🎓Knowledge Management: Mental Model (Definitions)

"A mental model is a cognitive construct that describes a person's understanding of a particular content domain in the world." (John Sown, "Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine", 1984)

"A mental model is a data structure, in a computational system, that represents a part of the real world or of a fictitious world." (Alan Granham, "Mental Models as Representations of Discourse and Text", 1987)

"[…] a mental model is a mapping from a domain into a mental representation which contains the main characteristics of the domain; a model can be ‘run’ to generate explanations and expectations with respect to potential states. Mental models have been proposed in particular as the kind of knowledge structures that people use to understand a specific domain […]" (Helmut Jungermann, Holger Schütz & Manfred Thuering, "Mental models in risk assessment: Informing people about drugs", Risk Analysis 8 (1), 1988)

 "A mental model is a knowledge structure that incorporates both declarative knowledge (e.g., device models) and procedural knowledge (e.g., procedures for determining distributions of voltages within a circuit), and a control structure that determines how the procedural and declarative knowledge are used in solving problems (e.g., mentally simulating the behavior of a circuit)." (Barbara Y White & John R Frederiksen, "Causal Model Progressions as a Foundation for Intelligent Learning Environments", Artificial Intelligence 42, 1990)

"’Mental models’ are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. [...] Mental models are deeply held internal images of how the world works, images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting." (Peter Senge, "The Fifth Discipline”, 1990)

"[A mental model] is a relatively enduring and accessible, but limited, internal conceptual representation of an external system (historical, existing, or projected) [italics in original] whose structure is analogous to the perceived structure of that system." (James K Doyle & David N Ford, "Mental models concepts revisited: Some clarifications and a reply to Lane", System Dynamics Review 15 (4), 1999)

"In broad terms, a mental model is to be understood as a dynamic symbolic representation of external objects or events on the part of some natural or artificial cognitive system. Mental models are thought to have certain properties which make them stand out against other forms of symbolic representations." (Gert Rickheit & Lorenz Sichelschmidt, "Mental Models: Some Answers, Some Questions, Some Suggestions", 1999)

"A mental model is conceived […] as a knowledge structure possessing slots that can be filled not only with empirically gained information but also with ‘default assumptions’ resulting from prior experience. These default assumptions can be substituted by updated information so that inferences based on the model can be corrected without abandoning the model as a whole. Information is assimilated to the slots of a mental model in the form of ‘frames’ which are understood here as ‘chunks’ of knowledge with a well-defined meaning anchored in a given body of shared knowledge." (Jürgen Renn, “Before the Riemann Tensor: The Emergence of Einstein’s Double Strategy", 2005)

"A mental model is a mental representation that captures what is common to all the different ways in which the premises can be interpreted. It represents in 'small scale' how 'reality' could be - according to what is stated in the premises of a reasoning problem. Mental models, though, must not be confused with images." (Carsten Held et al, "Mental Models and the Mind", 2006)

"’Mental models’ are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action." (Jossey-Bass Publishers, "The Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Leadership”, 2nd Ed. 2007)

"A mental model is an internal representation with analogical relations to its referential object, so that local and temporal aspects of the object are preserved." (Gert Rickheit et al, "The concept of communicative competence" [in "Handbook of Communication Competence"], 2008)

"Internal representations constructed on the spot when required by demands of an external task or by a self-generated stimulus. It enables activation of relevant schemata, and allows new knowledge to be integrated. It specifies causal actions among concepts that take place within it, and it can be interacted with in the mind." (Daniel Churchill, "Mental Models" [in "Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum Integration"] , 2008)

"Mental models are representations of reality built in people’s minds. These models are based on arrangements of assumptions, judgments, and values. A main weakness of mental models is that people’s assumptions and judgments change over time and are applied in inconsistent ways when building explanations of the world." (Luis F Luna-Reyes, "System Dynamics to Understand Public Information Technology", 2008)

"A mental model is the collection of concepts and relationships about the image of real world things we carry in our heads" (Hassan Qudrat-Ullah, "System Dynamics Based Technology for Decision Support", 2009)

