Art Murray: Profiles in Knowledge

Originally published August 15, 2022

11 min readAug 17, 2022

This is the 82nd article in the Profiles in Knowledge series featuring thought leaders in knowledge management. Art Murray is the CEO of his own consultancy, a book author, a KMWorld Magazine columnist, a speaker, a workshop leader, and an expert and mentor in knowledge management and the enterprise of the future.

His specialties include transforming traditional organizations into knowledge-sharing enterprises, human deep learning, building and curating e-bodies of knowledge, and organizational knowledge governance. He lives in Boyce, Virginia. I first met Art at KMWorld 2006, and we have seen each other there most every year since then.

Background

In 1993 Art was invited to Russia to speak on the new information economy. The audience’s reaction surprised him. “What good is all of this information if you can’t act on it?” they asked. They were confirming what he’d already concluded years earlier — that knowledge (deciding what action to take) was far more valuable than information alone.

He returned to the U.S. and launched Telart Technologies, now Applied Knowledge Sciences, Inc. AKSciences helps clients around the world capture and grow their corporate brain trust and become knowledge-sharing enterprises.

Education

The George Washington University

D.Sc., Engineering Administration, 1989
M.E.A., Engineering Administration, 1982

Lehigh University — B.S.E.E., Electrical Engineering, 1975

Experience

CEO, Applied Knowledge Sciences, Inc., 1993 — Present
International Expert in Knowledge and Innovation Management, Bangkok University, Ph.D. Program in Knowledge Management and Innovation Management, 2011–2017

Profiles

Content

Building the Enterprise of the Future

The Enterprise of the Future Manifesto

The world has become extremely complex and fast-changing
This presents both challenges and opportunities
Ignorance is the root cause of poverty and suffering
Knowledge dispels ignorance
By enabling knowledge to flow freely, people can make better choices and lead more enriched and fulfilled lives
We need to bring this knowledge to bear if we are to overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century
We are rapidly becoming a global knowledge economy of eight billion minds
The social knowledge entrepreneur is a key player in the global knowledge economy
Traditional business and organizational models impede the flow of knowledge and will not work
The enterprise of the future must be able to innovate and learn at a rate equal to or greater than the speed of change in the market
To achieve and sustain this level of performance, organizations must transform themselves from a knowledge-hoarding culture to one that freely discovers and shares knowledge
This means changing the way we live, work and learn
Those who refuse to change will be rendered irrelevant.

Building and Curating eBodies of Knowledge (eBoKs)

Knowledge Curation and Governance eBoK

Introduction (free access)

A (very) brief history of knowledge curation
What knowledge curation looks like

Knowledge curation basics (free access)

The Four Hops: why knowledge capture and transfer isn’t easy
Definitions

Recommended reading (free access)

Bibliography

Formulating a knowledge curation strategy and plan

Steps in the planning process
Getting started: performing an initial knowledge curation assessment

Knowledge capture and transfer

Identify the knowledge
Format the knowledge
Organize the knowledge
Identify the capture and transfer modalities

Architecture

Knowledge systems architecture
Knowledge systems tools and platforms

Governance

The seven facets of human and machine knowledge governance
Roles and responsibilities
Competencies
Knowledge assurance
Performance monitoring and adjustment
Training
Evangelizing/socializing
Reward/recognition systems
Leadership notes from an Arctic dog musher

Implementation

How to build an e-body of knowledge (eBoK) like this one
Knowledge curation do’s and don’ts

Tools & worksheets

Initial knowledge curation assessment worksheet
Critical knowledge identification worksheet
Critical knowledge location worksheet
Initial knowledge governance assessment worksheet
Competencies for knowledge curators and content authors worksheet
Sample training plan worksheet

Applied Knowledge Sciences, Inc.

Knowledge Curation

The four main steps to successful knowledge curation

Step 1: Perform initial assessment

Know your level of curation maturity
Identify your starting point

Step 2: Capture and transfer knowledge

Identify the knowledge to be curated, its sources and recipients (human and automated)
Identify formats (mental models, schemas)
Determine how to organize the knowledge (search- and navigation-oriented approaches)
Identify the primary knowledge capture and transfer modalities

Step 3: Formulate the governance model

Roles and responsibilities
Competencies
Knowledge assurance
Performance monitoring and adjustment
Training
Evangelizing/socializing
Reward/recognition systems

Step 4: Design the infrastructure

Knowledge systems architecture
Tools and platforms

Deep Learning for Humans

Deep Learning Blog

Becoming a knowledge explorer in four easy steps

Step 1. Build a list of topics you want to (or need to) explore
Step 2. Write a narrative about your most comfortable topic
Step 3. Write a narrative about an uncomfortable topic of your choice
Step 4. Express yourself

Enterprise of the Future Blog

Building the Deep Learning Enterprise

KMWorld Magazine

The Future of the Future

DAOs, NFTs, Web 3.0, and the metaverse: What does it all mean?

We’ve looked at distributed autonomous organizations (DAOs) non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the like and what they mean as we continue on our path toward the enterprise of the future. Now we have the metaverse to contend with. Welcome to the wild, wonderful world of Web 3.0.

The good news is there will be no shortage of opportunities for us as KMers to play an important role. Here are four, just for starters.

