KM-Master Course, 2004
Module: Communautés virtuelles,
Agents intelligents
Introduction to the main issues
Thierry NABETH
INSEAD CALT – The Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies,
Fontainebleau, France
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Objective of the VCIA course
• Many of the approaches proposed in IS (Information
Systems) for managing knowledge are centred on the document
(knowledge = document) and mainly driven by technology.
• “In the real word”, people use a much wider variety of
knowledge processes to access and manage knowledge.
A very important category of these processes is related to the
social interaction.
• The objective of the course “Communautés virtuelles,
Agents intelligents” is to investigate how information
technologies can be used to support the more people oriented
knowledge processes.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
The importance of the social interaction
• A very important set of mechanisms used to support the
management of the tacit knowledge:
• Access to knowledge that is not elicitated yet.
• Access to category of knowledge that is difficult to
formalize (know-how)
• Access to category of knowledge that we are not aware
of (do we know what we know?).
• Access to category of knowledge that is considered as
private (and that people do not want to disclose).
• Access to constantly changing knowledge (rapid
obsolescence).
• Access to meta knowledge (knowledge about knowledge)
• other categories ???
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Objectives of the VCIA Course
Objectives:
• To present a more social, human and “intelligent”
perspective of the management of knowledge.
• To investigate how technology can be used to support
social and cognitive knowledge management processes.
• To study how these approaches can be applied for
supporting communities in a variety of contexts.
• Some of the questions to be answered:
• What are the digital infrastructures able to support the
social process?
• What are the main concepts and issues to consider?
• How to applied them in different domains.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Some myths
to be Challenged
This course will challenge a
certain number of beliefs
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Some Myths to be challenged
• Knowledge is only in the document. The perfect Knowledge
Management system is a big database system that will have
captured all the knowledge of the organization.
• The perfect Knowledge management systems are the ones
that offer the larger set of functionalities, and the more
sophisticated mechanisms.
• Social interaction spontaneously «emerges» once you have
provided the adequate communication infrastructure.
• People are self motivated and are eager to adopt new
processes if this help the organization to become more
efficient.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
The reality (knowledge = only in the documents?)
• A very important amount of Knowledge is not (and never
will be) present in documents*.
• An important role of KM Systems should be to provide
mechanisms that support the circulation & exploitation of the
tacit knowledge. (the ultimate objective of KM is that K is
used, not that it is stored!).
* Note: Why tacit knowledge will remain important?
• Because making the knowledge explicit is an heavy operation
(expensive), which can hamper the flexibility of the organization.
• Because Knowledge can sometime be difficult to formalize and risks
exist of overcoming the formalization of important pieces of knowledge.
• Because people are lazy, and capturing knowledge is often boring.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Examples (knowledge that is not in documents?)
• In education:
• Where did you get knowledge for deciding you to apply to the KMMaster course? (from brochures?)
• Where do you get knowledge useful for your career orientation?
• How to you make yourself an opinion of the importance of the field of
Knowledge Management? (from magazine?)
• How do you learn a new language? (at school and in books?)
• At work: (as an employee or a student)
• What do you do when you want you solve a new problem? (do you
search in books?)
• when Shopping:
• Where did you get information related to the best digital camera to
buy? (from an advertising?)
• Please: identify knowledge that is not in documents
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
The reality (larger number of functionalities?)
• People are getting overwhelmed by information and
process overload (email represents a burden).
• KM systems should not try to provide to all users every
functionality, and to deliver all the knowledge that is
potentially useful, but rather to provide the individuals with
what they really need.
• KM systems should develop a very deep understanding of the
user (including his cognitive style and his working context) and
groups in order to be able to deliver him relevant (according to
his profile and context) knowledge and support to his work.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
The reality (communication tools social interaction ?)
• Many of the first generation virtual community systems
(computer supported knowledge networks in which the
tacit knowledge flows) have died due to the belief that
the availability of communication tools (bulletin boards,
etc.) was a sufficient condition for social interaction.
• The process of creating, growing & maintaining virtual
community systems is complex and involve many human factors.
• Engineering is not only technical, it is also social
• Example of the VCAI: Did students spontaneously
participated? Let’s talk about the reasons!
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
How does it apply for the design of VC systems?
• KM systems should explicitly address and support the social
dynamic aspects (creation, growth & maintenance):
• creating a community:
• Creating the infrastructure, defining the value, establishing the
rules and roles
• growing this community:
• creating the critical mass, attracting new members, overgrowth
(spin-off it), outsourcing it?
