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2014 | Buch

Knowledge Management for Development

Domains, Strategies and Technologies for Developing Countries

herausgegeben von: Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson, Gunjan Mansingh, Lila Rao

Verlag: Springer US

Buchreihe : Integrated Series in Information Systems

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Über dieses Buch

A number of developing countries, including small island states have common problems that have affected their development and growth. Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives can be used to address some of these issues, but these developing countries need to understand what is needed to implement them, in order to improve economic conditions. While many of these countries have access to technologies that can be used to assist in knowledge management, relevant and low cost KM initiatives need to be considered in improving their existing KM processes. Sectors critical to the growth of these developing countries include health care, crime management, disaster recovery management, small and medium size enterprise development. Knowledge Management for Development: Domains, Strategies and Technologies for Developing Countries highlights the opportunities in these sectors and provides advice as to how these countries should go about understanding, building and adopting the relevant KM strategies and technologies. This book identifies appropriate technologies which should be considered to increase productivity within the identified sectors in the developing countries and also sectors in where knowledge management initiatives can yield maximum value. It also considers the constraints of these territories, recommending appropriate technologies and strategies for KM initiatives. It provides advice on how these technologies should be adopted in these sectors of developing countries. Investing in these strategies should benefit these countries development and growth.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Understanding and Applying Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems in Developing Countries: Some Conceptual Foundations
Abstract
In this chapter we provide an overview on knowledge management (KM) and knowledge management systems. Foundational concepts that are relevant to the other chapters are discussed. This chapter along with the other chapters aims to provide guidance to researchers and practitioners who are looking to address KM in developing countries.
Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson, Gunjan Mansingh, Lila Rao
Chapter 2. Towards a Community-Centered Knowledge Management Architecture for Disaster Management in Sub-Saharan Africa
Abstract
Disasters in developing nations are typically caused by frequent and intense climate changes, which contribute to the socio-economic vulnerabilities of such nations. It is important to be strategic in the management of disasters in such regions in order to minimize their impact on thriving communities. There is therefore the need for effective disaster response that allows for access, analysis, and integration of information from varied sources. This Chapter presents architecture for managing knowledge on disaster in Sub-Saharan African nations. This architecture captures the critical contextual variables using process view of knowledge management to assist citizens who are less knowledgeable about disaster management to understand the various forms of knowledge on disaster response while developing extensive knowledge and building capability necessary to address disaster response and management. It also addresses issues with building IT expertise on disaster response in developing nations. More importantly, the architecture facilitates the creation, storage/retrieval, transfer, and application of knowledge on disaster response and management especially for ordinary citizens. The architecture also helps overcome issues with lack of collaboration and coordination across disaster response and management agencies.
Babajide Osatuyi, Francis Kofi Andoh-Baidoo
Chapter 3. Managing Expert Knowledge to Assist in the Management of Coffee Pests and Diseases in Jamaica
Abstract
The recent focus on knowledge-based economies brings to the forefront the importance of knowledge in developing nations. The capability to harness and manage knowledge has become essential and the Knowledge Management community has been developing technologies and applications to aid this process. Sustainable agriculture and environmental concerns have led to the emergence of the Integrated Management of Pest and Pesticides as a new way to deal with pests and pesticides in agriculture. In this chapter we present the architecture of an expert system CPEST and identify the knowledge types that are necessary to build such systems. CPEST incorporates different types of knowledge, i.e. the know-with, the know-how, know-when, know-about which exists in multiple experts and data sources to assist with the decision making process. The system is evaluated for its accuracy, ease of use, and effectiveness of its recommendations in the promotion of practices less damaging to the environment.
Gunjan Mansingh, Han Reichgelt, Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson
Chapter 4. Implementation of a Multi-agent Supervisory System for an Agricultural Products Sourcing Network
Abstract
A Distributed Knowledge Management System (DKMS) for health control in hydroponic agricultural framework could improve production and subsequently be integrated into a sourcing network. The forecasted production could also be integrated into an electronic auction and thus allow for faster negotiations, with transparency in a previously agreed trading structure. Such a DKMS can address a variety of regulations (e.g., production control, package, labeling) and environmental concerns (Integrated Pest Management). In this supervisory intelligent network scenario, a high degree of collaboration and transparency promote the solution to such technical critical aspects. In this chapter, a multi-agent architecture for collaborative knowledge management in agricultural production in Mexico is introduced. Since diagnosis and control of diseases and pests, regulations, and environmental issues can be involved in the whole process, from the production control up to the marketing and distribution stages, agricultural sustainability can be later analyzed.
Virgilio Lopez-Morales, Yacine Ouzrout
Chapter 5. Progressive Usage of Business and Spatial Intelligence for Decision Support in the Delivery of Educational Services in Developing Countries
Abstract
