Knowledge Management

The main objective of the course is to acquaint students with the basic concepts, methods and techniques of knowledge management and to empower them for solving concrete problems in business environment.

Students will acquire the following competences:

• knowledge of basic knowledge management principles and their importance in the business environment,
• understanding the importance and dependencies between tehnical and non-technical aspects of knowledge management,
• understanding knowledge management activities and possibilities for their application in concrete situations,
• ability of reviewing state-of-the art of knowledge management in a concrete environment, identifying problems and suggesting improvements,
• ability of using software tools from the field of knowledge technologies,
• preparing and understanding case studies,
• autonomy in professional work,
• active participation in discussions, presentation and defence of opinions, openess for other views.

No prerequisit knowledge is required.

1. Introduction to knowledge management

2. Knowledge technologies
   • Content and information management (metamodels, semantic networks, ontologies, formalisms for knowledge representation)
   • Transfer of knowledge and information
   • Knowledge acquisition
   • Data analysis for knowledge management
   • Infrastructure for knowledge management support
   • Examples of applications

3. Knowledge management and business environment
   • Business processes and knowledge management
   • Example: CRM – customer relationship management
   • Example: Product development
   • Virtual enterprises and networked organisations
   • Knowledge management activities
   • Case studies

4. Non-technical aspects of knowledge management
   • Learning organisations (organisational memory, organizational learning, organisational culture)
   • Intellectual capital and intellectual property rights
   • Knowledge management in multi-cultural environment

− understanding issues of knowledge acquisition, knowledge transformations
and knowledge transfer,
− mastering selected methods and techniques for support of knowledge management activities,
− ability to identify and solve concrete knowledge management problems in business environment.

• T. H. Davenport, L. Prusak: Working knowledge. Harvard Business School Press, 2000. Catalogue E-version
• C. De Brun, NHS National Library for Health: ABC of Knowledge Management, 2005. E-version
• Y. Malhorta: Knowledge Management and Virtual organizations. Idea Group Publishing, 2000. Catalogue E-version
• Chapter 11: Knowledge Management from the book E. Turban, J.E. Aronson, T. Liang, R. Sharda: Decision Support and Business Intelligence, eighth edition, Prentice Hall, 2011. Catalogue E-version
• J. McKenzie, C. Van Winkelen: Understanding the Knowledgeable Organization: Nurturing Knowledge Competence. Thomson, 2004. Catalogue E-version
• J.F. Sowa: Knowledge Representation. Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations. Brooks/Cole Thompson Learning, 2000. Catalogue E-version
• D. Mladenić, N. Lavrač, M. Bohanec, S. Moyle, S. (eds.): Data mining and decision support: Integration and collaboration. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.
Catalogue

• Active participation: Familiarity with basic technological and non-technological aspects of knowledge management is assessed with written assignements and with discussions. • With seminar or project work, the ability of solving concrete kowledge management problems in business environment is assessed. • With oral exam, knowledge of knowledge management concepts, methods and techniques of knowledge management. 30/40/30

Tanja Urbančič is the Dean of the School of Engineering and Management at the University of Nova Gorica where she is a researcher and full professor in the field of computer science. She is also a part-time research fellow at the Department of Knowledge Technologies at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana. Her main research and teaching activities are in the field of knowledge management and knowledge technologies with applications in biomedicine and education. She contributed to the development of new methods for modelling of human skill and for knowledge discovery with literature mining. She co-authored several book chapters and journal papers in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Engineering Review, and others. She has over twenty years of experience with the design and implementation of study programmes and with the introduction of new teaching approaches into practice. She chairs the stirring committee for e-learning at the University of Nova Gorica and is one of the founding members of the Opening up Slovenia initiative. With Mitja Jermol, she developed and launched an international on-line mentoring program Open Education for a Better World in which expert guidance is provided to developers of open educational resources from the whole world. She has also experience from other international and national projects related to knowledge technologies and knowledge management, such as Sol-Eu-Net, ConCreTe and ExplorEdu. At the Master's study program Engineering and Management she coordinates interdisciplinary student team projects for more than 10 years.

Selected bibliography:

GUBIANI, Donatella, MOZETIČ, Matjaž, KOROUŠIĆ SELJAK, Barbara, URBANČIČ, Tanja.
E-Learning Experiment: Web Conference Activities in Teaching at a Traditional University. Int. J. of Innovation and Learning, sprejeto v objavo v 2018.

URBANČIČ, Tanja, ORLIČ, Davor. Opening up education : towards affordable and sustainable solutions. V: EBY, Gulsun (ur.), YUZER, T. Volkan (ur.), ATAY, Simber (ur.). Developing successful strategies for global policies and cyber transparency in E-learning. Hershey: Information Science Reference. 2016, str. 133-144.

