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levels that knowledge can truly be applied. In contrast to someone who can point to
a template in the knowledge base, knowledge application will be manifested by a
change in how a knowledge worker goes about doing his or her job.
The affective component is equally important to take into consideration when
analyzing knowledge application. Often, the reason knowledge is not being used is
not that it has not been understood. Rather, the knowledge worker was not convinced
that this new best practice or lesson learned represents any signifi cant improvement
over the way he or she is already working. An attitudinal change is more often than
not a critical prerequisite to internalization. It is not enough that someone be made
aware of and understand a given practice — the person must also believe that it is
indeed a better way of doing things and that he or she stands to gain by adopting
this new way of working.
The psychomotor domain is less widely used in KM, because it is often physical
work and skills. An illustration of individualized learning to facilitate knowledge
application appears in box 6.1.
A user model is, however, not enough for the facilitation of knowledge application.
We also need to know what the users are doing, and what their goals or purposes are
in applying this knowledge object. To this end, we will also require a task model. As
with the user model, the task model will serve to better characterize the different
reasons why someone would apply a particular knowledge item.
A user and task-adapted approach is highly recommended in order to facilitate
internalization processes. This means that we need to know enough about the user
and what they are trying to do in order to support them in the best possible way.
This is of course quite similar to what a good reference librarian or coach would
do, that is, try to understand who you are and what you are trying to accomplish
before beginning to help out. Someone who is browsing to pick up general informa-
tion and background on a subject of interest may be mistakenly taken for someone
who is lost in a sea of information. On the other hand, someone who has a looming
deadline to meet and is looking for a specifi c template to help him or her complete
the task at hand as quickly as possible without too many errors would not appreci-
ate being fl ooded with too much information. They are looking only for the
specially selected, vetted, and guided nuggets of knowledge — sometimes referred
to as just-in-time (JIT) knowledge or just-enough knowledge. Task support systems
or electronic performance support systems (EPSSs) best exemplify just-enough
knowledge.