Managers and administrators in public sector organisations have the responsibility to make various decisions concerning service delivery to the citizens of the country. The provision of education to the children of the country is one fundamental type of service. Decision makers often work within many constraints, some of which are budgetary, political, geographical, and lack of relevant and timely information to support decision making. A well-educated population is a necessity for the economic development and well-being of a population. The provision of effective educational services is therefore crucial for every economy. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a discussion of knowledge discovery technologies and systems that can be implemented to support the gathering, storage, and analysis of data for purposes of supporting decision-making activities in the public sector in general and the public education sector in particular. The technologies discussed are business intelligence (BI), geographical information systems (GIS), and free/libre/open source software. It is argued in this chapter that the combination of these technologies can and should provide operationally effective and cost-effective solutions to the problem of gathering, storage, and analysis of data to support decision makers’ information needs. A case study of an education department which makes use of BI and GIS technologies in their management activities is provided as an example of effective usage of BI and GIS technologies for decision support.
Patricia E. Nalwoga Lutu
Chapter 6. Migrating MIS to KMS: A Case of Social Welfare Systems
Abstract
Knowledge management and knowledge-based systems can be critical to organizations and their success. The integration of knowledge resources into existing information systems can help improve decision making and possibly drive efficiency gains in business processes. In this chapter we propose a process model for evolving an existing information system into a knowledge management system. Our model provides guidance on the phases and supporting activities needed in this evolution. We discuss each phase and a reference architecture for a conditional cash transfer system for the social welfare domain in Jamaica.
Ricardo Anderson, Gunjan Mansingh
Chapter 7. Addressing a Knowledge Externality Schism in Public Policy in the English Speaking Caribbean
Abstract
This chapter proposes an innovative framework to knowledge management from a public policy perspective. It identifies possible adverse externalities when management of knowledge is incomplete in public policy making. For public policies to be effective, four knowledge functions—policy planning, legislation, budgeting, and implementation—must be maximised and linked. Should these respective functions fail to connect with one another, overall policy effectiveness may decrease. This chapter gives special consideration to lessons learned of Caribbean governments dealing with public policy development. Taking into account the specific context of small island development states, numerous opportunities exist for knowledge-based innovations.
Koen Rossel-Cambier
Chapter 8. A Methodology for Developing High Quality Ontologies for Knowledge Management
Abstract
Ontologies have been identified as important components of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS), and the quality of such systems is therefore likely to be heavily dependent on the quality of the embedded ontology. This chapter describes an approach to the development, representation, and evaluation of formal ontologies with the explicit aim being to develop a set of techniques that will improve the coverage of the ontology, and thus its overall quality. This will ensure that when the ontology is integrated into the KMS it will not jeopardize the quality of the system as a whole. The proposed approach will be illustrated by applying it to the development and evaluation of an ontology that can be used as a component of a KMS for the information technology (IT) infrastructure at a university campus.
Lila Rao, Han Reichgelt, Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson
Chapter 9. The Role of Ontologies in Developing Knowledge Technologies
Abstract
Knowledge management has been dependent largely on technologies that are used to manage data and information. However, it is widely accepted that there is an important distinction between knowledge and data and information and until there is a focus on building strategies and technologies specific to knowledge management, the full potential of knowledge cannot be realized. Within an organization knowledge resides in numerous sources of different types such as human experts, processes, and data stores. Therefore the development of the specific technologies should focus on the management of this knowledge within these different sources. Many of these technologies need access to the knowledge of the domain which can be formally represented using an ontology. In this chapter we describe three ontology-driven knowledge technologies and discuss how they can be beneficial in harnessing knowledge in these varied sources.
Gunjan Mansingh, Lila Rao
Chapter 10. Knowledge Sharing in Repository-Based KM Systems: A Study in the IT Services Enterprises in India
Abstract
The rapid evolution of the Internet and global telecommunication infrastructure has provided organizations with a choice of service providers located anywhere in the world. Developing economies, like India, have emerged as the leading destination for outsourcing of eWork, both in Software Services as well as in IT Enabled Services (or Business Process Outsourcing). India has capitalized on its early mover advantage and Indian firms now develop software or provide IT Enabled Services for more than half of the Fortune 500 companies. Many have acknowledged the success of Indian organizations, by calling India the back office to the world.
Owing to their success, the Indian IT services organizations have grown very fast, and today some of these organizations employ more than 150,000 software professionals working in different corners of the world. Working in globally distributed teams is a norm in most of these organizations. Members of these distributed teams are separated not just by time and space but also by different social and organizational cultural experiences.
Many of the Indian IT services organizations have put in place formal knowledge management (KM) systems as part of the initiatives to manage the complexities arising from the rapid organizational growth and globally distributed teams.
