**1. Introduction**

138 New Research on Knowledge Management Technology

Zach, M.; McKeen, J. & Singh, S. (2009). Knowledge management and organizational

6, pp. 392-409, ISSN 1367-3270

performance: an exploratory analysis. *Journal of Knowledge Management*, Vol. 13, No.

A historic transition from the industrial age to the information age has happened during several previous decades. The industrial age can be characterized by following: standardized information routines, usage of fixed procedures, and creation of material goods and consumption of them. In opposite the information age is focusing on creation and consumption of information, usage of ad-hoc approaches and non-standardized information for decision making. During this time of transition the Web has developed very rapidly along with information explosion. That has led to a notion of information overload. In organizations workspace environment and equipment is turning to be more sophisticated. Also learning environment is becoming more information and technology dense. As a result work is becoming increasingly complex (Wiig, 2004) requiring additional knowledge and skills to handle it. In turn that leads to recognition that knowledge has become a very important asset both for individuals and for organizations. Thus knowledge more increasingly has been seen as an active area of research. Notions of knowledge work and accordingly of knowledge worker have strengthen their positions out of transition from information to knowledge.

Much of attention is focused towards researching different knowledge related areas. Knowledge management (KM) is one of such areas. It was first defined by Wiig in 1986 (Wiig, 1997). As per (Tiwana, 2002) KM has three basic processes: knowledge acquisition, sharing, and utilization. Knowledge is divided in two broad categories: tacit (i.e. tacit knowing) and explicit (i.e. explicit knowing) (Polanyi, 1966). There are also several other ways of classifying knowledge based on particular perspective of research (Maier, 2004). Majority of research is connected with knowledge that we do know and with knowledge we know that we do not know. However per (Frappaolo, 2004) there still remains knowledge which we do not know that we know and knowledge which we do not know that we do not know. Thus we propose a new concept of knowledge substance to encompass all knowledge elements (KE) as a basis for further research.

New technological solutions such as mobile technology and accordingly different types of mobile devices have appeared in addition of transition to the information age and development of the Web and the Internet. These devices have greatly influenced

Agent Based Personal Knowledge Management

of this work.

System Supported by Mobile Technology Cross-Platform Solution 141

Chapter is organized as follows. This brief introduction is followed by an overview of personal knowledge management from knowledge worker's perspective. Within this perspective a short summary of previous findings about existing PKM tools and systems is given. The third section describes personal knowledge management system's conception. This section includes description of social and partially psychological aspect of PKMS. In addition it contains a brief look into technological aspect of PKMS detailing several types of modules the proposed PKMS consists of. These modules include PKMS core or basic module, several supplemental modules, which are further divided into two types: frequently used modules and specific area modules. Description of specific area module "mlearning" focusing on learning environment support is given to illustrate a particular example of this type of module in more details. The fourth section is geared towards the development of proposed PKMS. This section includes a brief description of environment of mobile devices– types, platforms and ways of communication. Next it looks into strength and weaknesses of mobile devices in perspective of PKMS. That is followed by introduction of main elements of mobile Java environment. Then agent technology and mobile devices in perspective of PKMS and particularly also JADE and JADE LEAP environment, which focuses on mobile devices is described. All these pieces are put together and a detailed description of proposed PKMS architecture is given covering all types of modules involved. Specific attention is given to the core or the basic module, which encompasses also individual's knowledge profile, user profile and a special configuration area for adding supplemental modules to PKMS on a need basis. A conceptual specific area module "mlearning" is also described, which involves a case study at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences to enhance a course grading system at the Faculty of Engineering as a learning environment supportive effort. The chapter ends with conclusions including summary of

key results and the future work perspective. References section is included as well.

included within accordant researcher's given PKM definition.

usage and sharing, and security.

