Javacorporate
Street address
City, St Zip


Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 04:12:59 -0000



Mr. Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496

Subject:   Software at javacorporate.com

Hi,

I found a mention of www.javacorporate.com on your list today, and then spent hours going through the archives today... so rich and interesting :).

As one of the founders of www.javacorporate.com I put a lot of thought into the content of many of these pages onsite. Our emphasis onsite is collaboration and building on open standards. It's important to us to work with other open source efforts - so that our community is networked with others, compounding the positive effect. In addition to the free open source projects, our intention is to apply these benefits to our commercial projects - namely inexpensive source code solutions and collaborative development. The site is continually evolving with the feedback from the community.

I would like to explore the synergy more with this list. What is the commonality? I understand that you are discussing the design of a knowledge management system and have much in the way of expertise here. I read about a discussion of funding a knowledge management project. Would there be interest in getting funding (effectively investment?) to fund and extend an existing project into a full knowledge management system instead? And putting this project in the hands of a larger group brain share? I very much look forward to your input here.

eContent, Javacorporate's web content management system (based on the open source Expresso Framework and fully server-side Java based) - was designed as a foundation upon which to build an enterprise knowledgement management system; and our direction is to extend the product into an intelligent knowledge management system (with plans for new project called eTactician (www.etactician.com)). Our lead developers specialty is in AI so I think this could get very interesting.

I have more reading to do from this group tomorrow and a lot to digest; but here is the summary that I was working from for eTactician.

Web content management software components are include some basic elements of knowledge management and can be grouped into five common categories: document management, information management, searching and indexing, communications and collaboration, and expert systems.


Document Management

The area pertains to the collection, storage, and distribution of knowledge contained in an organization. Historically, systems emulated the paper and library systems. Advanced features of document management systems provide version control, authentication, workflow, and translation and help companies better organize their information and usually include very structured approaches to indexing. I think it is interesting to offer alternatives too - such as exploring unstructured approaches too - such as following links structure.


Information Management

Software for information management, including application delivery, fills many needs within an organization. Information management tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated as computer networks expand. If one investigates all of the software that supports business decisions, contains knowledge, or facilitates the making turning of raw information into knowledge it becomes apparent that there are many types of software are included in the integration with a content management system, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, legacy integration, web application integration etc. The benefit bringing these functions together is an integrated perspective.


Searching and Indexing

There has been much attention given in recent years to search and indexing techniques with the exponential growth of information. The Internet has accelerated techniques and, as disparate systems become connected to one another, searching and indexing becomes a function more critical than storage. Information that can't be located easily and with reliability holds little value. The field of searching and indexing is one we are putting a lot of emphasis and research.


Communications and Collaboration

Integrated components that aid in communications and collaboration are included because of their role in facilitating the flow of tacit information. The problem of how tacit knowledge is incorporated is perhaps one of the most significant differentiation factors between "knowledge" and "information" management systems. There are still much greater quantities of knowledge stored within the heads of individuals and within business processes than has been translated into electronic forms. Communications and collaboration software generally help to build relationships between people and reinforce organizational culture and design. An area that is upcoming is integration of email systems for knowledge management; and software such discussion forum software and project management to provide more robust communications.


Expert Systems

Another area that is developing is in the integration of products that provide intelligent analysis of information, online processing, and filtering. Often relying on concepts from the field of artificial intelligence, expert systems and intelligent agents help make vast quantities of data and information useful. We integrate with several products that have been in use providing intelligent analysis and online analytical processing (OLAP) for quite some time; and have intelligent agents planned for use in various components.

I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback.

Sincerely,



Sandra Cann
scann@javacorporate.com