Introduction There is a widespread perception in the West that we live in a secular age, an age in which religion is at best an optional extra, if not a false delusion completely out of place. However, religion still arouses passion and causes controversy; it controls and transforms lives. An informed understanding of the contemporary world thus requires an appreciation of the role of religion in shaping ideas, world-views and actions that have an impact on the social as well as on the personal life of th
3.3 The musicians at work 4.18.2 Information visualisation We read increasingly of the problem of information overload. Earlier, we emphasised the importance of designing appropriate information representations to assist human interpretation in order to create actionable knowledge. Information visualisation is concerned explicitly with designing representations using intuitive visual metaphors and graphics to highlight the most important aspects of information structures and processes. Information visualisation is a rapidly emerg 4.18.1 Data mining Data mining refers to techniques for analysing databases or information systems to try to identify hidden but significant patterns that are not possible to detect by standard querying of the database. Moxon defines data mining as follows: Data mining is a set of techniques used in an automated approach to exhaustively explore and bring to the surface complex relationships in very large datasets … most likely im 4.14.1 Metadata
Metadata is descriptive data about data. This has also come to refer to a way of tagging documents (on the Web or any other repository) with structured, descriptive information. For example, to describe a unit in B823, we would expect to have concepts such as title and author, but perhaps also prerequisite or core concepts. Translated into a metadata scheme, this might appear as follows (typically metadata fields use 4.13.2 Example: an ‘intelligent’ email system Let us work through an email example of making a system ‘smarter’. We are all familiar with the standardised fields in an email system: From, To, Subject. The computer needs the To/From information, expressed in a standard format, to direct the message to its addressees and allow them to reply. It has no concept of who the sender and recipient are, or what the Subject field means. We can imagine simple knowledge-level email categories which add status information to t 4.12.1 Communities of practice and technology Communities of practice are technical and social networks which set the context in which new knowledge arises in daily work, and determine how it is shared and interpreted, what counts as important knowledge and how people become recognised as members of that community: A good deal of new technology attends primarily to individuals and the explicit information that passes between them. To support the flow of knowledge, 4.11.1 Debating and negotiating meaning The two briefings in Boxes 4.10 and 4.11 illustrate other technological approaches to supporting socially based forms of knowledge generation, with the common theme of facilitating negotiation and debate among stakeholders. These are examples of tools which can assist communication between communities of practice as they seek to understand each other's perspectives. 4.4.2 Mapping across multiple communities of practice In introducing the core concepts, we highlighted the perspective that ‘what counts’ as valuable knowledge is unavoidably shaped by the communities of practice to which the ‘publisher’ and ‘consumer’ belong. One makes situated judgements regarding the relevance of a new piece of information for oneself and others, and how to store or share it appropriately. One geographical metaphor conjured up by this perspective is that of ‘islands’ of local coherence, with narrow ‘c 3.2 Organisational memory systems Without a memory, humans are paralysed in the present moment, unable to reflect on lessons learned or to anticipate the future. You will notice that the heading given to the framework in Figure 3 is corporate memory. The whole dynamic system of people and technologies is conceived as constituting an organisation-wide resource that will enable it to become a more intelligent, learning organism, to pursue the anthropomorphic metaphor. The organisational memory challenge goes beyond tradi 3.1 A knowledge management technology framework In the introduction to a book on knowledge management technologies, Borghoff and Pareschi (1998) described a framework for organisational memory that has been developed within Xerox to promote understanding of the roles and interplay between different technologies (Figure 4). 2.5 Design implications The difficulties just described have very practical implications when it comes to designing technologies. Consider the following quotations: in selecting any representation we are in the very same act unavoidably making a set of decisions about how and what to see in the world … a knowledge representation is a set of ontological commitments. It is unavoidably so because of the inevitable imperfections of 1.1 ‘Technology’? In knowledge management literature the term ‘technology’ is assumed to mean digital media and networks: software and hardware that comprise today's ICTs. However, it is important to remember that pens and paper are forms of technology, along with whiteboards, sticky notes, and the other non-digital media that make up the infrastructure of our daily lives at work. These are not about to disappear: paper is robust and portable, text on paper is easily read and annotated, and most organisati Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the following issues, explaining in your own words, with appropriate examples: the importance of representation, interpretation and formalisation in relation to ICT and managing knowledge; the concept of a ‘community of practice’ in relation to ICT; the main functions that ICT can play in helping to manage knowledge; the potential, and pro 2.6 Conclusion This section has considered the reasons for different systems of accounting regulation in more detail. A number of factors external to accounting (e.g. the legal system and so-called ‘accidents of history’) have been important in shaping accounting regulations differently from one jurisdiction to another. The contingent model of accounting change provides an explanation of how accounting regulation continues to evolve and how dealing with one issue can have unintended consequences, leadin 2.4 Means of regulation We have started to draw attention to cultural variables already when talking about the perceived objectives of financial reporting. In this next section, cultural issues can be seen to have a considerable impact on the methods used in each country to regulate its accounting, and indeed on whether regulation is perceived to be necessary. One of the fundamentals in this area is the underlying legal system. The literature recognises two models: the common law model and the Roman law model. 1.2 The machinery of government: policy as rational planning Much of the policy literature is imbued with a rather mechanical conception of change: ideas about ‘pulling levers’ to make things happen, or about applying different ‘tools’ or ‘instruments’, all conceive the policy system as something like a machine itself. Component parts – the government departments, regulatory bodies, delivery organisations, and even the people who staff them – are viewed as connected though static and predictable mechanisms. The system is seen as non-ada 4.2 Bureaucracy Bureaucracy as a concept has had an interesting career: it begins in France in the eighteenth century. By the nineteenth century, the German state constructed by its first Chancellor, Bismarck, was a model bureaucracy in both its armed forces and civil administration. Weber (1978) realised that the creation of the modern state of Germany had only been possible because of the development of a disciplined state bureaucracy and a bureaucratised standing army – innovations pioneered in Prussia 3.2 Institutions in flux Although the implosion of the Soviet Union, after the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989, has extended the flow of global capitalism, de Soto (2000) argues that the lack of capitalist institutions – and specifically legally enforceable rights to own property – has frustrated Western expectations about achieving increased prosperity through free-market economic development: ‘Ten years ago, few would have compared the former Soviet bloc nations to Latin America. But today they look as 3.1 Interconnectedness In making sense of the stretch from the here-and-now to the wider context, social science has often seized on distinct levels: the micro – dealing with things that happen in organisations, for instance – and the macro or national level. Explanations are often generated at either the micro or the macro level and critical connections between the two are ignored (Flyvbjerg, 2001, p. 138). Arguably, increased talk about globalisation provides a convenient label for things that g
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