[DL] CfP: Workshop on IT Tools for Knowledge Management Systems

[Ulrich Reimer]

Call for Papers

Workshop on
IT Tools for Knowledge Management Systems:
Applicability, Usability, and Benefits


Workshop at WM2005
3rd Conference Professional Knowledge Management
Experiences and Visions, April 10-13, 2005
Kaiserslautern, Germany


Motivation
Successful knowledge management projects incorporate aspects from the 
following
dimensions: processes, contents, corporate culture, information 
technologies (IT).
IT has the role to facilitate the storage, retrieval and presentation of 
information and
is therefore often called an enabler. An inadequate use of IT can lead 
to the failure of
a knowledge management project, cause considerable delays and detract 
from the
motivation of the people involved.

It is therefore important to get a better understanding of
* how best to support knowledge management through IT tools, and
* how to ensure the implementation of efficient knowledge management 
systems.


To this end, the following issues are of special importance:

* Embedding into the application environment:
The functions offered by a knowledge management system must be carefully
tailored to the specific requirements of the context of the application 
and the
needs of users.

* Usability:
Poorly designed user interfaces cause a loss of efficiency as well as 
severe
quality and acceptance problems due to the high cognitive strain of the 
users.
Since people tend to use knowledge management systems on a voluntary basis
and not because they are mandatory for the work to be done, they will 
refuse
to use them if the ergonomic design does not comply with state-of-the-art
usability guidelines.

* Process integration:
The tasks to be accomplished with the help of a knowledge management
system are often part of other processes and should thus be integrated 
into those
processes with respect to information and process flow.

* Information integration:
The integration of information from heterogeneous sources is important 
in order to
avoid multiple entering of information, resulting in redundant and possibly
inconsistent information. It is to be ensured that information is 
consistent across all
systems and that information can be linked across system boundaries.

* System integration:
By integrating a knowledge management system with other systems we avoid 
the
scattering of functions across several systems and relieve the user from 
having to
change between systems when performing a task. This also ensures a 
uniform look
and feel.


Topics of interest

The following list is not comprehensive but should serve as orientation 
for potential
contributors:

* What are current knowledge management tools capable of? How useful are 
they,
what are their limitations?

* Which business requirements are at present not or badly catered for by 
knowledge
management tools?

* How can knowledge management tools be embedded into the work context and
their usability increased?

* How can tools be made highly configurable to the specific application 
requirements?

* What methods can be recommended for defining and describing reference
architectures and reference processes?

* How can ontologies be used to describe the functions of a knowledge 
management
tool and thus enhance configurability?

* What are the current trends as far as knowledge management systems are 
concerned
and how will these affect IT support, e.g. will IT tools have to 
integrate new functions?

* Experience reports about using advanced technologies within a knowledge
management application, like ontologies, text mining, natural language 
understanding.


Target groups

* All those responsible for conceiving, developing and/or implementing 
KM systems
* KM project leaders
* IT managers
* Knowledge management experts
* Usability experts
* Product vendors


Submissions

Please submit a paper of up to 10 pages in pdf format no later than 
September 3, 2004
to the following address: ulrich.reimer at top-logic.com

All submitted papers will be reviewed and selected according to their 
significance to the
workshop, their originality and their clarity. Purely technical papers 
that just describe
the functions of a particular product will be rejected.

Papers should be written in English.


Proceedings

It is intended to publish all accepted workshop contributions in a joint 
volume of the
conference proceedings within the series "Lecture Notes in Computer 
Science" of
Springer. In addition to the print publication, extended versions can be 
published in
the accompanying online proceedings.

All workshop participants have to register for the WM2005 conference. At 
least one
author of an accepted paper must register for the WM2005 conference 
before the
deadline for camera-ready-copies of the papers, which is November 22, 2004.
Otherwise the paper will not be published.


Timetable

Submission deadline for workshop contributions:
September 3, 2004

Notification of acceptance or rejection of the papers:
October 11, 2004

Camera-ready copy of papers are due by:
November 22, 2004

Workshop at WM2005 in Kaiserslautern, Germany:
April 11-13, 2005


For more information see
http://wm2005.iese.fraunhofer.de/workshop11-en.html


Workshop coordination and program committee

Ulrich Reimer (Main contact)
Business Operation Systems
ulrich.reimer at top-logic.com

Andreas Abecker
Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI) Karlsruhe
abecker at fzi.de

Edith Maier
Donau-Universität Krems
edith.maier at donau-uni.ac.at

Dirk Ramhorst
Siemens Business Services
Dirk.Ramhorst at siemens.com

Ralph Traphöner
empolis GmbH
ralph.traphoener at empolis.com