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Purpose – This paper aims to study hybrid knowledge visualization in police crime fighting and military operations. Making effective and timely use of all available, relevant knowledge is a major requirement for today’s police officers who strive to fight organized crime or resolve complex criminal acts under time pressure. As they share this knowledge integration challenge with many management contexts, the authors have examined the knowledge visualization practices of a leading regional police force (and of a military unit) to derive insights for corporate knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach – To examine the knowledge visualization practices of a leading regional police force, the authors have conducted on-site observations, focus groups and interviews, as well as site, document, tool and software analyses within the police headquarters. Findings – As one main result of their empirical investigation, the authors find that the police force’s practice of hybrid (i.e. digital and physical) knowledge visualization offers a useful strategy for corporate knowledge management as well. They also show how organizations can apply this dual approach to making knowledge visible, i.e. using sophisticated visualization software in combination with hands-on physical and permanently visible knowledge boards. Originality/value – They discuss how these two modalities can be combined to improve knowledge management and how this hybrid practice can be understood theoretically through the lens of boundary object theory. With this regard, this article also extends the boundary object theory by identifying nine dynamic qualities of collaborative visualizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue for the reflective use of visual techniques in qualitative inter-viewing and suggests using visuals not only as projective techniques to elicit answers, but also as facilitation techniques throughout the interview process. Design/methodology/approach – By reflecting on their own research projects in organization and management studies, the authors develop a practical approach to visual interviewing – making use of both projective and facilitation techniques. The paper concludes by discussing the limitations of visualization techniques, and suggesting directions for future research on visually enhanced interviewing. Findings – The integration of projective and facilitation techniques enables the interviewer to build rapport with the respondent(s), and to elicit deeper answers by providing cognitive stimulation. In the course of the interview, such an integrative approach brings along further advantages, most notably focusing attention, maintaining interaction, and fostering the co-construction of knowledge between the interviewer and the interviewee(s). Originality/value – This paper is reflective of what is currently occurring in the field of qualitative interviewing, and presents a practical approach for the integration of visual projection and facilitation in qualitative interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great corpus of studies reports empirical evidence of how information visualization supports comprehension and analysis of data. The benefits of visualization for synchronous group knowledge work, however, have not been addressed extensively. Anecdotal evidence and use cases illustrate the benefits of synchronous collaborative information visualization, but very few empirical studies have rigorously examined the impact of visualization on group knowledge work. We have consequently designed and conducted an experiment in which we have analyzed the impact of visualization on knowledge sharing in situated work groups. Our experimental study consists of evaluating the performance of 131 subjects (all experienced managers) in groups of 5 (for a total of 26 groups), working together on a real-life knowledge sharing task. We compare (1) the control condition (no visualization provided), with two visualization supports: (2) optimal and (3) suboptimal visualization (based on a previous survey). The facilitator of each group was asked to populate the provided interactive visual template with insights from the group, and to organize the contributions according to the group consensus. We have evaluated the results through both objective and subjective measures. Our statistical analysis clearly shows that interactive visualization has a statistically significant, objective and positive impact on the outcomes of knowledge sharing, but that the subjects seem not to be aware of this. In particular, groups supported by visualization achieved higher productivity, higher quality of outcome and greater knowledge gains. No statistically significant results could be found between an optimal and a suboptimal visualization though (as classified by the pre-experiment survey). Subjects also did not seem to be aware of the benefits that the visualizations provided as no difference between the visualization and the control conditions was found for the self-reported measures of satisfaction and participation. An implication of our study for information visualization applications is to extend them by using real-time group annotation functionalities that aid in the group sense making process of the represented data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the visual-literacy.org e-learning program funded by the Swiss Virtual Campus. The sections of the program include general learning resources, basic modules, application modules and exploration modules. A key feature of the program is its peer-based learning approach. The VizHall collaborative sharing and rating application was developed to facilitate lateral learning process.

In this article we examine the difficulties of knowledge communication among experts and decision makers. We begin by outlining where and how the communication of expertise from specialists to managers is crucial. We then review theoretical constructs that highlight knowledge transfer problems among experts and decision makers. On the basis of this review and using the results from six focus groups and thirty interviews with engineers and managers, we categorise these transfer challenges into five major groups. We distinguish among expert- and manager-caused problems, reciprocal problems, problems due to the interaction situation and problems caused by the organisational context. These categories can be used to guide research on the micro-aspects of knowledge transfer. Managers can use these problem categories to identify and reduce knowledge transfer barriers in their interaction with specialists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes two areas of research in the field of communication within the context of organizations: corporate communication and knowledge communication. In the first part of the article it is argued that there is a clear distinction between strategic and tactical communication and it is shown that very often these two domains are confused. Then the theoretical backgrounds of each domain are discussed. The second part of the article introduces knowledge communication as an instrumental activity for effective organizational action in today's business environment. Several examples of business constellations in which knowledge communication is crucial are offered. A definition is proposed as well as a description of the different modes of knowledge communication. In order to understand what happens in the 'black-box' of knowledge communication, the problems characterizing communication between experts and decision makers are presented. In discussing the conceptual and theoretical background of the two fields, links to other disciplines are made -- e.g. sociology, organizational sciences, cognitive and behavioral psychology and engineering sciences --, highlighting the multidisciplinary approach that characterizes corporate communication and knowledge communication. In the conclusion it is claimed that both fields contribute to the strategy development processes and that concepts in knowledge communication provide useful insights to the field of corporate communication, both on the strategic and tactical levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argues that product, service and corporate brands are about to be extended by one other type of brand which is the knowledge brand. Characteristics of knowledge in the branding context; Relationship between knowledge brands and corporate brands; Functions of a knowledge brand; Description of the four Ts framework of branding concept.