Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Information Intensive Systems: Enabler or Inhibitor <strong>of</strong>
Sustained Knowledge Capability
Max Erik Rohde and David Sundaram
The University <strong>of</strong> Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand
m.rohde@auckland.ac.nz
d.sundaram@auckland.ac.nz
Abstract: The ability to leverage <strong>the</strong> potentials <strong>of</strong> knowledge capabilities has become an essential
source <strong>of</strong> competitiveness for many organizations. Information systems have been considered to be a
fundamental catalyst in increasing performance in working with organizational knowledge. However,
<strong>the</strong>re is growing disillusion regarding <strong>the</strong> capabilities <strong>of</strong> information intensive systems to facilitate <strong>the</strong>
work with knowledge. In many studies, information technology has been presented as an inhibitor <strong>of</strong>
emerging and unpredictable knowledge work ra<strong>the</strong>r than its enabler. One sustained challenge for
research lies in exploring novel ways, which enable to overcome <strong>the</strong> pitfalls <strong>of</strong> technology while still
reaping its potential benefits in working with knowledge. The particular objectives <strong>of</strong> our study are to
(1) explore <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> information intensive mechanisms to facilitate sustainable knowledge
capability and (2) to design, implement and evaluate information intensive mechanisms to create and
access complex information in alignment with natural ways <strong>of</strong> working with knowledge. In pursuit <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong> first objective <strong>of</strong> this research, an extensive review <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge management literature as
well as related business and computing disciplines is conducted. The syn<strong>the</strong>sized conclusions drawn
from this review are postulated as guidelines for designing information intensive knowledge support
systems: (1) connect contexts through information, (2) be aware that situational context and structural
parameters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> same are mutually constitutive, (3) focus on individuals as mediators <strong>of</strong> knowledge
flows, and (4) be aware <strong>of</strong> both <strong>the</strong> benefits and costs <strong>of</strong> information. In fulfilment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> second
objective, a prototypical information intensive knowledge-support system in alignment with aforementioned
guidelines has been implemented. This prototype: (1) works with generic networks <strong>of</strong> information in order to be
able to adapt to versatile and unpredictable contexts, (2) allows gradual imposition <strong>of</strong> syntactical rules on
complex information in order to reflect structural constraints in different degrees <strong>of</strong> severity, (3) allows individuals
to design personalized gateways into complex organizational information networks and (4) endeavours to
minimize interference in emergent knowledge processes potentially caused by information intensive systems.
The prototype is implemented in Java utilizing <strong>the</strong> frameworks Google Web Toolkit, XStream and <strong>the</strong> Jena
Semantic Web Framework.
Keywords: Knowledge management, knowledge management systems, sustained knowledge capability
1. Introduction
Information technology undoubtedly is at <strong>the</strong> midpoint <strong>of</strong> an unprecedented transformation <strong>of</strong> personal
and workspace environments. Information technology changes <strong>the</strong> way we work, spend our pastime,
<strong>the</strong> way we organize our lives, and some argue, <strong>the</strong> way we think and act. Few predictors doubted
that computers would quickly become man’s equal in thinking and knowing; according to <strong>the</strong> popular
work <strong>of</strong> Kubrick “2001: A Space Odyssey”, for instance, computers should have long been able to
understand, speak and intrigue just like <strong>the</strong>ir human creators.
Maybe such visions spawned and fuelled extensive investments into organizational systems to
manage, store, and apply ‘knowledge’. In <strong>the</strong> light <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> success <strong>of</strong> IT-based systems in supporting
production, logistic and account processes, it was expected that similar systems would soon aid
workers and decision makers in knowledge-intensive domains. However, notwithstanding significant
efforts <strong>of</strong> practitioners and researchers alike, <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> information-centric systems to support <strong>the</strong>
work with knowledge has <strong>of</strong>ten met with limited success (McDermott 1999; van Zolingen, Streumer, &
Stooker 2001).
Many researchers draw <strong>the</strong> conclusion that <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> information systems in <strong>the</strong> work with
knowledge should principally be as <strong>the</strong> facilitator <strong>of</strong> social processes (Thompson & Walsham 2004).
The purpose <strong>of</strong> this research is to investigate if and how information intensive approaches could still
aid in facilitating organizational knowledge capability. For this, a review <strong>of</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> current
perspectives on organizational knowledge capability is conducted (section 2.1). Then, it is reflected
upon how <strong>the</strong>se perspectives are reflected in technological approaches to support <strong>the</strong> work with
knowledge (section 2.2). This discussion is syn<strong>the</strong>sized into a number <strong>of</strong> guidelines to design
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