The following thesis is based on my work at Lockheed Martin Corporation for the past year and a half. Though the initial chapters attempt to briefly address the theory behind Knowledge Management (KM), the main goal is to explore the practical application of KM within Lockheed Martin. The work strongly focuses on two platforms, the SAP Enterprise Portal and Microsoft SharePoint Portal, as KM within Lockheed Marten is centered on these technologies. The course of the writing takes a brief look at KM theory, delves into the technologies used in KM, and then moves into the practical implementation of KM. It concludes with two case studies on projects that I have led during my employment with the company.

Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. / The use of tools for development has evolved from the industrial revolution in the late 18th and 19th centuries that saw the increased use of machines and developments in the mining industries, to the increased use of information and technology in the 20th century and major breakthroughs that sparked the evolution into the information and knowledge society of the 21st century. The basis of the information and knowledge society revolves around technology’s increased assimilation and diffusion in human society, particularly information and communication technologies and their rapid growth and use in the exchange of information and knowledge. This society offers many opportunities and benefits to people in terms of the facilitation of information creation, distribution, diffusion, access and use for growth and development in various spheres of life. Information and communication technologies are thus regarded as tools for the advancement and development of communities, and this includes rural, illiterate, marginalized and poor communities and the female entrepreneurs in the informal sector who are the subject of this thesis. The aim of this study was to examine information and knowledge society and its impact on poverty alleviation and the economic empowerment of informal sector women entrepreneurs in South Africa and develop a model for utilization of information and knowledge in the informal sector. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed for triangulation, although the qualitative approach significantly outweighed the quantitative in this study. The absence of a comprehensive list of informal activities in KwaZulu-Natal led to the decision to use snowball, purposive and haphazard sampling techniques to select the sample for the study. Focus group discussions, interviews, observation and content analysis were used to collect data from 118 women entrepreneurs from the informal sector, 17 women leaders, and 4 officials from the Hlabisa Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.

There are three different uses of the term 'information' in ordinary language: in the restricted sense, it means diverse types of material objects, such as data or documents ('information as thing'); alternatively, the term is used as in reference to the act of informing or becoming informed ('information as process'), or to equate to knowledge ('information as knowledge'). Each of these connotations represents a legitimate view of information in its own right, being equally significant to information-intensive organisations. The literature lacks studies that approach information from an integrative viewpoint, however. The purpose of this study was to explore and develop the notion of 'information governance' as an integrative, systemic approach to information in the context of research organisations. Soft Systems Methodology was used in a case study involving the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. Qualitative data was gathered through in-depth interviews with researchers and information/knowledge managers, followed by a thematic, two-level analysis. From a 'macro level' of analysis (the wider Brazilian agricultural research system) it was found that, to solve increasingly complex research problems, collaborative, multidisciplinary networking is needed. On the other hand, competitive forces are continuously emanating from the systems of research steering, funds and resources' allocation, quality control, and recognition and reward. This conflict inhibits the collaborative sharing of 'information as thing' and 'as knowledge', disturbs internal communication flows and contributes to low levels of synergy and cross-departmental partnerships, ultimately affecting research outcomes. At a 'meso level' (the local practices and culture of agricultural knowledge production), different epistemic cultures were identified (named in vitro, in situ and in silico research), which respond differently to the opposing forces of collaboration and competition. Based on a deep understanding of the agricultural research system and underlying epistemic cultures, a framework for effective governance of information was developed. Action to improve the governance of information at Embrapa would involve nurturing an information culture that supports collaborative work. Given that interactions between researchers are determined by their individual pursuits and struggles, this would require a change in the corporate system of performance evaluation and reward, according to the different epistemic cultures.

