Knowledge Mapping :A Practical
Overview by Denham Grey March, 1999
What exactly is Knowledge Mapping? |
It's an ongoing quest within an organization (including its
supply and customer chain) to help discover the location, ownership,
value and use of knowledge
artifacts, to learn the roles and expertise of people, to
identify constraints to the flow of knowledge, and to highlight
opportunities to leverage existing knowledge.
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Knowledge mapping is a important practice consisting of
survey, audit, and synthesis. It aims to track the acquisition and
loss of information and knowledge. It explores personal and group
competencies and proficiencies. It illustrates or "maps" how
knowledge flows throughout an organization. Knowledge
mapping helps an organization to appreciate how the loss of staff
influences intellectual capital, to assist with the selection of
teams, and to match technology to knowledge needs and processes.
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What are the key principles of knowledge mapping?
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Understand that
knowledge is transient. |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Explain the
sanction, establish boundaries, and respect personal
disclosures
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Recognize and
locate knowledge in a wide variety of forms: tacit and
explicit, formal and informal, codified and personalized,
internal and external, short life cycle and permanent. |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Locate
knowledge in processes, relationships, policies, people,
documents, conversations, links and context, suppliers,
competitors and customers |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Be aware of
organizational level and aggregation, cultural issues and
reward systems, timeliness, sharing and value, legal process
and protection (patents, trade secrets, trade marks, NDAs)
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What is a knowledge map?
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The knowledge map is a navigation aid to explicit (codified)
information and tacit knowledge, showing the importance and the
relationships between knowledge stores and dynamics. The knowledge
map, an outcome of synthesis, portrays the sources, flows,
constraints and sinks (losses or stopping points) of knowledge
within an organization. |
Why should I map the knowledge in my organization?
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Encourage
re-use and prevent re-invention, saving search time and
acquisition costs |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Highlight
islands of expertise and suggest ways to build bridges to
increase knowledge sharing |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Discover
effective and emergent communities of practice where learning
is happening
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Provide a
baseline for measuring progress with KM projects |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Reduce the
burden on experts by helping staff to find critical
information quickly |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Improve
customer response, decision making and problem solving by
providing access to applicable information |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Highlight
opportunities for learning and leverage of knowledge |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Provide an
inventory and evaluation of intellectual and intangible assets
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Research for
designing a knowledge architecture or a corporate memory
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What do I need to map?
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Location,
ownership, validity, timeliness, domain, sensitivity, access
rights, storage medium, use statistics, medium and channels
used |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Documents,
files, systems, policies, directories, competencies,
relationships, authorities |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Boundary
objects, knowledge artifacts, stories, heuristics,
patterns, events, practices, activities
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Explicit and
tacit knowledge which is closely linked to strategic drivers,
core competencies and market intelligence. | |
Where should I be looking?
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Newsfeeds, contact addresses, network transactions,
helpdesks, patent registers, asset and HR databases, warrantee
claims, LAN directory structures, library, record archives, process
descriptions, push profiles, meta-data directory. |
How do I collect the information? |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Conduct
interviews and ask targeted questions
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Observe the
work in progress |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Track the
boundary objects |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Obtain the
network traffic logs |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Explore the
common and individual file structures
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Gather policy
documents, organizational charts, process documentation
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Concentrate on
formal an informal gatherings, communication and activities
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Move across
multiple levels (individual, group, department, organization)
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Gather from
internal external sources | |
What do I do with all this information? |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Compile yellow
pages and register of boundary objects and templates |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Record
promising heuristics and best practices
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Construct a
proto
ontology |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Explore re-use
opportunities |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Look for
learning points, natural knowledge stewards, gatekeepers,
isolated islands, and narrow communication channels |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Map, flows,
sequences, and dependencies |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Check for
network patterns, critical nodes, high traffic, and highly
valuable information |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Write your
report providing feedback on the objectives and supporting
data in the appendices (interview transcripts, boundary object
register, file structure, concept maps, ontology, knowledge
maps) |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Consider your
next move. Knowledge mapping is often conducted in phases:
overview to uncover opportunities, details to drill down to
specifics or to cover different department, locations of
functional groups. | |
Key questions |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
What type of
knowledge is needed to do your work?
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Who provides
it, where do you get it, how does it arrive? |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
What do you do,
how do you add value, what are the critical issues? |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
What happens
when you are finished? |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
How can the
knowledge flow be improved, what is preventing you doing more,
better, faster?
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
What would make
your work easier? |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Who do you go
to when there is a problem? | |
Tips and Tricks |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Yellow pages
give the fastest and highest ROI |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Who knows whom
is key |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Knowledge types
include FAQ, heuristics, best practices, lessons learned,
solutions to common problems, product knowledge, market
knowledge, process knowledge, and the rationale for decisions
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Knowledge Mapping as a Business
Strategy |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Knowledge
mapping can be offered as training, as an information seminar,
as an introductory 'free' service. It’s a useful way to get a
'foot in the door'. |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Knowledge
mapping helps you to understand the client's needs, gaps,
opportunities and competitive leverage at a very fundamental
level |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
After
completion a you can offer a follow-up survey to chart
progress, send the client information on new tools or offer a
benchmarking report |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Knowledge
mapping is associated with a major trickle down effect. There
are opportunities for further services in architectural and
specialized KM practices, implementation and culture change ,
i.e. |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Helpdesk and
customer service |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Data and text
mining with data marts, OLAP and other backups\ Intranets
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![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Conversation
servers |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
GroupWare and
workflow |
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Virtual
communities, psychographics and e-commerce |
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Corporate
intelligence, push and scanning applications |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Setting up an
integrated knowledge architecture (messaging, repository,
documents, discussion, publishing)
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Dedicated KM
tools, search engines, text and data visualization |
![](Knowledge Mapping_files/cnvbull1.gif) |
Training in
systems thinking, creative thinking, on-line facilitation
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Technical
documentation to clean and abstract critical documents and
presentations
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Specialized
knowledge engineering services: corporate memory, heuristics,
expert systems, ontology development, concept extraction,
knowledge structuring, patterns, communities of practice,
customer capital, IC management. | |
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