Knowledge Acquisition In Practice

This is the first book to provide a step-by-step guide to the methods and practical aspects of acquiring, modelling, storing and sharing knowledge. The reader is led through 47 steps from the inception of a project to its conclusion. Each is described in terms of reasons, required resources, activities, and solutions to common problems. In addition, each step has a checklist which tracks the key items that should be achieved.

In this volume organizational learning theory is used to analyse various practices of managing and facilitating knowledge sharing within companies. Experiences with three types of knowledge sharing, namely knowledge acquisition, knowledge reuse, and knowledge creation, at ten large companies are discussed and analyzed. This critical analysis leads to the identification of traps and obstacles when managing knowledge sharing, when supporting knowledge sharing with IT tools, and when organizations try to learn from knowledge sharing practices. The identification of these risks is followed by a discussion of how organizations can avoid them. This work will be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in organization science and business administration. Also, consultants and organizations at large will find the book useful as it will provide them with insights into how other organizations manage and facilitate knowledge sharing and how potential failures can be prevented.

Organizations behave as knowledge-seeking communities when their members share beliefs about cause-and-effect relationships, norms for evaluating information, and values that guide the translation of knowledge to practice. What are the practices, arrangements, and mechanisms that make up how an organization knows what it knows? What are the underlying values and norms that shape the character and orientation of these methods? What can we learn from failures and disasters in organizational learning -- and how do organizations become susceptible to common learning traps such as the self-fulfilling prophecy, groupthink, group polarization, learning myopia, and selective information processing? In The Inquiring Organization, Chun Wei Choo examines how an organization's knowledge-acquisition and information-seeking leads to the construction of beliefs and the formation of epistemic practices that can affect its capacity to learn and grow. The book explores the epistemology of organizational learning and information seeking; how organizations acquire and justify knowledge; and how information is sought and shaped to warrant as well as to question beliefs. It starts from the premise that organizations are truth-seeking -- they seek beliefs which are well supported by reasoning, evidence, and experience in order to act more effectively. It then makes the case for a normative view of organizational knowledge which identifies the epistemic norms that an organization needs to pursue in order to acquire valid knowledge and true belief. The book progressively develops a set of information and epistemic features that are used to describe an inquiring organization. An inquiring organization is one that is motivated to acquire knowledge, where this motivation for knowledge includes not only the pursuit of truth, but also understanding, creativity, and curiosity. It has developed norms and practices of information seeking and knowledge acquisition that are truth-conducive, granting it reliable success in acquiring knowledge that is advantageous to the organization. It sees knowledge as the result of an ongoing process of inquiry in which knowledge is always provisional and always being improved upon, where beliefs are linked to experience, and the seeking of knowledge is an inclusive, collective enterprise.

From novice to expert: tools and techniques to make your learning faster, deeper, and stronger. Time to master the most important meta-skill of all: learning. Too bad you didn’t have this book years ago! Scientifically-proven, step-by-step methods for effective absorption, retention, and comprehension. Rapid Knowledge Acquisition & Synthesis is a collection of the very best methods to get ahead of the typical learning curve. You’ll learn how to create an environment for information absorption at shocking speeds. From scientifically-validated tips to best practices of some of the world’s smartest polymaths, you’ll get it all. Faster, deeper, stronger. Directly from one of self-education's thought leaders. Peter Hollins has studied psychology and peak human performance for over a dozen years and is a bestselling author. He has worked with a multitude of individuals to unlock their potential and path towards success. His writing draws on his academic, coaching, and research experience. Clear guidelines for every stage of the learning process. •The most common obstacles of learning and how to overcome them. •Single loop learning, double loop learning, and how to fundamentally change your comprehension mindset. •Best practices for reading, note-taking, absorbing knowledge, and making things stick inside your brain. •The most strategic questions to ask that will make information become memorable and 3d. •Dual coding, REM sleep, shifting locations, the efficacy of variety, and catching your own blind spots. Unlock the most important meta-skill of all: learning. Make yourself recession-proof, upgrade-proof, competition-proof, absent-minded-proof, and stagnant-proof.

This book provides the first comprehensive literature review on the acquisition and retention of complex skills in High Reliability Organizations. Based on this review, it introduces a theoretical model of how skill and knowledge acquisition for complex tasks is accomplished and shows how this model can be used to derive training methods and instructional techniques. Successful acquisition and retention of complex technical skills within High Reliability Organizations requires a full understanding of the learning process, knowledge structure, and skill requirements associated with the effective operation and management of technology. For researchers and for organizations, the understanding of these processes is vital for designing training programs as well as for reducing errors with severe consequences for human lives and the environment. Until now, only theoretical fragments exist on this topic, and only a very limited number of publications actually address complex tasks in vocational/occupational settings. “The Acquisition of Knowledge and Skills for Task Work and Teamwork to Control Complex Technical Systems ” uses its literature overview and theoretical model to formulate training principles, that can be used to develop training experiments for further empirical investigations as well as training methods for applied organizational contexts.

First published in 2011. As knowledge management becomes embedded within organisations it becomes more important for students to understand its principles and applications. In this text the author provides a comprehensive overview of the field of knowledge management with an emphasis on translating theory into practice, Working from a multidisciplinary perspective, he weaves key concepts, tools, and techniques from sociology, cognitive science, content management, knowledge engineering, cybernetics, organisational behaviour, change management and information science into a three level approach.

Building an expert system involves eliciting, analyzing, and interpreting the knowledge that a human expert uses when solving problems. Expe rience has shown that this process of "knowledge acquisition" is both difficult and time consuming and is often a major bottleneck in the production of expert systems. Unfortunately, an adequate theoretical basis for knowledge acquisition has not yet been established. This re quires a classification of knowledge domains and problem-solving tasks and an improved understanding of the relationship between knowledge structures in human and machine. In the meantime, expert system builders need access to information about the techniques currently being employed and their effectiveness in different applications. The aim of this book, therefore, is to draw on the experience of AI scientists, cognitive psychologists, and knowledge engineers in discussing particular acquisition techniques and providing practical advice on their application. Each chapter provides a detailed description of a particular technique or methodology applied within a selected task domain. The relative strengths and weaknesses of the tech nique are summarized at the end of each chapter with some suggested guidelines for its use. We hope that this book will not only serve as a practical handbook for expert system builders, but also be of interest to AI and cognitive scientists who are seeking to develop a theory of knowledge acquisition for expert systems.