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130 Chapter 4

participants may be asked to validate this classifi cation scheme through a closed card
sorting exercise.
Jiro Kawakita, an anthropologist, created the affi nity diagramming method in the
1960s ( Kawakita 1991 ) as a means of grouping large numbers of brainstormed ideas
into groups. The resulting groupings were represented visually as boxes. The general
process is to conduct a brainstorming meeting and record all the generated ideas on
sticky notes or index cards. The group of users sort the notes/cards based on what
items they feel are related. Each group is then given a name. The group is then asked
to explain both their grouping and their naming. The same idea may belong to more
than one group. Again, the most effi cient grouping gives small numbers of groups
(seven plus or minus two groupings).
It is vitally important to identify content owners when creating the knowledge
taxonomy of the organization to help ensure that content will always be kept up to
date. The organization will also have a clear idea of which of the staff are holders of
specialized knowledge. This knowledge taxonomy (also referred to as a knowledge map
or corporate organizational memory) should also make use of metadata tagging on
“ information about information. ” For example, tagging content with content owners,
“ best before ” dates, classifi cation information such as key words, business specifi c
information such as intended audience, and vertical industry should all be addressed.
An illustration appears in box 4.4 .

Box 4.4
An example: Siemens

The Siemens AG ShareNet system is essentially an intranet covering both codifi ed and
personalized knowledge. The ShareNet organization consists of a global editor, contri-
butors, a decision committee for the evolution of ShareNet, and about one hundred
ShareNet managers, one in each country, who support contributors in capturing project
experiences and marketing know-how. These managers drive the development of reusable
knowledge. They spend 50 percent of their time on this and are supported by an eighteen-
person-strong central team. Siemans rates the taxonomy as being very important. They
came up with a shared taxonomy for business processes. The incentive system is also quite
interesting: ShareNet shares are given for urgent responses, discussion group responses,
objects published, reuse feedback, and so on. An individual who garners three thousand
fi ve hundred shares is granted an invitation to a conference. Siemans continues to have
a KM department whose main responsibilities are to set up communities and provide a
central support service to these communities. For example, there are corporate-funded CoP
kickoff workshops. Their initial budget was US$600,000 and is now US$10m, mainly in
the form of ShareNet Managers ’ time.