Within corporate governance research, boards of directors constitute an essential part and are described as "the apex of the internal control system" (Jensen, 1993, p.862). Several stands of research have investigated whether, and to which degree, boards’ composition, structure and processes have impact on board task performance, but board processes and specifically the use of knowledge and skills have not been thoroughly researched, yet. Simultaneously, there is a gap within organisational behaviour research on how knowledge is explored, transformed and exploited, which is conceptualised as absorptive capacity. Further, the concept of absorptive capacity has so to date not been researched in a board context. In this thesis board processes are studied by exploring the impact of absorptive capacity on board task performance. Three dimensions of absorptive capacity, exploratory learning, transformative learning and exploitative learning, are used in the analyses. The research is conducted using mixed methods (based on a survey and a case study). A quantitative analysis is based on the Norwegian Value Creating Board Survey, and a case study is conducted based on records, observations from board meetings and interviews in the Norwegian health company Healthy. The findings show that the three dimensions of absorptive capacity, positively and significantly, mediate the relation between presence of knowledge and skills and board task performance. Complementarities between the three learning processes exist with the result that the three learning processes together are a stronger mediator than a single process. The qualitative findings show that 1) information flows have an impact on absorptive capacity, 2) that the role and power of the CEO and the division of labour between the CEO and the chair, might have an impact on board task performance and 3) that a comprehensive utilisation of consensus has an impact on transformative and exploitative learning, 4) that effort norms are positively correlated to use of knowledge and skills and 5) that activation triggers have impacts on the learning processes. The research contributes to theory with an extended application of the concept of absorptive capacity to boards, responding to calls from researchers to conduct new and more extensive research to analyse and integrate the concept. The thesis further contributes by shedding new light on learning processes in boards, underpinning former conceptual models. In the case study several findings are reported which are presented in an extended and modified model of determinants of board tasks. Finally, this thesis contributes to mixed methods research in boards. The findings have implications for board practice with regard to board selections, board evaluations and learning processes in boards. Corporate governance codes should be aligned with these findings.

Semantic interoperability is essential on the Semantic Web to enable different information systems to exchange data. Ontology matching has been recognised as a means to achieve semantic interoperability on the Web by identifying similar information in heterogeneous ontologies. Existing ontology matching approaches have two major limitations. The first limitation relates to similarity metrics, which provide a pessimistic value when considering complex objects such as strings and conceptual entities. The second limitation relates to the role of description logic reasoning. In particular, most approaches disregard implicit information about entities as a source of background knowledge. In this thesis, we first present a new similarity function, called the degree of commonality coefficient, to compute the overlap between two sets based on the similarity between their elements. The results of our evaluations show that the degree of commonality performs better than traditional set similarity metrics in the ontology matching task. Secondly, we have developed the Knowledge Organisation System Implicit Mapping (KOSIMap) framework, which differs from existing approaches by using description logic reasoning (i) to extract implicit information as background knowledge for every entity, and (ii) to remove inappropriate correspondences from an alignment. The results of our evaluation show that the use of Description Logic in the ontology matching task can increase coverage. We identify people interested in ontology matching and reasoning techniques as the target audience of this work

In spite of the fact that contemporary society is called information or knowledge society, the meaning of terms information and knowledge is often out of our attention. The author seeks, bearing in mind the seriousness of discussed topics in the text, to present a systemic view with emphasis on the interrelationship between ideas and phenomena, based on a thorough definition of the theoretical foundations. The main aim of this work is to (from several different perspectives) point out selected important consequences of knowledge "objectification". It turns out that theme of education plays a major role in response to the question which modern society faces in the context of informatization.

A gestão da informação e do conhecimento (GIC) emerge em um contexto socioeconômico no qual a informação e o conhecimento são reconhecidos como um recurso. Um bem imaterial, inesgotável e com alto potencial para geração da sustentabilidade organizacional. Assim, vislumbra-se que este modelo gerencial atende as demandas de um novo comportamento organizacional, que busca compreender os impactos da criação e do uso da informação sobre a vantagem competitiva. Nessa linha, e tendo como objeto de estudo a relação entre a GIC e as competências organizacionais, buscou-se verificar o impacto da GIC sobre o surgimento de competências organizacionais, especialmente considerando a utilização do Dspace, um repositório digital. Por meio da aplicação da metodologia exploratória-descritiva, elaborou-se um estudo sobre a experiência do uso da plataforma Dspace em um Tribunal da Justiça Trabalhista. A análise da literatura e do relato de experiência permitiu identificar que as técnicas de GIC colaboram para o estabelecimento das competências organizacionais, especialmente quando estas são consideradas a partir de uma visão holística que integra a necessidade informacional, os fluxos informacionais, a cultura informacional, o comportamento informacional e o uso da informação. Também identificou-se que os repositórios digitais podem ser um fator de influência para o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, uma vez que sua principal função é estruturar os ciclos informacionais para a geração de novos conhecimentos e, finalmente, constatou-se que o Dspace é uma ferramenta que apoia o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, pois permite criar um estoque de informações e/ou conhecimentos produzidos ou adquiridos pelas organizações, favorecendo o estabelecimento de um contexto capacitante ideal para aquisições de novas capacidades de agir. / The information and knowledge management emerges in a socioeconomic context in which information and knowledge are recognized as a resource. An immaterial and inexhaustible asset that has a high potential for generating organizational sustainability. Probably, this management tool meets the demands of a new organizational behavior, which seeks to understand the impact of the information creation and use on competitive advantage. Thus, and having as object of study the relationship between the information and knowledge and core competence, we sought to verify its impact on the emergence of core competence, especially considering the use of DSpace, a digital repository. Through the application of exploratory-descriptive methodology, a study about the experience of using the DSpace platform in a court of Labor Justice was done. The analysis of literature and experience report identifies that the techniques of information and knowledge management collaborates to establish the core competence, especially considering an integration between the informational needs, the information flows, the informational culture, information behavior and the use of information. In addition, it was found that digital repositories can be a factor of influence for the development of core competence, especially because its main function is structuring the informational cycle for generating new knowledge and, finally, it was found that the DSpace is an important tool, which supports the development of core competence. It allows creating a stock of information and/or knowledge produced or acquired by organizations, better supporting the establishment of an optimal enabling environment for acquisition of new capabilities to act.

A abordagem teórica do conceito, que remonta à filosofia clássica, atravessou diversos períodos e correntes de pensamento, até chegar às abordagens contemporâneas. Os conceitos são também objetos de pesquisa consolidados na área da Organização da informação e do conhecimento, tendo recebido influências de algumas correntes filosóficas. Esta pesquisa procurou identificar as principais linhas teóricas que fundamentam as abordagens sobre o conceito na área. Parte da hipótese de que estas linhas não estão suficientemente explicitadas e que novas abordagens sobre o conceito contribuiriam para o fortalecimento da área. Para fundamentar a pesquisa, foi realizada revisão de literatura sobre o conceito na filosofia e na ciência, discutindo, ainda, questões como a metáfora e a linguagem na ordem dos conceitos. Apresenta as concepções sobre o conceito nas perspectivas de Foucault, Deleuze e Guattari, Gilles-Gaston Granger, Eleanor Rosch e Vygotsky. Discute as definições do conceito presentes na literatura da área da Organização da informação e do conhecimento, com ênfase nas abordagens das Teorias da Classificação, da Terminologia e da Teoria Analítica do Conceito. Para identificar as abordagens dos pesquisadores brasileiros sobre o conceito, desenvolve pesquisa empírica de análise dos periódicos brasileiros online de Ciência da Informação. Através de análise de citações e do conteúdo dos artigos selecionados, foi identificado como principal eixo paradigmático das abordagens, a Teoria Analítica do Conceito, de Dahlberg. A Teoria da Classificação Facetada, de Ranganathan, a Teoria Geral da Terminologia, de Wüster, e as Ontologias, de Guarino, aparecem associadas a Dahlberg nos artigos teórico-metodológicos. Nos artigos teórico-epistemológicos dominam as abordagens comunicativas da terminologia, socioterminológicas, lingüísticas, semânticas e pragmáticas na construção de conceitos. As análises não permitiram comprovar inteiramente a hipótese de partida porque muitos artigos apresentam discussões epistemológicas, teóricas e metodológicas sobre o conceito. Observou-se, no entanto, que muitos artigos adotam os modelos propostos pelas correntes positivistas, de forma acrítica, sem questionar as bases filosóficas e teóricas subjacentes. Considera-se necessário retomar os principais eixos paradigmáticos sobre o conceito para consolidar as pesquisas teórico-epistemológicas da área, inclusive com a elaboração de obras de sistematização dos avanços já alcançados, para uso na formação de profissionais e pesquisadores da área. / The theoretical approach of the concept, which goes back to the classical philosophy, went through various periods and schools of thought, to reach the contemporary approaches. The concepts are also consolidated research objects in Information and knowledge Organization of area, studied under philosophical influences. This research intended to identify the main lines of theoretical approaches developed in the studies on the concept in Information and Knowledge Organization area. Our hypothesis was that these lines were not sufficiently explained and that new approaches to the concept would contribute to the strengthening of the area. To support the research, the literature on the concept in philosophy and science was examined, discussing also issues such as metaphor and language in the order of the concepts. The approaches on the concept from the perspectives of Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari, Gilles-Gaston Granger, Eleanor Rosch and Vygotsky are also presented. The definitions of the concept in the literature of Information and Knowledge Organization, with emphasis on approaches on Classification, Terminology and Analytic Theory of Concept is also discussed. To identify the approaches of the Brazilian researchers, empirical analysis of online Brazilian journals of Information Science were examined. Through citation and content analysis of selected papers, Analytic Theory of Concept of Dahlberg was identified as a theoretical and methodological paradigm in Information and Knowledge Organization. It was also observed that the Theory of Faceted Classification of Ranganathan, Analytic Theory of Concept of Dahlberg, the General Theory of Terminology of Wüster, and the Ontology of Guarino, are closely associated in the methodological papers. On the other side, in the theoreticalepistemological papers the Communicative Theory of Terminology and Socioterminology are dominant theories. In these papers, linguistics, semantics and pragmatics concepts are pointed. The analysis failed to fully prove the initial hypothesis. In fact, many papers present philosophical, theoretical and methodological questions about the concept. Many papers, however, adopt the model proposed by the positivists, uncritically, without questioning the philosophical and theoretical underpinning. Critical approaches are certainly important to consolidate the theoretical and epistemological research in the area. It is recommend the systematization and publishing of books with the current achievements for use in scientific and professional education.

