Re: [unrev-II] OHS and DKR

From: Eric Armstrong (eric.armstrong@eng.sun.com)
Date: Tue Mar 14 2000 - 15:22:47 PST

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    From: Eric Armstrong <eric.armstrong@eng.sun.com>

    altintdev@webtv.net wrote:

    > I am thinking that the OHS is an interface to the DKR.

    That doesn't take us very far, I'm afraid. It says an OHS doesn't exist
    without
    a DKR.

    I think the fundamental difference between the two is whether we are
    talking
    about "knowledge" or "documents". When we start talking about
    "knowledge",
    we get into a world of things we don't understand, as yet. When we talk
    about
    "documents", at least we know that we are dealing with a specific
    representation
    of some kind of information -- whether or not it constitutes actual
    "knowledge".

    In either case, a fundamental issue crops up: "collaboration". Just what
    does
    that mean, in any meaningful "dynamic" sense. Let's start with the
    observation
    that there is my knowledge (and documents), your knowledge (and
    documents),
    and what we might want to have in the way of shared knowledge (and
    documents).

    For "knowledge" the issue of sharing is particularly thorny, because a
    fundamental
    component of knowledge production is reduction or reorganization of
    information.
    To make my own data set useful, I need to eliminate redundant elements,
    recategorize things to put them where they belong, and replace old
    outdated models
    with newer, better versions. But what does that mean when we *share* a
    repository?
       * If my changes affect your view, then you are frequently disoriented
    by
          what I and others do.
       * If my changes don't affect your view, then you live with what you
    knew
          before, not the latest understanding. (Where is the value of
    sharing, in
          that case?)
       * In either case, my reorganization may not reflect your needs. Or it
    may.

    For "document" sharing, things are a little more clear, at least. Some
    of the
    same issues come up, but the answers seem a bit more discernible. If a
    "document" has an "author" (or set of authors), then a new version can
    clearly replace the old. On the other hand, what about old bookmarks?
    Should they remain in the old version, or moved to the new version?
    And what if the bookmarked entity does not exist in the new version?

    Although we lack answers to many such fundamental questions, at least
    the questions are more concrete. We have an intuitive understanding of
    "documents" that we can use to guide our thinking about an OHS.

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