Search results

In the present context an organization competes in terms of its knowledge intensity. In this article we are focusing on human resource development, sustenance and enhancement as a process in non‐corporate research and technology organizations (RTOs), based on an international study on “Benchmarking the best practices for research and technology organizations”, coordinated by WAITRO. The basic function of these RTOs is to generate knowledge to effectively enhance their client’s competitive strength. A best RTO can be the one that provides a structure, which encourages people to take initiatives to generate new knowledge and effectively translate clients’ technological requirements into research results. For this, the RTO has to be a learning organization. To develop and sustain capabilities is essential for any RTO’s survival and growth. How best an organization performs depends upon its capability to build and enhance this knowledge base, i.e. the human capital. This in turn depends upon the way various activities are organized to generate human resource from the manpower they have.

One of the major challenges an organization faces is to manage its knowledge assets. Increasingly, the use of knowledge is seen as a basis for competitive advantage. This paper explores the key factors that have been cited as significant influences on the ability to transfer knowledge, an important area of knowledge management. Each of these factors is discussed separately and then integrated into a conceptual framework to explain how effective knowledge transfer can be managed in an organization. A set of managerial implications, or a qualitative assessment approach, is also discussed. It is framed as organizational characteristics and managerial practices required to establish an effective knowledge transfer process in an organization. Conclusions are drawn about the complexity of managing knowledge transfer and the need to take a balanced approach to the process.

The conditions that domain analysis becomes an academic school of information science (IS) are mature. Domain analysis is one of the most important foundations of IS. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss metatheoretical and theoretical issues in the domain analytic paradigm in IS.

This paper conducts a systematic review of representative publications of domain analysis. The analysis considered degree theses, journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and other materials.

Domain analysis maintains that community is the new focus of IS research. Although domain analysis centers on the domain and community, theoretical concerns on the social and individual dimensions of IS are inherent in it by its using sociology as its important approach and socio-cognitive viewpoint. For these reasons domain analysis can integrate social–community–individual levels of IS discipline as a whole. The role of subject knowledge in IS is discussed from the perspective of domain analysis. Realistic pragmatism that forms the philosophical foundation of domain analysis is argued and the implications of these theories to IS are presented.

The intellectual evolving landscape of domain analysis during a quarter century is comprehensively reviewed. Over the past twenty-five years, domain analysis has established its academic status in the international IS circle. Being an important metatheory, paradigm and methodology, domain analysis becomes the theoretical foundation of IS research. This paper assesses the current state of domain analysis and shows the contributions of domain analysis to IS. It also aims to inspire further exploration.

The purpose of the study was to investigate factors promoting innovation and application of internet of things in academic and research information organizations.

Quantitative research design involved survey of selected academic and research information organizations in public and private chartered institutions. Information professionals, digital content managers, information systems and technologists that normally consume big data and technological resources were involved in the process of data collection using structured questionnaire and content analysis. Information organizations and information practitioners were selected from public and private academic and research institutions.

Innovation of internet of things has increasingly transformed and changed academic and research information organizations as the source of knowledge in addition to expanding access to education, data, information and communication anywhere anytime through hyperconnectivity and networking. Internet of things technologies such as mobile of things, web of things, digital information systems and personal devices are widely applied by digital natives in academic and research information organizations. Mobilization platform and devices is the single biggest provider of data, information and knowledge in academic and research organizations. Modern trends in education and knowledge practices in academic institutions and information organizations depends upon internet of things, digital repositories, electronic books and journals, social media interfaces, multimedia applications, information portal hubs and interactive websites, although challenges regarding inadequate information communication technology infrastructure and social computing facilities still persist.

Information organizations in public and private chartered academic and research institutions were adopted in the study. Respondents handling and supporting information management, planning and decision-making provided the necessary data. Information professionals, digital content managers, information systems and technologists are proactively involved in data and information analytics.

Academic and research information organizations are powerhouses that provide knowledge to support research, teaching and learning for sustainable development and the betterment of humanity and society. Innovation of internet of things and associated technologies provides practical aspects of attaining sustainable information development practices in the contemporary knowledge society. Internet of things technologies, principles of economies of scale and investment and customer needs entail that information organizations and practitioners should provide appropriate and smart systems and solutions.

Modern academic and research information organizations have the social corporate responsibility to offer technological innovations to heighten access to knowledge and learning in academic and research institutions. Economically, innovation and application of internet of things provide unlimited access to big data and information in organizations all the time anywhere anytime.

Data management is a growing phenomenon that information practitioners need to fully understand in the digital economies. Information professionals need to embrace and appreciate innovation and application of internet of things technologies whose role in sustainable development practices is critical in academic and research organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on Koha enterprise resource planning system and its potential impact on information management organizations in Kenya against the risks and myths associated with the solution.

The study focused on selected scan and analysis of information management organizations using Koha enterprise resource planning system in addition to document or desk review analysis. Expert opinions and ideas of information professionals, especially information systems and information leaders, also provided vital knowledge.

Koha enterprise resource planning system as the premier and leading free and open-source software is transforming and integrating information services in knowledge-based organizations. Driving significant forces include economical benefits, global customer base, free use and distribution, technical and online support, compatibility and integration with other technologies and global access to information and organization of knowledge. The study also established that the risks and myths associated with the system such as compatibility and integration with other technological solutions are no longer possible challenges. Koha provides business intelligence and cloud computing solutions over proprietary or commercial systems for managing and supporting information in organizations.

