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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Politics Of Scale, Position, And Place In The Governance Of Water Resources In The Mekong Region, Louis Lebel, Po Garden, Masao Imamura Jan 2005

The Politics Of Scale, Position, And Place In The Governance Of Water Resources In The Mekong Region, Louis Lebel, Po Garden, Masao Imamura

All UNF Research

The appropriate scales for science, management, and decision making cannot be unambiguously derived from physical characteristics of water resources. Scales are a joint product of social and biophysical processes. The politics-of-scale metaphor has been helpful in drawing attention to the ways in which scale choices are constrained overtly by politics, and more subtly by choices of technologies, institutional designs, and measurements. In doing so, however, the scale metaphor has been stretched to cover a lot of different spatial relationships. In this paper, we argue that there are benefits to understanding—and actions to distinguish—issues of scale from those of place and …


A Framework For Analyzing The Knowledge Commons : A Chapter From Understanding Knowledge As A Commons: From Theory To Practice., Charlotte Hess, Elinor Ostrom Jan 2005

A Framework For Analyzing The Knowledge Commons : A Chapter From Understanding Knowledge As A Commons: From Theory To Practice., Charlotte Hess, Elinor Ostrom

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

Who hasn’t heard of the six blind men of Indostan encircled around an elephant?1 The six—one a political scientist, one a librarian, one an economist, one a law professor, one a computer scientist, and one an anthropologist—discover, based on their own investigations, that the object before them is a wall, spear, a snake, a tree, a fan, and a rope. The story fits well with the question that propelled this chapter: how can an interdisciplinary group of scholars best analyze a highly complex, rapidly evolving, elephantine resource such as knowledge? Trying to get one’s hands around knowledge as a shared …


Knowledge Creation And Sharing In Project Contexts: The Situated Impact Of Our Learning Relationships, Andrew J. Sense Jan 2005

Knowledge Creation And Sharing In Project Contexts: The Situated Impact Of Our Learning Relationships, Andrew J. Sense

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper contributes to better understanding the dynamics of practically supporting the knowledge creation processes within a project management context. The case study findings presented in this paper describe and theorize about how the ‘learning relationships’ between project team participants present significant impacts on the immediate situated learning activity of a project team and ultimately also, for individual and team performance and development. As is argued in this paper, through project team participants publicly exploring and communally reflecting on this sociological element (amongst others), they aid their situated knowledge creation processes and help develop their skills in ‘learning how to …


The Development Of A User Self-Help Knowledge Management System For Help Desk: Deployment Of Knowledge Management Approach And Software Agent Technology, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau Jan 2005

The Development Of A User Self-Help Knowledge Management System For Help Desk: Deployment Of Knowledge Management Approach And Software Agent Technology, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Most help desks have admitted their call volume has increased in the past decade while “help unavailable when needed” is the major reason for service delivery failure and user dissatisfaction. The habit of calling help desk for simple problems has prompted the investigation of transferring part of first-level troubleshooting duty from help desk to user. This research proposes the development of user self-help knowledge management system that allows user to solve simple and routine technical enquiries. The proposed approach incorporates software agent to allow autonomous handling of enquiries so that the most appropriate solution and user communication can be facilitated.


Knowledge Management In Information Technology Help Desk: Past, Present And Future, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau Jan 2005

Knowledge Management In Information Technology Help Desk: Past, Present And Future, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Information technology has changed the way organizations function. This resulted in the reliance of help desks to deal with information technology related areas such as hardware, software, and telecommunication. Besides, the adoption of business process reengineering and downsizing have led to the shrinkage of the size of help desk. The shorter information technology product life cycle has worsened the situation by increasing the already sizeable help desk’s user base. Consequently, the help desk has to cover more information technology products and resolute more technical enquiries with less staff. Thus, the outcome is clear that users have to wait comparably longer …


Articulating Knowledge Work: The Contributions Of Activity Theory And Task-Based Knowledge Management, Henry Linger, Frada Burstein, Helen M. Hasan Jan 2005

