JoinIT - A knowledge trading development for the 21st century

Presented at PICMET, Portland International Conference on the Management of Engineering and Technology, Portland, Oregon, USA, July 1999

Abstract - As Internet information trading moves towards the sale of knowledge, new business approaches will be required. These are being explored through JoinIT - a prototype knowledge trading service. The approach taken by a research and technology organisation as a means of re-positioning its business to a mass knowledge market is presented with an example of technical problem solving in a virtual-environment.

I. Introduction

TWI has pursued the development of knowledge trading concepts since 1995. In order to test and refine mechanisms for delivery of information and knowledge, it has worked in association with a major center of telecommunications expertise to develop an experimental knowledge-trading platform. The developments involved aim to collect and present data, information and knowledge in the fields of joining and allied technologies via an internet platform for consumption by users in all industry sectors, and with a range of security requirements. By combining TWI's knowledge of technical content and its presentation in the correct user context via advanced communications, this development, presented to TWI's client base as 'JoinIT' has become an exemplar for knowledge trading.

II. Background

The result is that increasing levels of reliance are placed on supply chain contacts, administered by scarce expert resources, while ever-increasing flexibility and response are demanded to meet competition. This translates to a need for increased levels of technical advice and support from organisations such as TWI, whose function is to advise industry at all levels.

A study of TWI's ability to meet market demand for information revealed that all markets were unsaturated. In the small business area, although TWI has contacted many of the 140 000 small UK manufacturing businesses who use joining technology. Only a small proportion need to access high level experts, and still fewer are prepared to pay market rates for these services, yet there is a huge demand for basic technical knowledge if it were accessible at the right price.

Large companies similarly have problems in accessing expert services, and many of TWI's established blue-chip customers only communicate via a small number of staff. The potential for improving information access and service quality is large, but the problems involved are enormous. Getting the right information to the right person in the right form at the right place and at an acceptable cost is easier said than done. This is especially true for a business like TWI, where delivery of the service is usually via human-human communication.

This situation is tolerable at present, because all parties are used to the difficulties and inefficiencies of conventional communication. The globalisation of the information business will make such a situation less stable in the future as customers demand greater levels of service quality, faster delivery, and 24-hour service at lower prices.

Resolving the basic problem of service delivery demands action on three fronts:

• Technical content needs to be stored, retrieved and presented in forms which suit the needs of individual users. This task is by no means small. An analysis of TWI's corporate knowledge base estimated approximately 2½ timesthe annual turnover for the whole organisation would be required to capture and codify a sufficient level of knowledge in electronic form.
• Computing is essential to minimise the labour involved with knowledge delivery to a mass market, the scale of which could not be achieved using conventional communications and human - human interactions.
• Communications are required which allow effective, reliable and rapid delivery of the service.

While all three of these areas are within TWI's expertise, the amounts of investment required to keep abreast of modern communications would have made a go-it-alone strategy difficult to sustain. For this reason a teamed approach with a major telecommunications provider was sought - the objective being to produce a hybrid team which could combine the strengths of both organisations and deliver a new type of industrial service.

The result of this liaison, which started in October 1995, is JoinIT, a new product for TWI, which delivers information and knowledge in joining and allied technologies through the Internet media. The key features of the JoinIT product are:

• Ability to deliver both information and knowledge in the form of expertise over the whole range of TWI's activity: joining, design, structural integrity, materials, equipment, quality, certification and training.
  
  
• Fulfilling the requirements of the 'data hit' concept (right information, right user, right time, right cost and right context).
  

III. Approach to knowledge trading

Information + Context (with expert guidance) = knowledge

Most on-line content delivery services presently available concentrate on trading information, rather than knowledge. A recognised problem with the Internet as an information and knowledge medium is that there is just too much information of highly variable quality for easy access and effective use. If knowledge is defined as information in context, the Internet is rich in information, but a poor source of knowledge. Users, and especially industrial users, need access to both information and knowledge without needing to use high-level IT or information science skills. They have to have confidence in the quality of the information, and require contact with human experts when the information and knowledge reserves of the medium are exhausted.

The key to solving the current information overload problem with the Internet is believed to be the grouping of information and knowledge resources under the aegis of organisations that can guarantee the quality of the service and collaborate with other organisations to provide a quality service for users. By developing branded critical masses, and by grouping them into communities, which share the objective of meeting end user needs, the existing confusion of the Internet may be simplified.

A given critical mass can grow from the information and knowledge contributed by one or more organisations. In all cases, collaborations between a variety of groups and individuals will eventually be required to develop truly critical masses which can meet the needs of consumers. The aspiration of JoinIT is that it will catalyse the nucleation and growth of a critical mass in the technical fields associated with joining technology and serve as an exemplary model for other fields.

