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Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Knowledge repositories for geology

K. P. Jaikiran, Knowledge management in geological sciences, Current Science, July 25, 2008. (Thanks to MyNews.in.)
... Scientists and academicians are basically knowledge-workers whose work involves application of multidimensional knowledge in their respective fields. Tremendous scope exists for the creation of knowledge repositories and networks in the scientific world for overall improvement in the quality of work. ...

In geological mapping and exploration programmes, the embedded organizational knowledge, including the tacit knowledge of senior professionals is seldom put to use. This handicap can be overcome only through the development of knowledge repositories in University departments, organizations such as the Geological Survey of India and research institutions involved in geological studies. ...

Mining of knowledge from repositories using standard tools would pave the way for application of the right kind of knowledge for appropriate situations. ...

[A] good geologist needs to be a good field worker too. ... The skills needed for these develop after a long period of time spent in the field ... By the time a person matures into a professional geologist, he would have reached the end of his career. He would soon leave the organization along with his repertoire of geological skills. Any attempt to capture and store this organizational knowledge in the form of an institutional repository would definitely prove to be beneficial to organizations and their activities. ...