Effective elicitation and dissemination of situated knowledge: exploration of an agent based approach

The paper has focused on the issue of collaborative working through knowledge sharing. Various types of knowledge repository have been identified which have largely failed to be supported by traditional information and communication technologies. This paper addresses the capture, storage and dissemination of situated knowledge, recognising the need for both cultural and technological change if this valuable organisational asset is to be appropriately exploited. The use of an intelligent agent-based collaborative information retrieval tool known as Casmir has been explored as a means to address this complex area. A commercial domain (automotive manufacturer) has been used to illustrate its likely potential. Specifically, the aim of the illustration has been to develop a methodology for the articulation and dissemination of context based situated knowledge and the use of Casmir to push knowledge into the user domain. In order to evaluate the tool 50 naive users were set a specific, collaborative information retrieval task. The results of the user evaluation are presented. Phase one of the evaluation focused on serendipitous information discovery and showed a clear increase in precision of information retrieved over time. Phase two of the evaluation required a qualitative evaluation of the software from the users. The results of the phase two evaluation indicated that the collaborative information retrieval functionality of the tool was regarded as beneficial, especially in supporting group working in an informal manner. In conclusion, the work presented shows that the synergistic use of the software tool in a situated knowledge domain is a meaningful way forward in the battle to support the dissemination and exploitation of situated knowledge.