Investigate successfully launched DAOs by analyzing the governance process, especially for “smart contract” code.
Investigate how voting is conducted.
Identify legal issues to help measure and mitigate risk.
Understand DAOs well enough to determine whether they would be a good match for helping your enterprise achieve its strategic goals.

Trends for the ’20s

Trend #1: The continued acceleration of the five Vs of information: volume, variety, velocity, veracity, and value.
Trend #2: More serious decision consequences.
Trend #3: The democratization of knowledge.
Trend #4: The emergence of the cryptocosm. Coined by author George Gilder, the term cryptocosm encompasses the complete re-architecting of our entire communications infrastructure. This includes the many billions of devices comprising the Internet of Things and the immeasurable number of transactions taking place in the exponentially expanding world of online banking and commerce.
Trend #5: Human and societal evolution start catching up with technology evolution.

Welcome to Curation 2.0

Here are a few fundamental changes in mindset you’ll need to adopt in order to make Curation 2.0 a reality in your organization.

Mindset change #1: We are all librarians now.
Mindset change #2: All librarians are knowledge flow facilitators.
Mindset change #3: Bring curation out of the shadows and into the light.

Big opportunities in small data

Opportunities for KM

Look for any market niche in which the current one-size-fits-all model might be replaced with something built for “you and only you.”
Replace the whole notion of databases and analytics with personal ontologies that monitor changes in the state of the user. Note that this can be applied to devices and systems as well. Complex ontologies may not always be necessary. In many circumstances, a simple concept space or topic map will suffice.
Generate and maintain a set of rules for (a) analyzing the current state of the person, device or system and (b) recommending behavioral changes aimed at advancing toward the goal state.

Breaking the lessons-learned barrier

We consistently find three barriers to capturing and sharing lessons-learned: making the lessons-learned process overly complicated imposing a lengthy validation process persisting in a culture that punishes, rather than learns from, mistakes

Building the Enterprise of the Future means no more secrets

AM: Why do you have that frustrated look on your face?

CEO: I’m frustrated because no matter how hard I try, I can’t get my people to share what they know.

AM: Why is that a problem?

CEO: Because we can’t keep secrets from each other if we’re going to compete in today’s world. Things are too complex and fast changing. If we’re going to survive, we need to start working together, as a unit.

AM: I certainly agree with your assessment. So what’s stopping them? You would think they had a death wish!

CEO: You would think so. Yet, they’ll be the first ones to scream if we have to cut back on bonuses. Or lay people off.

AM: So why do they insist on acting this way?

CEO: Holding onto what they know gives them a sense of power. If they give that up, they think it will make them expendable.

AM: Let me get this straight. If they don’t collaborate and share what they know, they’ll be out of a job. Yet, they resist sharing because they believe knowledge is power, and they don’t want to give it up, out of fear they won’t be valuable anymore.

CEO: That’s right.

AM: Don’t they realize that knowledge has no power, unless it’s used?

CEO: Now you see why I’m so frustrated!

AM: How do we get around this?

CEO: We need to show them some real examples of how collaboration saved the day. Like at the WHO.

AM: The World Health Organization? Sounds like a classic example of a large, bureaucratic, slow-moving institution. Just the opposite of what you would want in a flat world.

CEO: Well, the WHO is organized in a traditional hierarchy: by geography and by area of specialty. In one corner, you can find a world expert on dengue fever. In another corner, a renowned expert on foot-and-mouth disease. Over the years, all of these experts were pretty much able to function on their own. If you had an outbreak of malaria, you’d call in one expert. If you had a rise in infant mortality in a developing country, you’d call in another.

AM: And I’ll bet nobody dares encroach on someone else’s area of expertise.

CEO: That was probably true, back in the old days. But things have changed. You’re right in saying it’s a flat world. A good indicator is bird flu.

AM: How’s that?

CEO: Bird flu is one of many complex, fast-moving threats we’re facing. Because birds migrate, it can pop up just about anywhere in the world and spread just as quickly. It can mutate and jump from animals to humans, who also move freely around the world. Responding to it requires specialists in animal public health, communicable diseases, immunology, pharmacology, communications, transportation and many other disciplines, all working in close collaboration.

AM: So doing business the old way won’t work.

CEO: Correct. And WHO found out that in recent incidents in which dead birds were found, it took too long to collect, package, ship and test specimens to determine if it was the H5N1 virus. So they had to dramatically reduce the response time.

AM: Don’t tell me, they did it by sharing knowledge.

CEO: You got it! Different parts of the organization got together. First they analyzed why it was taking so long. Then they looked at how each step in the process could be done faster, while working to eliminate mistakes. As you might expect, within that large institution, someone knew how to perform each step in the most efficient and effective way. And they knew what pitfalls to avoid. Once those individuals were identified, and their knowledge was captured and shared, they were able to significantly reduce the amount of time required to make an accurate diagnosis.

AM: So the lesson here is, in order to get people to share what they know, they need a shared vision that is greater than any one individual. Something that will have dire consequences if the mission fails.

CEO: I’m afraid that’s it. And in today’s world, we have no shortage of problems with potentially disastrous consequences.

AM: And equally exciting opportunities, I might add.

CEO: Nicely stated.

AM: I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to start putting this into practice. And by the way, thank you for sharing.