IV. Knowledge trading vs. conventional publishing

JoinIT is a prototype Knowledge trading service aimed at providing an industry technical support service for the next century. The user interface has been designed to resemble a conventional web site; however, there is a significant integration of a diversity of features. The aim was to create more than a simple information store and deliver knowledge products relating to joining and allied technologies in context to end-user requirements.

Table 1 - comparision of JoinIT vs conventional information website content types

The spectrum of information and knowledge which is covered by JoinIT involves computer-based and expert-mediated products, linked by common quality and commercial processes, and delivered in a continuous manner to end users.

Achieving such a new service has required new business processes, backed by fundamental changes within the organisation, including developments in:

• knowledge management
• conversion and presentation of content
• redesign of internal functions
• redefinition of client needs
• new trading models
• new payment methods.
  

TWI's existing business model is based on experts delivering high cost services to small numbers of clients. The new knowledge trading approach allows a great expansion of business support services to existing and new customers.

The coverage achieved by JoinIT in its present state of development is small compared with the amount of knowledge available at TWI. Even so, there is significant support and interest from users and providers because rapid access to knowledge and enhanced corporate memory are increasingly recognised as important issues for competitiveness.

V. JoinIT technologies and application example

The basis of the JoinIT product is a relational database, which stores individual elements of information for retrieval and presentation in ways which meet the needs of individual customers (context with expert clarification). Multimedia features heavily, as do expert on-line knowledge based software packages ('Toolkits') as well as the more conventional reports, data sheets and best practice guides. There is also provision for electronic discussions mediated by TWI and invited experts at a variety of security levels, from public to company-restricted access.

The delivery of JoinIT is through an experimental knowledge-trading platform, which includes security and billing functions, as well as provision in the future for intelligent agents, data visualisation, and data mining and other techniques for personalising the service within the user context.

An example of JoinIT use may be that of a company seeking to improve its competitiveness and requiring impartial technical and business information on which to base an investment decision in, say, the field of cutting process technology:

Access to the 'right information' in context should be rapid and easy. A user may elect to use the purpose designed technical search engine available within JoinIT to locate related content from the following perspectives; technology, materials, industry sector, or simply a free-text question. Alternatively, the user may directly access specific technical reports, guides or interact with an on-line expert.

As indicated, expert on-line knowledge based software packages are featured extensively within JoinIT. These software packages, 'Toolkits', are codified as individual items of content alongside all other material forms of information presented by JoinIT (e.g. reports, other publications, conferencing, etc.) The aim of the Toolkit is to represent technical expertise for a given field using a simple graphical problem-solving environment.

In the example illustrated below, the user is able to select material, cut-edge, and basic production considerations from a series of drop-down menus. This is analogous to an initial discussion a user might have with an expert. Immediate information concerning process suitability, approximate costs and manufacturing cycle times is presented. In this instance, the user is able to establish that for cutting mild steel, most conventional processes would be suitable and that laser cutting appears to be most cost effective and worthy of further investigation. He is also able to establish at this stage, ballpark manufacturing and piece-part costs.

The next level of information allows greater expansion in context, progressively moving up the knowledge value curve (as shown in Figure 4), giving access to:

• Detailed cost-benefit analysis spreadsheets;
• Best practice and technical information;
• Current research in the field;
• Expert-assisted knowledge through media such as E-mail, expert moderated discussion groups, and live conferencing.

Each transaction is recorded by the JoinIT platform and the user has options to purchase content by pre-paid subscription (decremental credit) or pay-per-view.

VI. Current status

The JoinIT product is in the stages of a development trial with over 130 registered users in the automotive sector. Results of the trial are being used to plan an imminent rollout to other industry sectors. Further work is being carried out to develop technical and business templates, which can be used by other organisations that wish to improve their information supply routes. TWI is also in discussion with a number of organisations that are interested in adopting the technologies involved for their own internal use.

VII. Conclusions

1. Future industry support via the Internet will require provision of both information and knowledge, backed by human expert resources.
2. Effective knowledge trading requires provision of supporting strength in depth. This may be achieved by critical masses of information, knowledge and expertise, sourced from collaborative groupings of organisations andindividuals.
3. Concepts under development in JoinIT offer the opportunity of a fast-track development to other content sources, which have knowledge trading potential.

References

1. D Skyrme, 'The Global Economy,' Management Insights No 1 1997 , unpublished
2. S B Jones, 'RTO-SME Technology Transfer, A Strategic Overview,' TWI internal paper, 1996, unpublished.
3. Assoc. Prof. Per Christiansson, 'Knowledge Communication in the Building Industry - The Knowledge Node Concept,' KBS-Media Lab, Land University, Sweden, 1996.
4. D Syyrme, 'The Knowledge Asset,' Management Insights No 1 1997, unpublished United States Government Electronic Commerce Policy
5. Author Unknown, 'The Emerging Digital Economy,' US Dept of Commerce Report, April 1998.
6. Author Unknown, 'Converging Technologies : Consequences for the New Knowledge Driven Economy,' DTI Futures Unit, UK Government Report.