A gestão da informação e do conhecimento (GIC) emerge em um contexto socioeconômico no qual a informação e o conhecimento são reconhecidos como um recurso. Um bem imaterial, inesgotável e com alto potencial para geração da sustentabilidade organizacional. Assim, vislumbra-se que este modelo gerencial atende as demandas de um novo comportamento organizacional, que busca compreender os impactos da criação e do uso da informação sobre a vantagem competitiva. Nessa linha, e tendo como objeto de estudo a relação entre a GIC e as competências organizacionais, buscou-se verificar o impacto da GIC sobre o surgimento de competências organizacionais, especialmente considerando a utilização do Dspace, um repositório digital. Por meio da aplicação da metodologia exploratória-descritiva, elaborou-se um estudo sobre a experiência do uso da plataforma Dspace em um Tribunal da Justiça Trabalhista. A análise da literatura e do relato de experiência permitiu identificar que as técnicas de GIC colaboram para o estabelecimento das competências organizacionais, especialmente quando estas são consideradas a partir de uma visão holística que integra a necessidade informacional, os fluxos informacionais, a cultura informacional, o comportamento informacional e o uso da informação. Também identificou-se que os repositórios digitais podem ser um fator de influência para o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, uma vez que sua principal função é estruturar os ciclos informacionais para a geração de novos conhecimentos e, finalmente, constatou-se que o Dspace é uma ferramenta que apoia o desenvolvimento das competências organizacionais, pois permite criar um estoque de informações e/ou conhecimentos produzidos ou adquiridos pelas organizações, favorecendo o estabelecimento de um contexto capacitante ideal para aquisições de novas capacidades de agir. / The information and knowledge management emerges in a socioeconomic context in which information and knowledge are recognized as a resource. An immaterial and inexhaustible asset that has a high potential for generating organizational sustainability. Probably, this management tool meets the demands of a new organizational behavior, which seeks to understand the impact of the information creation and use on competitive advantage. Thus, and having as object of study the relationship between the information and knowledge and core competence, we sought to verify its impact on the emergence of core competence, especially considering the use of DSpace, a digital repository. Through the application of exploratory-descriptive methodology, a study about the experience of using the DSpace platform in a court of Labor Justice was done. The analysis of literature and experience report identifies that the techniques of information and knowledge management collaborates to establish the core competence, especially considering an integration between the informational needs, the information flows, the informational culture, information behavior and the use of information. In addition, it was found that digital repositories can be a factor of influence for the development of core competence, especially because its main function is structuring the informational cycle for generating new knowledge and, finally, it was found that the DSpace is an important tool, which supports the development of core competence. It allows creating a stock of information and/or knowledge produced or acquired by organizations, better supporting the establishment of an optimal enabling environment for acquisition of new capabilities to act.

