formalism: 2n

transformations

Learning a new tool user needs to understand the conceptual model of

the tool Formalism of good PKM tool should be similar to

existing models


13

Req: System should run queries automatically

Tool requirement


14

Req: Easy to learn

Model and tool requirement: Seems obvious However, riding a bicycle is not easy to learn Long-term cost/benefit is relevant


15

What kind of notes?

Model and tool requirement: Req: User decides on modeling granularity

Allow very short notes Allow very long (and structured) notes Less different tools have to be used

Req: Informal articulation Allow user to be informal lower costs (lower benefit)

Req: Formal articulation Allow user to be formal more benefit (higher costs)

Req: Simultaneous use of different levels of formality Req: Stepwise formalization


16

Req: Versioning

Allow errors and make it easy to fix them Never loose any keystroke

However, versioning and retrieval is hard


17

Interaction for codify and augment process

Model and tool requirements: Req: Entities need to be addressable

Neglected by many tools! Req: Capture the context for cue creation and

import


18

Interaction for codify and augment process

Tool requirements Req: Fast entry

Otherwise knowledge model remains empty Req: Knowledge model refactoring

Or model gets cluttered This includes deleting content

Req: Active assistance in maintenance tasks “This is older than…. and has been accessed less than …

times …” “This has been searched … times and each time it took

(very long)”


19

Ways of adding structure and formality

Model and tool requirements: Grouping of items Containment relationship Optional naming of knowledge cues Alternative names Order knowledge cues Linking Hierarchy Annotating content Tagging Classifying items into categories Tool requirements Simultaneous use of multiple levels of detail

Source: Analysis of conceptual

models of PKM tools

preverbal

verbal

formal


20

Interaction for retrieval process

Model and tool requirements: Queries

Full-text, semantic, combined Browsing (=scanning lists) and following links Inverse relations


21

Expressivity

Model and tool requirements: Flexible schema

Structured queries Adaptation to domains

Transclusion Avoid copy & paste

Meta-modeling Self-describing model


22

List 1


23

List 2


24

Conclusions

Long requirements list can be used As design specification and research agenda for

PKM tool builders To assess the suitability of existing tools for PKM

Core requirements: Trade-off authoring costs and retrieval value Step-wise formalization Unified knowledge model


25

Try http://iMapping.info

Extends listed requirements with spatial concepts

Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement

Education

REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOLS