Selected technologies that contribute to knowledge management solutions are reviewed using Nonaka's model of organizational knowledge creation as a framework. The extent to which knowledge transformation within and between tacit and explicit forms can be supported by the technologies is discussed, and some likely future trends are identified. It is found that the strongest contribution to current solutions is made by technologies that deal largely with explicit knowledge, such as search and classification. Contributions to the formation and communication of tacit knowledge, and support for making it explicit, are currently weaker, although some encouraging developments are highlighted, such as the use of text-based chat, expertise location, and unrestricted bulletin boards. Through surveying some of the technologies used for knowledge management, this paper serves as an introduction to the subject for those papers in this issue that discuss technology.

http://old.disco.unimib.it/simone/TCA/overview.pdf

Knowledge management technology

This article provides a review of the literature related to presence and performance within virtual environments. Summary tables are provided to present the reader with a general framework in which to evaluate the type of studies that have been run, as well as representative findings across different tasks and virtual environments. Within the general area of performance, the topics of navigation and knowledge acquisition have been expanded, as they are seen as important aspects of tasks performed within virtual environments drawing much attention from researchers. In addition, given that a sense of presence is an important aspect of the virtual environment experience, the literature related to presence within virtual environments is also reviewed. The summary tables provided can be used to indicate areas where additional research efforts are needed to more fully explain how human performance and presence are affected by use of virtual environment technology. This article concludes with a discussion of pot...

A Review of Presence and Performance in Virtual Environments

Although there have been many prototypes of visualization in support of information retrieval, there has been little systematic evaluation that distinguishes the benefits of the visualization per se from that of various accompanying features. The current study focuses on such an evaluation of NIRVE, a tool that supports visualization of search results. Insofar as possible, functionally equivalent 3D, 2D, and text versions of NIRVE were implemented. Nine novices and six professional users completed a series of information-seeking tasks on a set of retrieved documents. There were high interface costs for the 3D visualization, although those costs decreased substantially with experience. Performance was best when the tool’s properties matched task demands; only under the right combination of task, user, and interface did 3D visualization result in performance comparable to functionally matched 2D and textual tools.

https://www.itl.nist.gov/iaui/vu/cugini/uicd/sigir-paper-jun99.pdf

Visualization of search results: a comparative evaluation of text, 2D, and 3D interfaces

Knowledge management system architecture: a bridge between KM consultants and technologists

We describe the design and analysis of timeline visualizations for displaying the results of queries on an index of personal content. The visualization was built on top of a personal search engine that provides a unified index of all the information a user has seen, including web pages, email, and documents. Results of searches are presented with an overview-plus-detail timeline visualization. A summary view shows the distribution of search hits over time, and a detailed view allows for inspection of individual search results. In a user study, we explore the value of extending a basic time view by adding public landmarks (holidays and important news events) and personal landmarks (photos and important calendar events).

/pdf/milestones-in-time-the-value-of-landmarks-in-retrieving-1c33pd5p9f.pdf

Milestones in Time: The Value of Landmarks in Retrieving Information from Personal Stores.

Three experiments explored aspects of virtual reality (VR) that may influence its utility for training in navigating architectural spaces. Taken together, these experiments suggest that the utility of virtual reality depends on characteristics of the user-virtual environment interface. In experiments testing the importance of movement control, full participant control of rotational and forward movement in VR led to nearly optimal training on a medium-sized building, but limited control in VR was worse than no control. Transparent walls, a VR possibility that goes beyond real-world options, were beneficial during training and on a direct measure of learning spatial layouts. Finally, in an experiment examining both training and transfer, VR training was similar to real-world training, and was quicker and transferred better to navigating a real-world building than floor-plan training. However, this held only when the testing route was traveled in the trained direction.

http://pro.sagepub.com/content/42/20/1427.full.pdf

Navigational Training in Virtual and Real Buildings

Transfer of Training in Virtual Environments: Issues for Human Performance

The prospect of individual virtual reality workstations pose new challenges for design of an interface that can provide an immersive experience in a relatively confined space. CyberSeat II is one strategy that provides a compelling virtual environment (VE) under these circumstances. This approach, as well as the tools for assessing spatial location in and out of a VE, are described.

Interface design for inducing and assessing immersion in virtual reality

Retention of spatial knowledge was compared after acquisition using virtual reality (VR), a map, and a real building. Participants were trained to navigate a route and to note the locations of landmarks. Two weeks later they were tested on their ability to navigate the route and to point to the landmarks they had learned. They were tested in either an aligned or contra-aligned orientation. The orientation specificity for VR observed immediately after training in our previous experiment (Clawson, Miller, Knott, & Sebrechts, 1998) was magnified after retention. On the route test, the VR group performed better than the map group, but only when tested in the aligned orientation. On the survey test, the VR group was less accurate than the map or real building groups, especially in the contra-aligned condition. Potential cognitive and perceptual causes of this orientation specificity are discussed.

Michael S. Miller

Papers

Visualization of search results: a comparative evaluation of text, 2D, and 3D interfaces

Navigational Training in Virtual and Real Buildings

Transfer of Training in Virtual Environments: Issues for Human Performance

Interface design for inducing and assessing immersion in virtual reality

Long-Term Retention of Spatial Knowledge Acquired in Virtual Reality