Emerging ICT Technologies for R&D Support
On the morning
of 16 October 2007 as part of our InnovationWell workshop on Information,
Communications, and Knowledge Management Support Systems for R&D (Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia) we will hold an emerging technologies session featuring the presentation and
discussion of a range of interesting software solutions.
(Please
follow continuation to read)
Abstracts
Carl Elkin,
Principal Scientist, Schering-Plough
The extraordinary success of Wikipedia engenders the promise that a similar
system might be used within large research organizations. To experiment with
this approach, the Cambridge site of Schering-Plough has long been using Spriki, which uses the same free,
easily deployable and maintainable software as Wikipedia. Potentially, Spriki
can organize information throughout the company, connect people with similar
interests but widely separated positions on the org chart, informally archive
information and expertise, and provide management a high-level view of ongoing
operations, with the ability to drill down as needed.
Spriki has been very useful for some groups, but has not yet achieved
company-wide success. A description will be given of the concrete benefits it
already provides, including allowing all employees-- even those with no
knowledge of HTML-- the ability to create and maintain web-based content,
without the expense or maintenance requirements of more sophisticated tools. Reasons
for its current success and ongoing challenges will be discussed, along with
the characteristics of early and late adopters. Various strategies for encouraging
the use of Wikis will also be described and evaluated, including seeding Spriki
with useful information, encouraging people to visit Spriki vs. encouraging
them to contribute, integration with existing software, working with management
to publicize, holding informational meetings, and more.
Peer-to-Peer
Knowledge Sharing – Implications for Enterprise Knowledge Management
David Gilmour,
President & CEO, Tacit Software
The conventional approach to KM centers around a “capture/publish/re-use”
paradigm. But we’ve now entered a the new world of Web 2.0 in which user-generated
content (as manifested in blogs, wikis, and feeds) has taken over on the
Internet, and is rapidly penetrating the enterprise. This “Enterprise 2.0” movement profoundly
challenges KM thinking, and the basic re-use model. This session will propose a
new view of the role of KM and the top problems to solve in the new framework,
including what changes about Web 2.0 technologies when considered in an
organizational framework.
Key questions include:
- How can users assure awareness of relevant content in an organization
exploding with user generated content of all kinds?
- If users are directly generating and supplying content, how can the same
assets be used to locate answers and expertise not embedded in the content
itself?
- What’s the role for a centralized repository in the future?
- How should managed and unmanaged content co-exist?
We will also discuss some new tools designed to work in this new model,
designed specifically to address these new challenges of KM in the post Web-2.0
world.
Frank Guerino,
TraverseIT
The Semantic Web, as envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee who invented the first World
Wide Web, is a place where machines can read and exploit web-based content,
very much the same way humans do. The vision was one where machines could
leverage the web and all its resources as independent data sources and
processing systems that would facilitate the creation, processing and
understanding of data, information and even knowledge, allowing such machines
to interact with each other in a more “human-like” manner.
While society and science still have a very long way to go in order to fulfill
such a vision, the Semantic Web is finding its legs in things like the
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model, Web 2.0 traits, and Semantic Web
(Web 3.0) standards, such as the Resource Descriptive Framework (RDF) and the
Web Ontology Language (WOL/a.k.a. OWL). As a result, enterprises around the
world are wrestling with ways to exploit such concepts for better ways to
manage their critical operational data, information and knowledge. TraverseIT,
is one of those companies.
Initial efforts have yielded new and exciting collaboration solutions, such as
Wikis and Blogs that are rapidly making a name for themselves. However,
enterprises are quickly finding that such solutions lack the “enterprise class”
muscle that is truly needed to handle large volumes of “functional” data,
information and knowledge that is used to run and manage day-to-day operations.
As a result, enterprises yearn for a solution where operational content can be
more effectively utilized and exploited to create a more competitive and fluid
environment.
The problems most enterprises are facing today revolve around the fact that a
tremendous amount of their critical operational data, information and knowledge
has been locked up and is being held hostage in traditional, silo-ed software
systems. Sadly, such traditional systems foster things like political kingdoms
and anti-sharing cultures. Over time, these solutions have become an expensive
burden on their enterprises, financially, emotionally and psychologically, as
owning, managing and integrating them has become a challenge that goes far
beyond the core competency of most enterprises, themselves.
As part of this presentation, Frank Guerino, the CEO and Founder of TraverseIT,
will share their quest for the ultimate Enterprise Data, Information and
Knowledge Management solution. The discussion will show how TraverseIT has
leveraged Semantic Web concepts to step forward and provide enterprises with
radically new and visionary way of dealing with their critical operational
content… one that is, of all things, “Knowledge Centric”.
The ABCD
Reaction Management System: Towards a Fully Integrated Discovery Enterprise
Dimitris K.