"A mental recreation of the states of the world reproduced cognitively in order to offer itself as a basis for reasoning." (Eshaa M Alkhalifa, "Open Student Models", 2009)

[Shared Mental Model:] "A mental model that is shared among team members, and may include: 1) task-specific knowledge, 2) task-related knowledge, 3) knowledge of teammates and 4) attitudes/beliefs." (Rosemarie Reynolds et al, "Measuring Shared Mental Models in Unmanned Aircraft Systems", 2015) 

"A network of knowledge content, as well as the relationships among the content."(Rosemarie Reynolds et al, "Measuring Shared Mental Models in Unmanned Aircraft Systems", 2015)

"A mental model (aka mental representation/image/picture) is a mental structure that attempts to model (depict, imagine) how real or imaginary things look like, work or fit together." (The Web of Knowledge) [source]

Resources:
Quotes on "Mental Models" at the-web-of-knowledge.blogspot.com.

🎓Knowledge Management: Concept Map (Definitions)

"Concept maps are built of nodes connected by connectors, which have written descriptions called linking phrases instead of polarity of strength. Concept maps can be used to describe conceptual structures and relations in them and the concept maps suit also aggregation and preservation of knowledge" (Hannu Kivijärvi et al, "A Support System for the Strategic Scenario Process", 2008) 

"A hierarchal picture of a mental map of knowledge." (Gregory MacKinnon, "Concept Mapping as a Mediator of Constructivist Learning", 2009)

"A tool that assists learners in the understanding of the relationships of the main idea and its attributes, also used in brainstorming and planning." (Diane L Judd, "Constructing Technology Integrated Activities that Engage Elementary Students in Learning", 2009)

"Concept maps are graphical knowledge representations that are composed to two components: (1) Nodes: represent the concepts, and (2) Links: connect concepts using a relationship." (Faisal Ahmad et al, "New Roles of Digital Libraries", 2009)

"A concept map is a diagram that depicts concepts and their hierarchical relationships." (Wan Ng & Ria Hanewald, "Concept Maps as a Tool for Promoting Online Collaborative Learning in Virtual Teams with Pre-Service Teachers", 2010)

"A diagram that facilitates organization, presentation, processing and acquisition of knowledge by showing relationships among concepts as node-link networks. Ideas in a concept map are represented as nodes and connected to other ideas/nodes through link labels." (Olusola O Adesope & John C Nesbit, "A Systematic Review of Research on Collaborative Learning with Concept Maps", 2010)

"A visual construct composed of encircled concepts (nodes) that are meaningfully inter-connected by descriptive concept links either directly, by branch-points (hierarchies), or indirectly by cross-links (comparisons). The construction of a concept map can serve as a tool for enhancing communication, either between an author and a student for a reading task, or between two or more students engaged in problem solving. (Dawndra Meers-Scott, "Teaching Critical Thinking and Team Based Concept Mapping", 2010)

"Are graphical ways of working with ideas and presenting information. They reveal patterns and relationships and help students to clarify their thinking, and to process, organize and prioritize. The visual representation of information through word webs or diagrams enables learners to see how the ideas are connected and understand how to group or organize information effectively." (Robert Z Zheng & Laura B Dahl, "Using Concept Maps to Enhance Students' Prior Knowledge in Complex Learning", 2010)

"Concept maps are hierarchical trees, in which concepts are connected with labelled, graphical links, most general at the top." (Alexandra Okada, "Eliciting Thinking Skills with Inquiry Maps in CLE", 2010)

"One powerful knowledge presentation format, devised by Novak, to visualize conceptual knowledge as graphs in which the nodes represent the concepts, and the links between the nodes are the relationships between these concepts." (Diana Pérez-Marín et al, "Adaptive Computer Assisted Assessment", 2010)

"A form of visualization showing relationships among concepts as arrows between labeled boxes, usually in a downward branching hierarchy." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A graphical depiction of relationships ideas, principals, and activities leading to one major theme." (Carol A Brown, "Using Logic Models for Program Planning in K20 Education", 2013)