Articulating Knowledge Work: The Contributions Of Activity Theory And Task-Based Knowledge Management, Henry Linger, Frada Burstein, Helen M. Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This chapter addresses issues of knowledge work in organisations with a concern that mainstream knowledge management (KM) has fallen short of expectations. The real nature of knowledge work remains hidden, and thus inaccessible, to those who are trying to improve organisational outcomes through KM practices. The authors have conducted independent research within a new discourse on knowledge work in the context of modem complex organisations, the results of which are converging to a common understanding of this critical phenomenon. Their two theoretical frameworks, one task-based and one activity-based, are described here as eminently suited to this research. Two sets of …


Measuring The Impact Of Knowledge Loss, Peter R. Massingham Jan 2005

Measuring The Impact Of Knowledge Loss, Peter R. Massingham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The impact of knowledge loss on the firm is a largely unexplored area of strategic management. This paper reports the findings of an in-depth case study of an organisation within the Australian Department of Defence. The study examines the nature and impact of knowledge loss within the construct of social capital. Of particular interest were the relationships between individuals’ activities, their levels of knowledge, and their motivation and ability to share this knowledge. The paper proposes a method to parameterise the knowledge resource variable. Findings suggest that the impact of knowledge loss may be traced directly to reduced capability in …


The Impact Of National Culture On The Standardization Versus Adaptation Of Knowledge Management, Zhi Ang, Peter R. Massingham Jan 2005

The Impact Of National Culture On The Standardization Versus Adaptation Of Knowledge Management, Zhi Ang, Peter R. Massingham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the affect of national culture on knowledge management for multinational companies (MNCs). MNCs often have to decide whether to standardise or adapt their operations. Previous research has found that national culture has an effect in a range of MNC operations, e.g. human resources, marketing. However, there has been limited research on the influence of culture on knowledge management. We combine these perspectives to develop a conceptual framework that explores the decision to standardise or adapt knowledge management practices based on differences in national culture. The study extends current theoretical perspectives on knowledge management by exploring the cultural …


Towards Executive Information Systems Adoptions By Knowledge Workers: An Extension Of The Technology Acceptance Model To Account For Social-Cultural Factors, Emmanuel Ikart Jan 2005

Towards Executive Information Systems Adoptions By Knowledge Workers: An Extension Of The Technology Acceptance Model To Account For Social-Cultural Factors, Emmanuel Ikart

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In recent years a number of organisations have implemented executive information systems (EIS) in order to improve the performance gains on their executives’ job. Although the use of EIS is important to executives, majority of executives are unwilling to use EIS because of their design failures. By using social factors, habits and facilitation conditions variables from Triandis’ framework, this paper extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to derive useful variables to address the problem of the low usage of EIS by executives. This paper reports on the research in progress in Australia on the adoption and usage of EIS by …


The Customization Of Knowledge Management Techniques In Information Technology Help Desk, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau, Geng Liang Jan 2005

The Customization Of Knowledge Management Techniques In Information Technology Help Desk, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau, Geng Liang

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Information Technology (IT) has converted a majority of organizational activities to automatic and electronicbased. This conversion greatly increases Help Desk (HD)'s coverage on IT related areas. Alternatively, the adoption of business process reengineering and downsizing has led to the shrinkage of the size of HD. This not only leads to the loss of priceless knowledge, but also coerces HD to provide more service with less staff - the outcome is clear that users have to wait comparably longer before HD staff is available. This paper describes how generic Knowledge Management process can be customized to improve support process in HD.


Knowledge Of Iodine Nutrition In The South African Adult Population, Pieter Jooste, Nicola Upson, Karen E. Charlton Jan 2005

Knowledge Of Iodine Nutrition In The South African Adult Population, Pieter Jooste, Nicola Upson, Karen E. Charlton

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Objectives To determine the level of knowledge regarding iodine nutrition and its relationship with socio-economic status in the South African population. Design A cross-sectional population survey collecting questionnaire information on knowledge of iodine nutrition and sociodemographic variables in a multistage, stratified, cluster study sample, representative of the adult South African population. Setting Home visits and personal interviews in the language of the respondent. Subjects Data were collected from one adult in each of the selected 2164 households, and the participation rate was 98%. Results Only 15.4% of respondents correctly identified iodised salt as the primary dietary source of iodine, 16.2% …