Immortal Information and Through Life Knowledge Management (KIM): how can valuable information be available in the future?

Customers' needs are changing and organisations across all sectors are increasingly being asked not only to provide products in the first instance, but also to support them throughout their service life. At the same time, many engineering companies in defence, civil, aerospace and construction sectors are today undergoing a paradigm shift from product delivery to through-life service support. Our 3-year research project aims to identify novel business, operational and information-system models that can extend thirty years or more and help these sectors remain competitive. The project focuses on how products can best be designed and supported in this highly dynamic, network-focused environment. There are two main issues that companies have to address. Firstly, how can information be most effectively created and the knowledge gained during the design, production and subsequent operation of the product remain manageable and accessible to the diverse community that may need access throughout the life of the product. Secondly, should they put in place suitable organisational resources and decision-making methods to work effectively in this new business paradigm. This paper first makes a brief review of the project, and then discusses the research concerned with the value of information.

[1]  John Feather,et al.  Information Society: A Study of Continuity and Change , 1998 .

[2]  P. Königer,et al.  Drowning in information, but thirsty for knowledge , 1995 .

[3]  James T. O'Connor,et al.  Constructability Concepts for Engineering and Procurement , 1987 .

[4]  David Eaton,et al.  A temporal typology for innovation within the construction industry , 2001 .

[5]  J. Bruner.  Acts of meaning , 1990 .

[6]  Liang Y Liu,et al.  ADVANCED CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM - ACTS , 1993 .

[7]  Victor E. Sanvido,et al.  Constructability Information Classification Scheme , 1995 .

[8]  T. Kuhn,et al.  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , 1963 .

[9]  Aslib,et al.  The London classification of business studies : a classification and thesaurus for business libraries , 1979 .

[10]  Glen Mullineux,et al.  A framework for the requirements of capturing, storing and reusing information and knowledge in engineering design , 2002, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[11]  Julian Warner,et al.  Internet Publishing and beyond: The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property , 2002, J. Documentation.

[12]  K. Wiig.  Knowledge Management Foundations: Thinking About Thinking - How People and Organizations Represent, Create and Use Knowledge , 1994 .

[13]  C. Oppenheim.  Managers' use and handling of information , 1997 .

[14]  Judith Broady-Preston,et al.  Using information to create business value: City of London legal firms, a case study , 2004 .

[15]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[16]  Brian Detlor,et al.  Web Work: Information Seeking and Knowledge Work on the World Wide Web , 2000 .

[17]  Anne Morris,et al.  The problem of information overload in business organisations: a review of the literature , 2000, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[18]  G. Lancaster,et al.  Value and information – concepts and issues for management , 1999 .

[19]  W. Martin.  Demonstrating knowledge value: a broader perspective on metrics , 2004 .

[20]  Andrew N. Baldwin,et al.  Planning building design by simulating information flow , 1998 .

[21]  Developing a criteria‐based quality framework for measuring value , 2002 .

[22]  Simon A. Austin,et al.  A problem‐solving approach to value‐adding decision making in construction design , 2006 .