"A diagram that presents the relationships between concepts." (Gwo-Jen Hwang, "Mobile Technology-Enhanced Learning", 2015)

"A graphical two-dimensional display of knowledge. Concepts, usually presented within boxes or circles, are connected by directed arcs that encode, as linking phrases, the relationships between the pairs of concepts." (Anna Ursyn, "Visualization as Communication with Graphic Representation", 2015)

"A graphical tool for representing knowledge structure in a form of a graph whose nodes represent concepts, while arcs between nodes correspond to interrelations between them." (Yigal Rosen & Maryam Mosharraf, "Evidence-Centered Concept Map in Computer-Based Assessment of Critical Thinking", 2016) 

"Is a directed graph that shows the relationship between the concepts. It is used to organize and structure knowledge." (Anal Acharya & Devadatta Sinha, "A Web-Based Collaborative Learning System Using Concept Maps: Architecture and Evaluation", 2016)

"A graphic depiction of brainstorming, which starts with a central concept and then includes all related ideas." (Carolyn W Hitchens et al, "Studying Abroad to Inform Teaching in a Diverse Society", 2017)

"A graphic visualization of the connections between ideas in which concepts (drawn as nodes or boxes) are linked by explanatory phrases (on arrows) to form a network of propositions that depict the quality of the mapper’s understanding" (Ian M Kinchin, "Pedagogic Frailty and the Ecology of Teaching at University: A Case of Conceptual Exaptation", 2019)

"A diagram in which related concepts are linked to each other." (Steven Courchesne &Stacy M Cohen, "Using Technology to Promote Student Ownership of Retrieval Practice", 2020)

🎓Knowledge Management: Conceptual Model (Definitions)

"A conceptual model is a qualitative description of the system and includes the processes taking place in the system, the parameters chosen to describe the processes, and the spatial and temporal scales of the processes." (A Avogadro & R C Ragaini, "Technologies for Environmental Cleanup", 1993)

"A conceptual model is a model of the projected system that is independent of implementation details." (Michael Worboys, "GIS: A Computing Perspective", 1995)

"A conceptual model is what in the model theory is called a set of formulas making statements about the world." (Dickson Lukose [Eds.], "Conceptual Structures: Fulfilling Peirce's Dream" Vol 5, 1997)

"A conceptual model is a representation of the system expertise using this formalism. An internal model is derived from the conceptual model and from a specification of the system transactions and the performance constraints." (Zbigniew W. Ras & Andrzej Skowron [Eds.], Foundations of Intelligent Systems: 10th International Symposium Vol 10, 1997)

"A conceptual model is one which reflects reality by placing words which are concepts into the model in the same way that the model aeroplane builder puts wings, a fuselage, and a cockpit together." (Lynn Basford & ‎Oliver Slevin, "Theory and Practice of Nursing: An Integrated Approach to Caring Practice", 2003) 

"A conceptual model is simply a framework or schematic to understand the interaction of workforce education and development systems with other variables in a society." (Jay W Rojewski, "International Perspectives on Workforce Education and Development", 2004) 

"A conceptual model is a mental image of a system, its components, its interactions. It lays the foundation for more elaborate models, such as physical or numerical models. A conceptual model provides a framework in which to think about the workings of a system or about problem solving in general. An ensuing operational model can be no better than its underlying conceptualization." (Henry N Pollack, "Uncertain Science … Uncertain World", 2005)

"A particular kind of learning object design to be supplied to learners to support their mental modeling." (Daniel Churchill, "Mental Models" [in "Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum Integration"], 2008)

"The concepts and constructs about real work things we have in our heads are called mental model." (Hassan Qudrat-Ullah, "System Dynamics Based Learning Environments" [in "Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum Integration"], 2008)

"Representations of real or imaginary structure in the human mind enabling orientation as well as goal orientated actions and movements" (Ralf Wagner, "Customizing Multimedia with Multi-Trees" [in "Encyclopedia of Multimedia Technology and Networking" 2nd Ed.], 2009)

"A conceptual model is a qualitative description of 'some aspect of the behaviour of a natural system'. This description is usually verbal, but may also be accompanied by figures and graphs." (Howard S. Wheater et al., "Groundwater Modelling in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas, 2010) 

