Knowledge Management at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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Knowledge Management at NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center
Dr. Jay Liebowitz Knowledge Management
Officer NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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Importance of KMto NASA

• Knowledge bleed due to retirement eligibility
• Changing perspectives on work
• Knowledge loss is escalating

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Knowledge Sharing Tenets for Success

• Enhance reward and recognition system to include
  learning and knowledge sharing competencies
• Acquaint people with knowledge sharing and its
  benefits
• Share the message that with creativity comes
  failure and we all benefit from talking about our
  successes and our failures
• Integrate knowledge sharing into everyones job
• Educate people about what types of knowledge are
  valuable and how they can be used
• Make sure the technology works for people, not
  vice versa

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KM Components
PEOPLE
PROCESS
Systematically Capturing and Sharing Critical
Knowledge
Building and Nurturing a Knowledge Sharing Culture
TECHNOLOGY
Creating a Unified Knowledge Network
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People KM Activities

• Building and nurturing a knowledge sharing
  environment
• Online communities
• MyExperts directory
• Mentoring Program
• Emeritus Program
• APPL knowledge sharing forums/APPL Knowledge
  Sharing Initiative
• Creative Learning Groups
• Shadowing
• Leadership Alchemy Program
• Knowledge management education/awareness programs
• Agency Learning Initiative
• Storytelling career workshops
• Knowledge sharing proficiency development)

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PBMA
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Online Community via PBMA
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myExperts
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Process KM Activities

• Systematically capturing and sharing knowledge
• Knowledge gap and culture survey
• Knowledge preservation project
• Records retention project
• Case studies
• LLIS/NGLLIS
• Exit interviews
• Center-wide mini-courses/tutorials/colloquia
  webcasts
• Active involvement with GRAA

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Capturing and Disseminating GSFC Knowledge
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Webcasts of Colloquia
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LLIS (http//llis.nasa.gov)
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Technology KM Activities

• Creating a unified knowledge network
• myGoddard intranet portal
• Multimedia asset management system and network
  infrastructure
• Web-based knowledge and record repositories

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myGoddard Intranet
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KM Research Topics

• Develop active analysis and dissemination
  techniques for knowledge sharing and searching
  via intelligent agent technology (i.e., where
  learning takes place)
• --Apply knowledge discovery techniques (e.g.,
  data/text mining, neural networks, etc.) for
  mining knowledge bases/repositories
• --Improve query capabilities through natural
  language understanding techniques
• --Develop metrics for measuring value-added
  benefits of knowledge management
• --Develop standardized methodologies for
  knowledge management development and knowledge
  audits
• --Provide improved techniques for performing
  knowledge mapping and building knowledge
  taxonomies/ontologies

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KM Research Topics (cont.)

• --Develop techniques for building collaborative
  knowledge bases
• --Develop improved tools for capturing knowledge
  from various media (look at multimedia mining to
  induce relationships among images, videos,
  graphics, text, etc.)
• --Develop techniques for integrating databases to
  avoid stovepiping, functional silos
• --Build improved software tools for developing
  and nurturing communities of practice
• --Develop techniques for categorizing,
  synthesizing, and summarizing lessons learned
  (look at text summarization techniques)
• --Explore ways to improve human-agent
  collaboration
• --Explore human language technologies for KM
  (input analysis, extraction, question-answer,
  translation, etc.see S. Staab, Nov/Dec 2001,
  Intelligent Systems)

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LLIS

• Over 1,100 lessons captured from 13 sites over
  the past six years
• Grew out of a graduate students thesis

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Trend Increasing Submission of Lessons Learned
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Trend Increasing Lessons Accessed
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Lesson Learned Template

• Subject/Title/Topic(s)
• Description of the Driving Event
• Lesson(s) Learned
• Recommendation(s)
• Applicable NASA Enterprises
• Applicable Crosscutting Processes
• Additional Key Phrases
• Author/Submitting Organization/Lesson Date/etc.

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Challenges Facing the LLIS

• Maintainability
• Expandability
• Usability

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Proof of Concept Developed for NGLLIS

• Push feature completed and implemented
• NGLLIS functional requirements developed
• NGLLIS design document/development plan/work
  breakdown structure developed
• Section 508 compliance issues researched and
  tools being purchased
• Visual prototype/proof of concept developed
• Tracking management function (will be included)
• Lesson Value Rating System (will be included)

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NGLLIS Prototype Screen Shot
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Summary

• KM is one of the hottest topics in industry
  govt today
• Need to have methodologies, processes,
  techniques, and tools for KM
• 90 is building the culture
• Need to apply concepts from AI and other
  disciplines to advance KM

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References to Get Started

• Rumizen, M. (2002), The Complete Idiots Guide to
  Knowledge Management, CWL Publishing.
• Liebowitz, J. and T. Beckman (1998), Knowledge
  Organizations What Every Manager Should Know,
  CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
• Liebowitz, J. (ed.)(1999), The Knowledge
  Management Handbook, CRC Press.
• Liebowitz, J. (2000), Building Organizational
  Intelligence A Knowledge Management Primer, CRC
  Press.

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Other References

• Davenport, T. and L. Prusak (1998), Working
  Knowledge, Harvard Business School Press
• Cortado, J. and J. Woods (1999), Knowledge
  Management Yearbook 1999-2000.
• Davenport, T. and J. Beck (2001), The Attention
  Economy, HBS Press
• Journal of Knowledge Management/Journal of Int.
  Capital (MCB University Press)
• Journal of Knowledge and Process Management (John
  Wiley)
• KMWorld Summer 2001 Journal of MIS km.gov