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cognitive map. A cognitive or knowledge map is a representation of the “ mental
model ” of a person ’ s knowledge and provides a good form of codifi ed knowledge. A
mental model is a symbolic or qualitative representation of something in the real
world. It is how human minds make sense of their complex environments. A cognitive
map is a powerful way of coding this captured knowledge because it also captures the
context and the complex interrelationships between the different key concepts. When
making cognitive maps, it is also very important to include individual views, percep-
tions, judgments, hypotheses, and beliefs, as they form part of the subjective world-
view of the interviewee. The nodes in a map are the key concepts and the links
represent the interrelationships between the concepts. These may be drawn manually,
by taping small note pages on a wall, by using a whiteboard, or through visualization
software (ranging from simple brainstorming mapping tools to 3D depictions). Figure
4.6 shows an example of a cognitive map in response to the question, “ What are the
major differences between tacit and explicit knowledge objects? ”
Cognitive mapping is based on concept mapping ( Leake et al. 2003 ), which allows
experts to directly construct knowledge models. Concept maps represent concepts and
relations in a two-dimensional graphical form with nodes representing key concepts
connected by links representing propositions. These are quite similar to semantic
networks used by such diverse disciplines as linguistics, education, and knowledge-

Knowledge
worker
Originator/
Accesses Shares creator
Location Sources

Explicit Tacit References
knowledge knowledge Subject
object object matter
Codified
expert

Format Experiences
with Practitioner

Language Print/electronic

Figure 4.6
Example of a concept map