URBANČIČ, Tanja, ORLIČ, Davor. Opening up education : towards affordable and sustainable solutions. V: EBY, Gulsun (ur.), YUZER, T. Volkan (ur.), ATAY, Simber (ur.). Developing successful strategies for global policies and cyber transparency in E-learning. Hershey: Information Science Reference. 2016, str. 133-144.
CESTNIK, Bojan, BOHANEC, Marko, URBANČIČ, Tanja. QTvity : advancing students' engagement during lectures by using mobile devices. V: RACHEV, Boris (ur.). CompSysTech'15 : proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies, June 25 - 26, 2015, Dublin, Ireland. New York: ACM. 2015, str. 334-341.
ORLIČ, Davor, CESTNIK, Bojan, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Supporting teachers in chosing and reusing open educational resources. V: BOROW, Wladimir (ur.). Proceedings, International Conference on e-Learning, e-Learning'15, 11-12 September 2015, Berlin, Germany. [S. l.: s. n.]. 2015, str. 28-33.
ORLIČ, Davor, CESTNIK, Bojan, URBANČIČ, Tanja. What can VideoLectures.Net and transLectures do for opening higher education to the multicultural world. V: RACHEV, Boris (ur.). CompSysTech'14 : proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies, Ruse, Bulgaria, June 27 - 28, 2014. New York: ACM. 2014, 8 str., ilustr.
PETRIČ, Ingrid, URBANČIČ, Tanja, CESTNIK, Bojan. Ontological representation of virtual business communities : how to find right business partners. V: CRUZ-CUNHA, Maria Manuela (ur.), VARAJAO, Joao (ur.). Innovations in smes and conducting e-business : technologies, trends and solutions, (Premier reference source). Hershey; New York; London: Information Science Reference: Igi Global. 2011, str. 263-277.
URBANČIČ, Tanja, BOHANEC, Marko, KONTIĆ, Branko. Collaborative decision making : an environmental case study. V: MLADENIĆ, Dunja (ur.), et al. Data mining and decision support : integration and collaboration, (The Kluwer international series in engineering and computer science, SECS 745).
LAVRAČ, Nada, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Mind the gap : academia-business partnership models and e-collaboration lessons learned. V: MLADENIĆ, Dunja (ur.), et al. Data mining and decision support : integration and collaboration, (The Kluwer international series in engineering and computer science, SECS 745). Boston; Dordrecht; London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2003, str. 261-269.
GIDER, Franc, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Developing soft skills for engineering : experience with student Team projects. Organizacija : revija za management, informatiko in kadre, ISSN 1318-5454. [Tiskana izd.], jan./feb. 2010, letn. 43, št. 1, str. 35-39.

LAVRAČ, Nada, LJUBIČ, Peter, URBANČIČ, Tanja, PAPA, Gregor, JERMOL, Mitja, BOLLHALTER, Stefan. Trust modeling for networked organizations using reputation and collaboration estimates. IEEE transactions on systems, man and cybernetics. Pt. C, Applications and reviews, ISSN 1094-6977. [Print ed.], maj 2007, vol. 37, no. 3, str. 429-439, ilustr.
URBANČIČ, Tanja. From fragments of knowledge towords a bigger picture : how can the process be supported. Organizacija : revija za management, informatiko in kadre, ISSN 1318-5454. [Tiskana izd.], 2007, letn. 40, št. 6, str. 263-266.
SOMEREN, Maarten W. van, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Applications of machine learning : matching problems to tasks and methods. Knowledge engineering review, ISSN 0269-8889, 2006, vol. 20, no. 4, str. 363-402.
GUBIANI, Donatella, FABBRETTI, Elsa, CESTNIK, Bojan, LAVRAČ, Nada, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Outlier based literature exploration for cross-domain linking of Alzheimer's disease and gut microbiota. Expert systems with applications, ISSN 0957-4174. [Print ed.], 2017, vol. 85, str. 386-396,

JURŠIČ, Matjaž, CESTNIK, Bojan, URBANČIČ, Tanja, LAVRAČ, Nada. HCI empowered literature mining for cross-domain knowledge discovery. V: HOLZINGER, Andreas (ur.), PASI, Gabriella (ur.). Human-computer interaction and knowledge discovery in complex, unstructured, big data : proceedings, Third International Workshop, HCI-KDD 2013, Held at SouthCHI 2013, Maribor, Slovenia, July 1-3, 2013, (Lecture notes in computer science, ISSN 0302-9743, Lecture notes in artificial intelligence, vol. 7947). Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer. 2013, vol. 7947, str. 124-135.

