Knowledge Matters™

Two weeks ago I purchased a new computer, which came with Microsoft® Vista Business loaded. I haven't gotten used to Vista yet and I am not sure I really like it. That said I've always liked Excel, and Excel 2007 seems better than ever. One of the really nice add-ons is Microsoft .NetMap , which installs a template capable of doing some rudimentary network analysis. Consider the diagram below, which is my email traffic, displayed using a Fruchterman-Reingold force-directed spring algorithm.

The add-in analysed Outlook 2007 and identified all 532 unique vertices and the corresponding 994 unique edges that make up my e-mail network. It also identified the density of the network as 0.004, which is quite sparse given 1.000 is the possible score. Consider now the same network displayed in a spiral format. ...

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Next week I am attending KM Sinagapore 2008 . I am presenting a seminar and workshop called Using BNA™ Techniques in Project Management .

I am also participating in the knowledge café as a presenter. I will be presenting Applying the RAAAKERS™ Diagnostic to Understand Management Stress Points and Assure Project Delivery in a Large Health Organisation . The RAAAKERS™ framework (Responsibility, Authority, Accountability, Awareness, Knowledge, Experience, Resources and Systems) was used as an analysis tool to assist in understanding the main management stress points, and data was presented as a visual analysis . This work, co-authoured with Doctor Mark Burnett, will be published in the coming months in the Journal of Military and Veteran's Health .

If you are in Singapore next week do look me up.

Regards, Graham

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Matthieu Latapy is a network researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in France. He is doing network research to counter peer-to-peer paedophile content - something I think we would all agree is very worthwhile!

Matthieu is conducting an experiment aimed at understanding how a real-world spreading phenomenon occurs via links between websites. In particular he notes that information diffusion is increasingly orchestrated by bloggers instead of the mainstream media. Matthieu's experiment takes the form of a viral marketing approach - hence the name Happy Flu.

To participate all you need to do is: ...

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From time to time I run a half-day seminar called “Introducing Network Analysis as a Research Technique ”, followed by a practical workshop that builds on the mornings activities and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw .

Here are the seminar slides . The seminar is aimed at new researchers. Typically the seminar occurs in the morning and is organised into three sessions.

Here are the workshop slides . The workshop is aimed at absolute beginners, and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw . It builds on the seminar, although attendance at the seminar is not a prerequisite.

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On Friday the 4th of July 2008 I am once again running a half-day seminar called “Introducing Network Analysis as a Research Technique ”. This time the seminar will be followed in the afternoon by a practical workshop that builds on the mornings activities and introduces participants to UCINET and NetDraw .

The seminar and workshop are part of Canberra University’s Inter-University Research Workshop Program , and are aimed at new researchers. The workshop is also of use to anyone interested in network analysis, but is aimed at absolute beginners. Both the seminar and workshop are offered free of charge to research students and researchers from all institutions, but priority access will be given to students and staff from participating universities. Costs may apply to other participants. If you are interested and you are in Canberra on Friday the 4th of July 2008 you can register here . Further details about the seminar and workshop are below. ...

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A simple model which I find useful is the “Six Knows Knowledge Model ” shown below. The model has its origins in the Rudyard Kipling poem “I Keep Six Honest Serving-Men ” , but no doubt I will be challenged on this assertion! That said it is a model that serves me well, except I would add ‘know how much’ as a node.

Now Dan Roam , quite independently of me, has enhanced the usefulness of the model by introducing a visual thinking element to it - he's also picked up on the how much dimension. Have a look at this presentation , but in particular slide seven (the preceding slides give some background and explanation). What I really like is the ability to add some discipline and consistency to my mind-mapping and rich pictures. ...

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On Thursday the 12th of June Patrick Byrne and I will be once again present "Understanding the Complexity of Program Management ". This time the presentation is to the Sydney Chapter of the Project Management Institute. The presentation shows how HolisTech® Pty Ltd's Project Knowledge Model and Knowledge Matters™ Business Network Analysis™ (BNA™) techniques can be used as a diagnostic methodology to inform project and program managers. Using real data the presentation shows how the method can be used to understand the alignment of outcomes, achieve requirements consistency, and understand the "stakeholder weave".

To give you a flavour of the presentation content have a look at the following blog-posts: ...

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On the 14th of May Patrick Byrne and I will be presenting "Understanding the Complexity of Program Management " to the Canberra Chapter of the Project Management Institute. The presentation shows how HolisTech® Pty Ltd's Project Knowledge Model and Knowledge Matters™ Business Network Analysis™ (BNA™) techniques can be used as a diagnostic methodology to inform project and program managers. Using real data the presentation shows how the method can be used to understand the alignment of outcomes, achieve requirements consistency, and understand the "stakeholder weave".

To give you a flavour of the presentation content have a look at the following blog-posts: ...

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Today I thought I would share with you two new diagrams from my doctorate, because I am actually not so sure about their utility, and would welcome any feedback you might have. That said I do feel they elicit interesting management questions.

Consider the network diagram below. For a change it’s a different organisation to the one we have been looking at in previous blog-posts , but I have applied the same principles. The graph shows a programme of projects, all of which are dependent on one another for one reason or another. For example a project building an electricity distribution grid in a new town might be critically dependent on a project that is building a dam that will produce hydro-electricity.

The circles are projects coloured and grouped by business unit. This organisation assigns risk to six categories, which are shown as the red squares. The categories are real things in the real world rather than budget and schedule. ...

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I am happy to enter into a discourse on “what is knowledge” but that is not the intent of this post. Rather I want to explore the idea that knowledge representation is becoming more visual. In his 1997 book ‘The Measure of Reality ’ Emeritus Professor Alfred Crosby suggested that visualisation and measurement were the two factors most responsible for the rapid development of all of modern science. Now this is an interesting proposition, and one I think I largely agree with.

The first attempts to represent knowledge were probably pictorial, and can be seen in the elegant cave paintings of our ancestors. Indeed some of these are still maintained by indigenous people today – see for example the Aboriginal rock art of the Gagudju people of Northern Australia, one of the oldest cultures on the planet. Numerals and text soon followed and have been the mainstay of knowledge representation for at least the last 6,000 years. But is this changing? ...

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