Designing for knowledge creation work: an exemplar application of sense-making methodology

Resumo

Designing approaches to support knowledge intensive work has been documented to be critical and costly. Research has shown that knowledge workers frequently evaluate such efforts as missing the mark. They are too often left without the help they need for constructing knowledge-based solutions. Knowledge workers point to failures not so much in accessing topically-perfect-information but rather to communication gaps, such as practices and knowledge interactions that do not address work demands and knowing needs in complex, changing, and sometimes elusive situations. This research used an interviewing approach informed by Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology. The aim was to allow digging deeply to understand hidden depths of knowing practices that rarely have come to light in user studies. The ultimate aim is to design knowledge interactions and practices that support complex knowledge creation anchored to knowledge worker’s knowing practices and to the situationality of these practices. The purpose of this paper is to present an exemplar study focusing on the challenges of doing user research in such a way that it usefully informs the design of knowledge supportive practices and interactions intended for use in complex knowledge creation work in the for-profit context. Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology is presented as an alternative and more powerful approach to studying knowledge creation work in organizational contexts.