PETRIČ, Ingrid, CESTNIK, Bojan, LAVRAČ, Nada, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Outlier detection in cross-context link discovery for creative literature mining. The Computer journal, ISSN 0010-4620, 2012, vol. 55, no. 1, str. 47-61,
JERMOL, Mitja, LAVRAČ, Nada, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Managing business intelligence in a virtual enterprise : a case study and knowledge management lessons learned. Journal of intelligent & fuzzy systems, ISSN 1064-1246. [Print ed.], 2004, vol. 14, str. 121-136.
URBANČIČ, Tanja. Learning and understanding human skill. Informatica : an international journal of computing and informatics, ISSN 0350-5596, 2001, vol. 25, no. 3, str. 403-408.
CESTNIK, Bojan, MANAKOVA, Natalia, KARALIČ, Aram, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Engaging the net generation students in enhanced teaching and leaning with QTvity : the next steps. V: Proceedings : European thematic network, future education and training in computing: how to support learning at anytime anywhere, International Conference on e-Learning, 8-9 September, Bratislava, Slovaki, (International conference on e-learning, ISSN 2367-6698). [S. l.: s. n.]. 2016, str. 86-93.

MARTINS, Pedro, POLLAK, Senja, URBANČIČ, Tanja, CARDOSO, Amilcar. Optimality principles in computational approaches to conceptual blending : do we need them (at) all?. V: PACHET, François (ur.). Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2016, 27 June - 1 July. Paris: Sony CSL = Sony Computer Science Laboratory. 2016, str. 346-353.
CESTNIK, Bojan, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Teaching supply chain management with the beer distribution game on mobile devices. V: CABALLERO-GIL, Pino (ur.). Proceedings. [S. l.: s. n.]. 2014, str. 111-117.
CESTNIK, Bojan, URBANČIČ, Tanja, PETRIČ, Ingrid. Ontological representations for supporting learning in business communities. V: SMRIKAROV, Angel (ur.). e-Learning'11 : proceedigs of the International Conference on e-Learning and the Knowledge Society, 25-26 August 2011, Bucharest, Romania. Bucharest: ASE Publishing House. 2011
BRAČIČ LOTRIČ, Maja, URBANČIČ, Tanja. Learning to connect different contexts : new perspectives through knowledge technologies. V: DOLINŠEK, Slavko (ur.). Socio-cultural and human values in science and technology education : proceedings, XIV. IOSTE Symposium, International Organization for Science and Technology Education, June 13.-18. 2010, Bled, Slovenia. Ljubljana: Institute for Innovation and Development of University. 2010, 8 str.

Prof. dr. Nada Lavrač

Principal education and research areas: Knowledge technologies, machine learning, data mining and text mining, relational data mining and inductive logic programming, combining data mining and decision support, computational creativity, knowledge management, marketing, and virtual enterprises, applications of machine learning and data mining techniques in biomedicine, healthcare, and life sciences
Professional career: From 1978 employed at Institute “Jožef Stefan”; founder and head of Department of Knowledge Technologies; since 2002 research councillor IJS; since 2007 full professor at University of Nova Gorica and International Postgraduate School Jožef Stefan; 1996-1998 vice-president of ECCAI (European Coordination Committee for AI); since 1999 board member of AIME (Artificial Intelligence in Medicine); since 2000 leading Data mining section of Slovenian Statistical Society; member of Slovenian AI Society SLAIS.

Publications and achievements: author of numerous scientific papers, author of four scientific monographs, editor of numerous books and proceedings, author of two outstanding scientific achievements (2011 and 2012), coordinator of two EU projects, Slovenian principal investigator of over ten EU projects worth over 3 Mio EUR. Awards: 2013 Zois recognition award for important scientific contributions to intelligent data analysis, 2007 ECCAI Fellow Award for pioneering research and advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence in Europe, 1998 Ambassador of Science of the Republic of Slovenia for outstanding research and contribution to international recognition of Slovenian science, 1986 National award for research excellence (Boris Kidrič Fund Award) for research in knowledge synthesis and qualitative modelling (system KARDIO for ECG diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias, later published as monograph Kardio: A Study in Deep and Qualitative Knowledge for Expert Systems, MIT Press, 1989, coauthor).

Selected bibliography

Nada Lavrač:
• Gamberger D., Lavrač, N.: Expert-Guided Subgroup Discovery: Methodology and Application, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research 17 (2002), 501-527.
• Lavrač N., Džeroski, S.: Inductive Logic Programming: Techniques and Applications. Ellis Horwood, 1994.
• Lavrač N., Kavšek, B., Flach P. A., Todorovski, L.: Subgroup discovery with CN2-SD. Journal of Machine Learning Research, 5 (2004), 153-188.
• Železny F., Lavrač N.: Propositionalization-based relational subgroup discovery with RSD. Machine Learning 62 :1-2 (2006), 33-63.
• Fuernkranz J., Gamberger D., Lavrač N.: Foundations of Rule Learning. Springer 2012.