This study purposively focused on selected information and knowledge management organizations using the Koha free and open-source enterprise resource planning system in addition to expert opinions and ideas of stakeholders in the information industry.

Koha enterprise resource planning system provides alternative solutions to information organizations already burdened with limited financial resources. In addition, it proves to the entire world that the solution that was developed for rural and small-based information organizations has developed into a leading knowledge enterprise resource planning solution. In information management organizations, Koha enterprise resource planning system is the strategic asset whose growth and use has increased tremendously across the globe.

Potential widespread application and usage of the Koha enterprise resource system that was initially developed for rural and small information organizations is proof enough that the free and open-source software movement can produce best solutions that are economically viable over proprietary systems. Significant impact of the enterprise system across the globe indicates that information management organizations, information professionals and leaders are satisfied with the system.

In the knowledge-based economy, where technological systems and solutions are fundamental for quality delivery of services to the customers, information professionals must and as always provide the necessary technology, leadership and management qualities. Across the world, Koha free and open-source enterprise resource planning system is increasingly gaining momentum in information management organizations, and Kenyan information professionals are no exception.

Knowledge organization (KO) content is central to educational programs of library and information science (LIS) and information and knowledge management (KM) programs. The components of information and KO have similar philosophies, theories, approaches, strategies and tools. LIS education programs have strong traditions of teaching KO. Fresh emphasis is noted on metadata, data mining, info-maps, knowledge maps, taxonomy, ontologies and other strategies for organizing an organization’s explicit and tacit knowledge. This paper aims to analyze how LIS schools have responded to the needs of developing competencies related to information and KO among its graduates.

This study analyzed the curricula of LIS accredited schools and leading schools in selected regions of the world based on the course titles presented on their websites.

This analysis provided an overall picture of the coverage of KO courses in LIS programs of 68 selected schools located in Southeast Asia, the Europe and accredited schools of North America.

The paper is limited to the treatment of KO in 68 selected programs of LIS education.

Library and information education programs may benefit from the findings for incorporating needed content in KO coursework.

The study is ground-breaking as it addresses the needs of development of KO competencies among LIS professionals from the perspective of findings of a systematic study of the curricula of 68 schools.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and clarify a possible realist foundation of domain analysis and knowledge organization, and in this vein, investigate into how the concept of information is to be understood at a lower but necessary conceptual level in domain analysis.

The paper investigates into the foundation of domain analysis as formulated by Birger Hjørland, and develops a realist framework for domain analytical information and knowledge organization based on critical realism.

Information can meaningfully be considered as the prerequisite for domain analysis, and critical realism may provide for a realist ontological framework for domain analysis and knowledge organization.

The paper includes new insights into the foundation of information and domain analysis.

The aim of this paper is to undertake an exploration of the challenges related to knowledge management (KM) within public sector organisations in Jordan.

There was the adoption of a qualitative method to achieve the objective of the study, with content analysis undertaken on ten assessment reports, so the results of the content analysis could be validated. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted within the sample organisations. The sample was made up of ten public sector organisations that had participated at least twice within the King Abdullah Excellence Award with acknowledgement within their reports of failure to achieve results that were satisfactory for KM.

KM challenges identified reflect various aspects of different factors, such as organisational structure, culture, KM processes and the evaluation of KM. In practical terms, the main KM-related challenges for the Jordanian public sector are considered to be a lack of a culture of teamwork to support sharing and exchange of knowledge, lack of required documentation for the building of organisational memory needed for processes of KM, lack of training for KM, lack of clear vision and strategy for KM and lack of proper methodologies for the management of internal knowledge and weaknesses in the integration of information and data.

The study puts forward a conceptual model that can be used in assessing the challenges that managers face when they seek to implement KM in organisations within the public sector. The challenges of KM within the public sector have been studied widely, in general; however there is an importance to gaining better understanding of how to overcome those challenges. Compared with most of the existent studies, this particular research has offered detailed, specific insights into challenges for KM within the public sector, along with provision of a conceptual model that other researchers could use in the future.

This article examines the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), which is the most used subject heading system in the world and an instance of a controlled vocabulary (CV).

The method used to examine the system is based on both authors’ subject knowledge in the field of information science (IS) and the subfield of knowledge organization (KO). Core concepts in this domain were examined (1) by checking if they are present or not in the system; (2) if not, by determining whether LCSH contains alternative terms useful for searching documents about the missing concept, by examining books indexed by the Library of Congress; (3) by identifying the semantic relations between subject headings.

The results demonstrate fundamental problems in the logical consistency of the representation of IS and KO in LCSH.

The implications for CVs in general are discussed.

No previous study has used our method to examine LCSH’s coverage of IS.

The role of quality of information in decision making has been highlighted in the literature. However, little attention has been given to the importance of critical information for the management of modern organisations. In order to provide products and services to customers, organisations need information for making decisions. Knowledge‐based systems are emerging as appropriate technology to automate complex decision making and processes, in particular for managing enterprise operations. Critical information plays a key and essential role for managing modern organisations. Because of the large volumes of information and the resources required to process them, it has become necessary to develop a scheme for the identification of critical information. In this paper a new technique to identify critical information for use in knowledge processing is presented. Using an example from the manufacturing industry, it can be demonstrated that the use of critical information will result in more efficient management of the enterprise knowledge. This would ultimately increase the competitiveness and viability of the enterprise.