Explorative Knowledge Studies

Whilst Knowledge Structure Mapping (KSM) is a useful method for the study and analysis of an organisational knowledge resource, it is also a useful method to use when thinking about a wide variety of concepts. This page will be the main index to a variety of investigative conceptual studies which are designed to show how KSM can be used to help clear thinking by focusing on a knowledge component of a concept. In many cases, knowledge may not even be the major component of a concept but KSM is a specialist tool for studying knowledge and it will therefore be used to isolate the knowledge component.

The first study available in the section menu is that of 'rights'. I have been interested in rights as a concept to think about since listening to the 2002 Reith Lecture on BBC Radio 4 given by Onora O'Neill. With each of the investigative studies listed in the section menu, I will attempt to explore the concept using a very small Knowledge Structure Map. In each case, I will also export a web resource from the Knowledge Study Tool (KST) and make this available to the reader. The page linked to from here will provide an overview of the concept and the study and also provide a link to the exported web resource so that the reader can explore this if desired.

I will attempt to make each investigative study complete by making sure I properly define the knowledge placed on the map and provide a short summary of each piece of knowledge. This information will be available from the exported web resource. I will also use at least four basic numerical parameters to express my feelings, as a surrogate expert, about the knowledge which is being studied. In this way, I will be able to use KST to explore knowledge risk and other analytical features of the knowledge structure. The intention is that this analysis should be at least as interesting as the study itself and will give the reader something even more concrete to either agree with or disagree with. Clearly the value of the analysis will be a little restricted because the studies will be quite small.

Each subsequent investigative study added to the list will explore a concept in a similar way. In each case, the knowledge study will be based on an interview with myself (with the benefit of some research). Until I find experts to interview, the knowledge expressed in each study will be my knowledge and of course, you may disagree with it. However, in disagreeing or agreeing with my knowledge structure of the concept you will be exploring the concept yourself and you will also see how KSM can help with such exploration. This of course, is the objective of the investigative studies but I also think they are simply interesting things to do with a focused approach like KSM.