MATURE Deliverable 1. - Knowledge Maturing

2 Introduction
Year 1 of MATURE has been characterised by a number of parallel strands of activities the ultimate aim
of which is to establish a profound knowledge base of concepts and theories as well as practices of
knowledge maturing. The role of WP1 in this is (1) to collect and analyze empirical evidence about
knowledge maturing in general for developing a common understanding and to revise the knowledge
maturing model and (2) to contribute to the various requirements engineering and design activities,
particularly the development of use cases as well as requirements for the planned MATURE software.
This is in line with the participatory design process that MATURE takes towards software development.
Building on the results of the ethnographic study which is the first in a series of empirical studies, the
knowledge maturing model has been revised as empirical data has been taken as a first “reality check” for
the initial knowledge maturing model. Implications for requirements have been collected as part of
deliverables developed in WPs 2-6 for which the results have provided a rich source of experience for
requirements engineering as well as direct contact of developers with potential application contexts to
inspire and guide ideas. Lastly, steps towards preparing a representative study planned for Year 2 have
been taken that will be used to test assumptions created in the ethnographic study. This deliverable reports
on Year 1 achievements of MATURE towards the objectives of work package 1, particularly to
• establish a common knowledge base about the different domains, concepts and theories required
to understand and support the knowledge maturing process,
• explore current knowledge maturing practices, e.g., routines, processes, knowledge types and
semantics,
• develop a reference model for describing knowledge maturing.
These objectives are reflected in the following tasks that the consortium has worked on during the first
year:
• T1.1 Compilation of the scientific and technological state of the art and current trends. This has
been written up in the MATURE Wiki until M6 and will be briefly summarized in this
deliverable,
• T1.2 Explorative empirical studies. Work on WP1 in the first year has been particularly intensive
with respect to a collaborative ethnographic study that has been performed by MATURE partners
and involves MATURE application partners as well as several MATURE associate partners,
• T1.4 Development of the conceptual knowledge maturing model. The results of T1.1 and T1.2
have been fed into a substantial and concise refinement of the initial knowledge maturing model
as presented in the Description of Work taking on board particularly the results of the
ethnographic study and the input by and feedback of application partners voiced in meetings,
workshops, e.g., on design studies (see WP 2,3 and 4).
The overview given in Figure 1 shows the main activities of this phase and their primary use within this
work package and concerning other work packages and the corresponding deliverables represented by
arrows. The ethnographic study provides rich material about knowledge maturing practices, cases and
personas which have impacted the parallel activities in WPs 2-6. The results of the empirical study,
particularly long-running knowledge maturing cases, stories about changes in knowledge maturity,
indicators for knowledge maturing and hot knowledge maturing areas, have been primary resources for
the revision of the knowledge maturing model together with the description of the state-of-the-art
concerning knowledge maturing brought to the project by the members of the consortium and an
extensive review of the literature.
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