**2. Personal knowledge management from knowledge worker's perspective**  Personal knowledge management (PKM) is one of knowledge management (KM) sub-areas. KM research area exists already for a while, though PKM as a sub-area is not well enough researched one (Pauleen, 2009). Thus PKM has been chosen as one of basic research objects

By conducting research in this area it is determined that PKM includes series of processes an individual has to accomplish. In addition, analysis of this area has led to identification of several sets of such processes, which are summarized and systematized in Table 1. As in different sets several of these processes are very kindred or their essential is the same just each of them having a different name, then within this summary a number of processes (i.e. names of processes) are combined and should be considered as one. Accordant order of processes within each set (i.e. based on accordant researcher provided definition) is given by using numbers. At the same time these numbers indicate that particular PKM process is

Authors of this work provide a new view within PKM process context by taking into account summarized PKM processes in Table 1 and Barth's description of information processing skills and tools (Barth, 2005). Authors distinguish nine PKM processes, which include in PKM context comprehensive set of actions or functions to do. The nine PKM processes are: creation, access, processing, organizing, analysing, retrieving, collaboration,

individuals' habits and their ways of consuming, sharing and storing information. A large and growing variety of mobile devices and a number of new forms of communication have been developed to accommodate expanding needs of people. Thus, for example, based on (i2SMS, 2008) almost every second person uses a mobile phone in 2008. But two years later as per (mobiThinking, 2011) there are already 77% mobile subscribers of the world population in 2010. However that has its drawback by making it difficult to develop services and applications accommodating a vast array of mobile devices and their platforms. Accordant innovative services are lacking a momentum of development. Frequently they are still mainly based on rather old technologies such as text messaging despite this wide acceptance of mobile phones. Thus there is a necessity for new developments and technologies in the area of mobile device service and application creation. Per (Koch & Rahwan, 2004) agent technology promises to be as such within this domain. In particular Java agent development environment (JADE) besides other possibilities proposes a way to develop mobile device based cross-platform applications.

By taking into account mobile and agent technologies possibilities we focus also on knowledge and especially on personal knowledge. As knowledge is increasingly valuated and used in business and in regular life situations then it points to a necessity for well educated people. Thus there is an implication for need of an effective personal knowledge management system (PKMS). Such system should lay foundation blocks for a new knowledge-based society, economy, and should allow ambient participation in a social and economic life. Per Jefferson currently available PKMS are just a bit more than just productivity tools (Jefferson, 2006). He suggests that there is a necessity for systems with ability to adjust to individual.

This chapter reports on several stages of broader research targeted at perspectives of developing a PKMS. The proposed solution is encompassing three personal knowledge management (PKM) aspects of well-rounded PKMS (Apshvalka, 2004; Apshvalka & Grundspenkis, 2005): social, psychological and technological. Technological aspect is based on agent and mobile technologies (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2009b; Osis & Grundspenkis, 2010; Osis & Grundspenkis, 2011a) utilizing mobile-cross platform solution based on JADE environment. In addition within this paper the technological aspect is elaborated in a detailed way and encompassing the whole PKMS perspective. Social and partially psychological aspect of PKM is based on proposed personal trinity model approach (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2011b) for developing a well-rounded PKMS. Within this aspect of PKMS is included the personal knowledge cone-spiral (PKCS) which makes it possible to avoid knowledge worker "burn-out" by detecting PKCS pattern in knowledge acquisition process. As well this aspect of PKMS includes five knowledge acquisition principles based on knowledge substance and its elements characteristics to support PKM.

The goal of this chapter is the following: using summary of existing PKM tools and systems and overview of approaches of their development taken over from the our previous research (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2011a) to propose a conceptually new approach for developing more well-rounded PKMS, which takes into account also a social and psychological aspect of PKM. As one area of usage of such PKMS is a learning environment support (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2010), which is briefly described in this chapter as well to provide a demonstrative example for potential utilization of proposed system. The main contribution of this chapter is an attempt to incorporate social and psychological aspects of PKM with its technological aspect into the PKMS, and to stimulate the debate in this regard.