A abordagem teórica do conceito, que remonta à filosofia clássica, atravessou diversos períodos e correntes de pensamento, até chegar às abordagens contemporâneas. Os conceitos são também objetos de pesquisa consolidados na área da Organização da informação e do conhecimento, tendo recebido influências de algumas correntes filosóficas. Esta pesquisa procurou identificar as principais linhas teóricas que fundamentam as abordagens sobre o conceito na área. Parte da hipótese de que estas linhas não estão suficientemente explicitadas e que novas abordagens sobre o conceito contribuiriam para o fortalecimento da área. Para fundamentar a pesquisa, foi realizada revisão de literatura sobre o conceito na filosofia e na ciência, discutindo, ainda, questões como a metáfora e a linguagem na ordem dos conceitos. Apresenta as concepções sobre o conceito nas perspectivas de Foucault, Deleuze e Guattari, Gilles-Gaston Granger, Eleanor Rosch e Vygotsky. Discute as definições do conceito presentes na literatura da área da Organização da informação e do conhecimento, com ênfase nas abordagens das Teorias da Classificação, da Terminologia e da Teoria Analítica do Conceito. Para identificar as abordagens dos pesquisadores brasileiros sobre o conceito, desenvolve pesquisa empírica de análise dos periódicos brasileiros online de Ciência da Informação. Através de análise de citações e do conteúdo dos artigos selecionados, foi identificado como principal eixo paradigmático das abordagens, a Teoria Analítica do Conceito, de Dahlberg. A Teoria da Classificação Facetada, de Ranganathan, a Teoria Geral da Terminologia, de Wüster, e as Ontologias, de Guarino, aparecem associadas a Dahlberg nos artigos teórico-metodológicos. Nos artigos teórico-epistemológicos dominam as abordagens comunicativas da terminologia, socioterminológicas, lingüísticas, semânticas e pragmáticas na construção de conceitos. As análises não permitiram comprovar inteiramente a hipótese de partida porque muitos artigos apresentam discussões epistemológicas, teóricas e metodológicas sobre o conceito. Observou-se, no entanto, que muitos artigos adotam os modelos propostos pelas correntes positivistas, de forma acrítica, sem questionar as bases filosóficas e teóricas subjacentes. Considera-se necessário retomar os principais eixos paradigmáticos sobre o conceito para consolidar as pesquisas teórico-epistemológicas da área, inclusive com a elaboração de obras de sistematização dos avanços já alcançados, para uso na formação de profissionais e pesquisadores da área. / The theoretical approach of the concept, which goes back to the classical philosophy, went through various periods and schools of thought, to reach the contemporary approaches. The concepts are also consolidated research objects in Information and knowledge Organization of area, studied under philosophical influences. This research intended to identify the main lines of theoretical approaches developed in the studies on the concept in Information and Knowledge Organization area. Our hypothesis was that these lines were not sufficiently explained and that new approaches to the concept would contribute to the strengthening of the area. To support the research, the literature on the concept in philosophy and science was examined, discussing also issues such as metaphor and language in the order of the concepts. The approaches on the concept from the perspectives of Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari, Gilles-Gaston Granger, Eleanor Rosch and Vygotsky are also presented. The definitions of the concept in the literature of Information and Knowledge Organization, with emphasis on approaches on Classification, Terminology and Analytic Theory of Concept is also discussed. To identify the approaches of the Brazilian researchers, empirical analysis of online Brazilian journals of Information Science were examined. Through citation and content analysis of selected papers, Analytic Theory of Concept of Dahlberg was identified as a theoretical and methodological paradigm in Information and Knowledge Organization. It was also observed that the Theory of Faceted Classification of Ranganathan, Analytic Theory of Concept of Dahlberg, the General Theory of Terminology of Wüster, and the Ontology of Guarino, are closely associated in the methodological papers. On the other side, in the theoreticalepistemological papers the Communicative Theory of Terminology and Socioterminology are dominant theories. In these papers, linguistics, semantics and pragmatics concepts are pointed. The analysis failed to fully prove the initial hypothesis. In fact, many papers present philosophical, theoretical and methodological questions about the concept. Many papers, however, adopt the model proposed by the positivists, uncritically, without questioning the philosophical and theoretical underpinning. Critical approaches are certainly important to consolidate the theoretical and epistemological research in the area. It is recommend the systematization and publishing of books with the current achievements for use in scientific and professional education.