"[…] a conceptual model is a diagram connecting variables and constructs based on theory and logic that displays the hypotheses to be tested." (Mary Wolfinbarger Celsi et al, "Essentials of Business Research Methods", 2011) 

"A conceptual model of an interactive application is, in summary: the structure of the application - the objects and their operations, attributes, and relation-ships; an idealized view of the how the application works – the model designers hope users will internalize; the mechanism by which users accomplish the tasks the application is intended to support." (Jeff Johnson & Austin Henderson, "Conceptual Models", 2011)

"Simply put, a conceptual model is a simplified representation of reality, devised for a certain purpose and seen from a certain point of view."(David W Emble & Bernhard Thalheim, "Handbook of Conceptual Modeling", 2012) 

"Briefly, a conceptual model is the configuration of conceptual elements and the navigation between them. As such, a conceptual model is the foundation of the user interface of any interactive system." (Avi Parush, "Conceptual Design for Interactive Systems", 2015)

"A conceptual model is a framework that is initially used in research to outline the possible courses of action or to present an idea or thought. When a conceptual model is developed in a logical manner, it will provide a rigor to the research process." (N Elangovan & R Rajendran, "Conceptual Model: A Framework for Institutionalizing the Vigor in Business Research", 2015) 

"A model or conceptual model is a schematic or representation that describes how something works. We create and adapt models all the time without realizing it. Over time, as you gain more information about a problem domain, your model will improve to better match reality." (James Padolsey, "Clean Code in JavaScript", 2020)

Resources:
Quotes on "Conceptual Models" at the-web-of-knowledge.blogspot.com.

🎓Knowledge Management: Cognitive Map (Definitions)

"A cognitive map is a specific way of representing a person's assertions about some limited domain, such as a policy problem. It is designed to capture the structure of the person's causal assertions and to generate the consequences that follow front this structure." (Robert M Axelrod, "Structure of Decision: The cognitive maps of political elites", 1976)

"A cognitive map is the representation of thinking about a problem that follows from the process of mapping." (Colin Eden, "Analyzing cognitive maps to help structure issues or problems", 2002)

"A mental representation of a portion of the physical environment and the relative locations of points within it." (Andrew M Colman, "A Dictionary of Psychology" 3rd Ed, 2008)

"A mental model (or map) of the external environment which may be constructed following exploratory behaviour." (Michael Allaby, "A Dictionary of Zoology" 3rd Ed., 2009)

"An FCM [Fuzzy Cognitive Map] is a directed graph with concepts like policies, events etc. as nodes and causalities as edges. It represents causal relationship between concepts." (Florentin Smarandache &  W B Vasantha Kandasamy, "Fuzzy Cognitive Maps and Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps", 2014)

"A conceptual tool that provides a representation of particular natural or social environments in the form of a model." (Evangelos C Papakitsos et al, "The Challenges of Work-Based Learning via Systemic Modelling in the European Union", 2020)

"A representation of the conceptualization that the subject constructs of the system in which he evolves. The set of cognitive representations that emerge make it possible to understand his actions, the links between the factors structuring the cognitive patterns dictating his behaviors." (Henda E Karray & Souhaila Kammoun, "Strategic Orientation of the Managers of a Tunisian Family Group Before and After the Revolution", 2020)

"A cognitive map is a type of mental representation which serves an individual to acquire, code, store, recall, and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment." (Wikipedia) [source]

🎓Knowledge Management: Tacit Knowledge (Definitions)

"Know-how that is difficult to articulate and share; intuition or skills that cannot easily be put into words." (Martin J Eppler, "Managing Information Quality" 2nd Ed., 2006)