• sustainability of its operations:
• keeping the people, managing and overcoming crisis (conflict resolution?),
reinforcing the rules, measuring the performance, maximizing the value
• terminate a community. (when value is no longer generated)
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
The reality (people are self motivated?)
• Many People are satisfied by the status-quo. They only
change their practices when they have no other choice,
or at least after they have well evaluated the risks and
have some guaranty that they will received a minimum of
support in this transition.
• KM systems should actively help and stimulate the users in
engaging in a continuous knowledge management process and
exchange.
• Also, people are different and are in particular driven by
different motives. Systems should take this into account.
Note: the limitation of this “self motivation” is in particular visible
in the difficulty of making people to share their knowledge.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Understanding The Key
Concepts
Social process and
Social related concepts
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Understanding The Key Concepts
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Learning & Virtual organization
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Communication
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Social Structure
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Social properties
• Trust, reputation, privacy, transparency
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A paradigm shift. They do not work the same way.
Structure of the message (semiotic, semantic), modes of
communication,
Social networks, Social groups, Communities,
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Understanding The Key Concepts
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Social dynamics
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Identity
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People specificity
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Knowledge & ideas diffusion
Cultural issues, transformation and change
Group belonging, bias, norms & pressure
Individual, group, abstract, …
social dimension: roles, team role Belbin, Gladwell
individual dimension: Personality, 5 factor model, Motivation
(Reiss)
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Key Concept:The learning & virtual organizations
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Learning organization (paradigm shift)
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Dematerialization of the economy
Systems not controlled, but regulated. (people participate on
a voluntary basis. Relationship and power versus hierarchy)
Horizontal structure. No top.
Concept of knowledge ecology (Davenport)
Geographical barriers have disappeared
What about the cultural barriers?
Belonging is less important than in the past (lifelong working
in the same company has disappeared).
Give some examples of learning or virtual
organizations, and explain why they are different
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Key Concepts: Communication
•
Communication is complex (combinatorial diversity)
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Structure of the message (semiotic, semantic),
Transmitting implicit content.
Modes of communication: synchronous / asynchronous
One 2 one; one 2 many; many 2 one; many 2 many.
Meta-communication. It is not only about content it self!
(reasoning about the context, trust, etc.)
Other?
Indicate some digital communication means and their
associate mode of communication
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Key Concepts: Social Structure
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All the social structures are not the same
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Social Networks
Groups
Organizations
Community
Other?
Indicate what differs between these structures
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Key Concepts: Social properties
•
The properties
•
•
•
•
Reputation & trust
Transparency
Privacy, anonymity
Other?
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Key Concepts: Social dynamics
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Managing human related social interaction processes
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Knowledge & ideas diffusion
Cultural issues, transformation and change
Group belonging, bias, norms & pressure
Other?
What are the barriers to communication and
exchanges?
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Key Concepts: Identity
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To be discussed
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privacy
Anonymity, pseudonymity
Observability
Identity crime & thief
Etc.?
A separate presentation will be done on the subject
of Identity.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Key Concepts: People specificity
•
People are different. Implication in an Identity
context?
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social dimension: roles, team role Belbin, Gladwell
individual dimension: Personality, 5 factor model
Motivation (Reiss).
self-efficacy (Banduras).
• Feeling in control of the situation. Implication on
motivation.
Andragogy theories (Knowles).
Or the important of the experience
Other?
How do take into account this difference in a virtual
community context?
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Social computing
About the mechanisms for
supporting the social process
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Supporting the social dimension in digital environments
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Communication technologies (a variety of modes).
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Social navigation:
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Social translucence: Making the social activity visible
Peer-to-peer, one-to-many, many to many synchronous,
asynchronous. Bulletin boards, chats, IM, …
exploiting digital social information. Identify people who know.
(visual tags, social pressure, trust building, motivation, etc).
Provide real-time indicators of the social activity (who
contributes, who read, what are the knowledge element the most
accessed, social network visualization, etc.). Analysing digital
trace.
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004
Supporting the social dimension in digital environments
The mechanisms used (supporting advanced processes).
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Advanced social processes:
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Managing the cultural transformation
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Developing ones identity
recommender & opinion systems, group formation systems (group
buying, consortium formation), collaborative knowledge construction
(with wikis), animating a community (blogs), creating a common
vocabulary (Ontology)
(i.e. attitude transformation for sharing knowledge), incentives
etc.
Web pages, blogs, reputation systems
«MASTER MANAGEMENT ET INGENIERIE ECONOMIQUE»
Spécialité: Projet innovation conception, option gestion de la connaissance
Module: Communautés virtuelles, Agents intelligents
Thierry Nabeth, 2004