In this chapter, we document the lessons learned from our research on Knowledge Sharing strategies, in particular, the factors encouraging or inhibiting the Knowledge Seeking and Knowledge Contribution behaviors in the context of repository-based KM systems in Indian Software and Services organizations.
There are important lessons to be learned from the experiences of Indian software and services organizations by similar knowledge-intensive organizations experiencing the forces of globalization.
This chapter is written in a descriptive format, enumerating the practices employed by Indian enterprises in repository-based KM systems to manage the organizational knowledge creation, dissemination, sharing, utilization, and deployment. This chapter also lists the lessons learned from successful and not so successful initiatives for managing knowledge.
Rajendra K. Bandi, Vikas Mehra
Chapter 11. Ability to Share Knowledge of Doctors in Teaching Hospital in Indonesia
Abstract
The tacit knowledge held by physicians is rarely converted into explicit knowledge. The main challenge for doctors at teaching hospitals in Indonesia continues to be a high level of dependence on one doctor who has the knowledge. This study aims to conduct an analysis of the issues that can affect a physician’s ability to share knowledge with peers in an effort to reduce the level of dependence on physicians. The method used is based on survey respondents using surveymonkey.com. The results of the processing and analysis of the data shows that there are four hypotheses identified ability to share knowledge with the indicator value of t-count greater than the value of t-table. The main conclusion of this study is that a physician’s ability to share his knowledge with colleagues is strongly influenced by the ability to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the knowledge and the ability to document the knowledge that is shaped into the form of tacit or explicit knowledge. Other factors affecting the physicians’ ability to share knowledge are the frequency of interactions among them and the work environment where supporting a culture of sharing knowledge is expected as part of the organizational culture of teaching hospitals in Indonesia.
Oktri Mohammad Firdaus, Kadarsah Suryadi, Rajesri Govindaraju, T. M. A. Ari Samadhi
Chapter 12. Knowledge Sharing in the Health Sector in Jamaica: The Barriers and the Enablers
Abstract
In knowledge sharing forums actors access each other’s knowledge to assist in their own decision making process. However, in the absence of a formal knowledge management system, this knowledge may not be available for use/reuse. In this chapter we analyze different cases in the healthcare sector in order to identify the factors which either facilitate or impede knowledge flows while sharing knowledge. The barriers and enablers pertaining to knowledge access and retrieval and knowledge sharing are identified in the health sector. Furthermore, we theorize about the use and reuse of knowledge items and the issues related to accessing and retrieving them in knowledge-sharing forums. We examine the patterns of accessibility of a knowledge item in knowledge-sharing forums and their effect on perceived usability and perceived usefulness and relevance of the knowledge item.
Gunjan Mansingh, Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson, Han Reichgelt
Chapter 13. The Ulwazi Programme: A Case Study in Community-Focused Indigenous Knowledge Management
Abstract
Prevailing ideas about knowledge management in post-apartheid South Africa have been marked by notions of redress, the recognition of previously marginalized narratives and categories such as intangible heritage and indigenous knowledge. Key to these developments has been a democratizing turn, a participatory approach to the development and management of knowledge resources. Born of changes in the broader political context and the policy environment, the Ulwazi Programme is a new South African heritage initiative that has been set up by the eThekwini Municipal Library’s Libraries and Heritage Department to preserve and disseminate indigenous knowledge of local communities in the greater Durban area. The Programme, in the form of a localized Wiki, functions as a collaborative online archive of local knowledge and histories that are collected from the community by volunteer fieldworkers and then shared via the Internet and on cell phones. This utilization of a combination of open-source and social media applications for archival and heritage purposes is unique in South Africa. The chapter presents the structure and the implementation details of this indigenous knowledge preservation system.
Niall McNulty
Chapter 14. Knowledge Management for Programs on Information and Communications Technologies for Development (ICT4D) in South Africa
Abstract
The Living Labs in South Africa (LLiSA) projects have been introducing telecommunications and Internet technologies to remote rural South African municipalities for over 7 years. The projects have exhibited mixed success, with some quite successful in assisting schools and health clinics to use the Internet for obtaining and sharing information and others enjoying initial success only to fall into disuse. Knowledge management for technology expertise, Internet and computer usage, and software tools has required a transfer of knowledge to local interested individuals. However, knowledge management is typically not an explicitly named aspect of the projects. Rather, projects cite a need for training and development of skills for maintainability, but no explicit knowledge management. This research describes knowledge management characteristics, then analyses information and computer technology for development (ICT4D) projects around the world to develop best practices and their knowledge management components. The Siyakhula Living Lab, a part of LLiSA, is evaluated with attention to the extent to which knowledge management best practices are applied. The knowledge management used is simple and somewhat effective in developing a growing base of technology users in the project’s supported locations, but does not address documentation of project information for use in local maintenance and support. Recommendations for knowledge management in ICT4D and, specifically the LLiSA projects, are developed.
Sue Conger
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Knowledge Management for Development
herausgegeben von
Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson
Gunjan Mansingh
Lila Rao
Copyright-Jahr
2014
Verlag
Springer US
Electronic ISBN
978-1-4899-7392-4
Print ISBN
978-1-4899-7391-7
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7392-4

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