individuals' habits and their ways of consuming, sharing and storing information. A large and growing variety of mobile devices and a number of new forms of communication have been developed to accommodate expanding needs of people. Thus, for example, based on (i2SMS, 2008) almost every second person uses a mobile phone in 2008. But two years later as per (mobiThinking, 2011) there are already 77% mobile subscribers of the world population in 2010. However that has its drawback by making it difficult to develop services and applications accommodating a vast array of mobile devices and their platforms. Accordant innovative services are lacking a momentum of development. Frequently they are still mainly based on rather old technologies such as text messaging despite this wide acceptance of mobile phones. Thus there is a necessity for new developments and technologies in the area of mobile device service and application creation. Per (Koch & Rahwan, 2004) agent technology promises to be as such within this domain. In particular Java agent development environment (JADE) besides other possibilities proposes a way to

By taking into account mobile and agent technologies possibilities we focus also on knowledge and especially on personal knowledge. As knowledge is increasingly valuated and used in business and in regular life situations then it points to a necessity for well educated people. Thus there is an implication for need of an effective personal knowledge management system (PKMS). Such system should lay foundation blocks for a new knowledge-based society, economy, and should allow ambient participation in a social and economic life. Per Jefferson currently available PKMS are just a bit more than just productivity tools (Jefferson, 2006). He suggests that there is a necessity for systems with

This chapter reports on several stages of broader research targeted at perspectives of developing a PKMS. The proposed solution is encompassing three personal knowledge management (PKM) aspects of well-rounded PKMS (Apshvalka, 2004; Apshvalka & Grundspenkis, 2005): social, psychological and technological. Technological aspect is based on agent and mobile technologies (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2009b; Osis & Grundspenkis, 2010; Osis & Grundspenkis, 2011a) utilizing mobile-cross platform solution based on JADE environment. In addition within this paper the technological aspect is elaborated in a detailed way and encompassing the whole PKMS perspective. Social and partially psychological aspect of PKM is based on proposed personal trinity model approach (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2011b) for developing a well-rounded PKMS. Within this aspect of PKMS is included the personal knowledge cone-spiral (PKCS) which makes it possible to avoid knowledge worker "burn-out" by detecting PKCS pattern in knowledge acquisition process. As well this aspect of PKMS includes five knowledge acquisition principles based on

The goal of this chapter is the following: using summary of existing PKM tools and systems and overview of approaches of their development taken over from the our previous research (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2011a) to propose a conceptually new approach for developing more well-rounded PKMS, which takes into account also a social and psychological aspect of PKM. As one area of usage of such PKMS is a learning environment support (Osis & Grundspenkis, 2010), which is briefly described in this chapter as well to provide a demonstrative example for potential utilization of proposed system. The main contribution of this chapter is an attempt to incorporate social and psychological aspects of PKM with its technological aspect into the PKMS, and to

knowledge substance and its elements characteristics to support PKM.

develop mobile device based cross-platform applications.

ability to adjust to individual.

stimulate the debate in this regard.

Chapter is organized as follows. This brief introduction is followed by an overview of personal knowledge management from knowledge worker's perspective. Within this perspective a short summary of previous findings about existing PKM tools and systems is given. The third section describes personal knowledge management system's conception. This section includes description of social and partially psychological aspect of PKMS. In addition it contains a brief look into technological aspect of PKMS detailing several types of modules the proposed PKMS consists of. These modules include PKMS core or basic module, several supplemental modules, which are further divided into two types: frequently used modules and specific area modules. Description of specific area module "mlearning" focusing on learning environment support is given to illustrate a particular example of this type of module in more details. The fourth section is geared towards the development of proposed PKMS. This section includes a brief description of environment of mobile devices– types, platforms and ways of communication. Next it looks into strength and weaknesses of mobile devices in perspective of PKMS. That is followed by introduction of main elements of mobile Java environment. Then agent technology and mobile devices in perspective of PKMS and particularly also JADE and JADE LEAP environment, which focuses on mobile devices is described. All these pieces are put together and a detailed description of proposed PKMS architecture is given covering all types of modules involved. Specific attention is given to the core or the basic module, which encompasses also individual's knowledge profile, user profile and a special configuration area for adding supplemental modules to PKMS on a need basis. A conceptual specific area module "mlearning" is also described, which involves a case study at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences to enhance a course grading system at the Faculty of Engineering as a learning environment supportive effort. The chapter ends with conclusions including summary of key results and the future work perspective. References section is included as well.
