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Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness (Chandos Knowledge Management) | 
 enlarge | Author: Patrick Lambe
Publisher: Chandos Publishing (Oxford) Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: $69.95
Buy New: $62.95
You Save: $7.00 (10%)
New (12) Used (4) from $62.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 118769
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 300
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 1843342278
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4038
EAN: 9781843342274
ASIN: 1843342278
Publication Date: February 8, 2007
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Summary Taxonomies are often thought to play a niche role within content-oriented knowledge management projects. They are thought to be 'nice to have' but not essential. In this groundbreaking book, Patrick Lambe shows how they play an integral role in helping organizations coordinate and communicate effectively. Through a series of case studies, he demonstrates the range of ways in which taxonomies can help organizations to leverage and articulate their knowledge. A step-by-step guide in the book to running a taxonomy project is full of practical advice for knowledge managers and business owners alike. Key Features Written in a clear, accessible style, demystifying the jargon surrounding taxonomies Case studies give real world examples of taxonomies in use Step-by-step guides take the reader through the key stages in a taxonomy project Decision-making frameworks and example questionnaires Clear description of how taxonomies relate to technology applications The Author Patrick Lambe is a widely respected knowledge management consultant based in Singapore. His Master's degree from University College London is in Information Studies and Librarianship, and he has worked as a professional librarian, as a trainer and instructional designer, and as a business manager in operational and strategic roles. He has been active in the field of knowledge management and e-learning since 1998, and in 2002 founded his own consulting and research firm, Straits Knowledge, with a partner. He is former President of the Information and Knowledge Society, and is Adjunct Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Patrick speaks and writes internationally on knowledge management. Readership This book is written primarily for knowledge managers and key stakeholders in knowledge management projects. However, it is also useful to all information professionals who wish to understand the role of taxonomies in a corporate setting. It may be used as a teaching text for postgraduate students in Information Studies, Library Science, and Knowledge Management, as well as at MBA level. Contents Part One: Dealing with Babel - the problem of coordination; why taxonomies are important; definitions; taxonomy as a common language; taxonomies express what is important; socially constructed; the business case for taxonomies; taxonomies in KM, collaboration, expertise management and information management; taxonomies, typologies and sensemaking Part Two: Fixing the foundations: planning your taxonomy project - understanding your context; identifying and engaging stakeholders; defining your purpose; planning your approach; communicating and setting expectations; managing myths; how NOT to do a taxonomy project; a taxonomy as a standard; digital information, hierarchies and facets Part Three: Building the floors: implementing your taxonomy project - Implicit taxonomies; evidence gathering; analysis or sensemaking; validation principles and techniques; change management and learning; taxonomy sustainability and governance; taxonomies and technology; measuring success Part Four: Looking skywards: the future of taxonomies - complexity and sensemaking; taxonomies as sensemaking frameworks and patterns; taxonomies and serendipity; taxonomies and ambiguity; anti-taxonomy and folksonomies; taxonomies, ignorance and power; taxonomies and organisational renewal
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| Customer Reviews:
Fascinating and useful insights into taxonomies May 1, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Patrick Lambe provides excellent insights and tips for anyone facing a project to design and implement an enterprise content management system. Through many thought-provoking examples, he makes it clear that a collection of unstructured data is only as good as the effort that went into its organization, and he demonstrates the critical need for collaborating with the content providers and consumers to understand their thought processes and expectations. Some of the examples include some very uncomfortable lessons about the dangers of badly conceived taxonomies. He also makes the subject very interesting by placing the art of taxonomy in its historical context, showing us how various dynamic individuals developed classification systems that are now widely deployed and have an impact on everyday life. This book is highly recommended to anyone interested in the implications of the enormous amount of digital information accumulating at an ever-increasing rate.
Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies Matter! March 18, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
If I follow the writing principle of bottom line and idea first then I would have to say Patrick Lambe's "Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational Effectiveness" is a five-star publication. Using the four-point scale Study, Read, Skim, Bin as a guide to the effort that might be invested, this book definitely warrants a Study rating. So what's so good about the book?
Well judging by my margin scribbles and underlining lots! First it is an entertaining, coherent and easy read. Patrick's assertion that - "If taxonomies classify, describe and map knowledge domains, then taxonomy work is made up of the things we must do to achieve that outcome: listing, creating and modifying categories, standardising, mapping, representing, discovering native vocabularies and categories, negotiating common terms" (p. 11) - resonates with me and is an example of the practical flavour of the book. Similarly I found Patrick's taxonomy forms - lists, trees, hierarchies, poly-hierarchies, matrices, facets, and system maps - to be a useful classification and a guide to why some taxonomies fail and others succeed.
I must admit that I had never considered in any detail how our reasoning patterns impact on our taxonomies. Most of us reason by beginning in the middle and generalising upwards and differentiating downwards. It's an interesting insight which explains why so many tree structures don't work. I suspect we like tree structures because they are easy to understand and they at first impose order onto chaos.
I do think one or two longbows are drawn with some of the examples in the book - the Victoria Climbie child abuse discussion being a case in point. The archetype typology - a special type of taxonomy - is another. Despite this the examples serve to show in a practical way how a well designed taxonomy can help in knowledge discovery and knowledge articulation.
Perhaps one of the most interesting insights in the book is the notion of taxonomies as boundary objects. A well designed taxonomy can allow different groups of people to find common ground and therefore communicate. One example is communication between amateur ornithologists and professional zoologists. Another is communication between economists and health professionals through the International Classification of Diseases taxonomy.
Patrick signed my copy on the 14th of August 2007, and wrote the following comment on the front page - "For Graham in the hope you will find this useful!" Well I've skimmed the book more times than I can remember, I've studied it twice, and read it twice (both in a single sitting)! The book is very useful and should be on the shelf of anyone who professes to be a knowledge management practitioner. In my view it should also be mandatory reading for students of library science, knowledge management and information management. I'm certainly convinced that taxonomies matter!
Regards Graham
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