Agrafiotis, Vice President of Informatics, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical
Research & Development, LLC
Recently, we introduced ABCD, an integrated drug discovery informatics platform
developed at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development,
L.L.C. ABCD is an attempt to bridge multiple continents, data systems and
cultures using modern information technology, and provide scientists with tools
that allow them to make informed, data-driven decisions. The first phase of
ABCD focused on decision support (data warehousing, retrieval, analysis and
visualization) and met with great success, becoming an indispensable tool for
more than 1,100 users across all J&JPRD research sites. Having proven the
quality, scalability and elegance of the underlying technology, the ABCD
project has now entered its second phase, which is the reengineering of the
transactional layer. An important component of that layer is a reaction
management system (RMS) for tracking chemical synthesis experiments. Using the
ABCD technology as a foundation and agile software development as a paradigm,
we have been able to build and deploy a fully functional solution in ~6 months.
The system supports many advanced features, including stoicheiometric
calculations, integrated access to chemical inventories, and automatic
registration of intermediates and products in the corporate chemical
registration system. One of the distinguishing features of the new system is
the use of the same application front-end that was developed for data mining
and visualization. This application, known as Third Dimension Explorer or 3DX,
was designed to be a “Swiss-army knife”, aimed at bringing coherence not only in
the way discovery data is stored, but also in the way it is processed,
uploaded, retrieved, analyzed, and reported. The ABCD RMS, implemented in the
form of custom 3DX plugins, exemplifies the application’s highly modular,
flexible and extensible architecture. Because it was developed entirely
in-house with a clear understanding of the key business processes and
integration points as well as the active involvement of the end users in its
design, the ABCD RMS was immediately embraced by our user community.
Training
Simulations and Metrics in Second Life
Alex Heiphetz,
Ph.D. and Sveta Liberman, Delta L Training, 300 S. Pugh St., State College, PA
16801, USA
Today we know that simulations are more effective in training than the more
traditional forms of lecture + textbook + exam trio. In Second Life, just as in
real life, simulations must conform to several rules in order to be effective. Until
recently, Second Life simulations lacked one of the most important features –
metrics that would allow interpretation of the assessment based on statistics
and previous or comparable assessments. As a result, very interesting
simulations in teamwork training, sales training, equipment and procedure
training could not be really used as a part of a reputable education process. Delta
L’s development and implementation of Second Life simulations and metrics
removes this obstacle.
Enterprise
Knowledge Portals and Application Integration for supporting Collaboration
Marisol Wesson,
President of TMS Americas Group
In the advent of emerging Internet technologies and unrelenting business
challenges faced by enterprises today, the need to "e-enable"
business processes in order to collect, manage and report critical company data
in an efficient and transparent way, while streamlining workflow processes on
an electronic platform, databases, and people - is now a vital competitive
strategy for business growth and continuity.
While information reduces the risks associated with decisions that ultimately
lead to a series of actions, too much information can sometimes be a
disadvantage. The abundance of content, both inside and outside the enterprise,
has made finding the right information increasingly difficult. Employees often
spend more time looking for the right piece of information than actually using
it, resulting in high frustration and low productivity. Further inefficiencies
are found in the continued reliance on paper processes, manual approvals, and
long transaction cycles.
The proliferation of heterogeneous and independent applications - such as ERP,
supply chain management, and customer relationship management - has made integrating
enterprise wide data increasingly difficult. The answer to critical business
issues or customer enquiries must often be constructed from information
residing in disparate customer relationship management, vendor and email
systems - impeding the seamless flow of information needed for maximum
efficiency. Unlike many portals, tmsEKP™ allows you to access disparate
information in an integrated way - allowing you to spend time analyzing and
using the information rather than searching for it.
tmsEKP™ (Enterprise Knowledge Portal) is designed to provide organizations with
a single dashboard to integrate information, business applications and services
from heterogeneous systems and sources so as to encourage collaboration,
efficiency, informed decision making and employee self-service.
Serving as a single and unified gateway to a company's information and
knowledge base for employees, shareholders, customers and vendors, tmsEKP™
enables enterprises to design and build a suite of modular solutions to allow
seamless access to their organizational knowledge base (information) across the
enterprise, enable information exchange as well as delivery of real-time and
relevant information.
Marisol Wesson, President of TMS Americas Group, will share their quest to make
of Knowledge Management (KM) an integrated process in which organizations
improve their performance and generate value from their intellectual and
knowledge-based assets through their human capital and technology. Through the
development and implementation of TMS Enterprise Knowledge Portal technologies,
knowledge is being shared with employees, departments and even other companies
to derive best practices. KM is being effectively implemented through the
application and enabling of technology.
Program
Brochure: http://barryhardy.blogs.com/theferryman/files/KMWorkshopBrynMawr07web2.PDF
More
Information at:
http://www.innovationwell.net/COMTY_kmworkshopbrynmawr07
Barry Hardy
InnovationWell
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