"The domain of subjective, cognitive, and experimental knowledge that is highly personal and difficult to formalize." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"The knowledge that a person retains in their mind. It is relatively hard to transfer to others and to disseminate widely. Also known as implicit knowledge." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"Knowledge that is based on experience and not easy to share, document, or explain." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"Knowledge that resides in people's heads. Also referred to as know-how, rules of thumb, or heuristics." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"Tacit knowledge is sometimes referred to as knowledge inside people’s heads. It includes the skills and intuition that experienced people apply as a matter of course in their work. Tacit knowledge is contrasted with explicit knowledge, which is knowledge that is documented in a sharable form. One of the goals of knowledge management is to enable tacit knowledge to be shared by making it explicit knowledge." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement ", 2012)

"Undocumented information." (Project Management Institute, "Software Extension to the PMBOK® Guide 5th Ed", 2013)

"Personal knowledge that can be difficult to articulate and share such as beliefs, experience, and insights." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)", 2017)

🎓Knowledge Management: Taxonomy (Definitions)

"A classification system." (Ruth C Clark & Chopeta Lyons, "Graphics for Learning", 2004)

"A hierarchical structure within which related items are organized, classified, or categorized, thus illustrating the relationships between them." (Richard Caladine, "Taxonomies for Technology", 2008)

"A taxonomy is a hierarchical structure displaying parent-child relationships (a classification). A taxonomy extends a vocabulary and is a special case of a the more general ontology." (Troels Andreasen & Henrik Bulskov, "Query Expansion by Taxonomy", 2008)

"An orderly classification that explicitly expresses the relationships, usually hierarchical (e.g., genus/species, whole/part, class/instance), between and among the things being classified." (J P Getty Trust, "Introduction to Metadata" 2nd Ed., 2008)

"This term traditionally refers to the study of the general principles of classification. It is widely used to describe computer-based systems that use hierarchies of topics to help users sift through information." (Craig F Smith & H Peter Alesso, "Thinking on the Web: Berners-Lee, Gödel and Turing", 2008)

"A kind of classification method which organizes all kinds of things into predefined hierarchical structure." (Yong Yu et al, "Social Tagging: Properties and Applications", 2010)

"Any system of categories used to organize something, including documents, often less comprehensive than a thesaurus." (Steven Woods et al, "Knowledge Dissemination in Portals", 2011)

"Generally, a collection of controlled vocabulary terms organized into a structure of parent-child relationships. Each term is in at least one relationship with another term in the taxonomy. Each parent's relationship with all of its children are of only one type (whole-part, genus-species, or type-instance). The addition of associative relationships creates a thesaurus." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A definitional hierarchy of concepts. Traditional taxonomies are tree-structured (a concept is assumed to have exactly one superconcept and multiple subconcepts). The higher a concept is positioned in the definitional hierarchy, the more individuals it describes (the comprehension of the concept), but the less definitional properties are needed (the meaning of a concept)." (Marcus Spies & Said Tabet, "Emerging Standards and Protocols for Governance, Risk, and Compliance Management", 2012) 

"A hierarchical representation of metadata. The top level is the category, and each subsequent level provides a refinement (detail) of the top-level term." (Charles Cooper & Ann Rockley, "Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy" 2nd Ed., 2012)

"A hierarchical structure of information components, for example, a subject, business–unit, or functional taxonomy, any part of which can be used to classify a content item in relation to other items in the structure." (Robert F Smallwood, "Managing Electronic Records: Methods, Best Practices, and Technologies", 2013)

"A classification of text" (Daniel Linstedt & W H Inmon, "Data Architecture: A Primer for the Data Scientist", 2014)

"A hierarchical structure of information components (e.g., a subject, business unit, or functional taxonomy), any part of which can be used to classify a content item in relation to other items in the structure." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices", 2014)

"provides context within the ontology. Taxonomies are used to capture hierarchical relationships between elements of interest. " (Judith S Hurwitz, "Cognitive Computing and Big Data Analytics", 2015)

"Taxonomy is the science and practice of classification. Taxonomies are used when categorizing real-life as well as artificial phenomenon and the aim is to make systematic studies easier." (Ulf Larson et al, "Guidance for Selecting Data Collection Mechanisms for Intrusion Detection", 2015)

"A taxonomy is a hierarchy that is created by a set of interconnected class inclusion relationship." (Robert J Glushko, "The Discipline of Organizing: Professional Edition" 4th Ed., 2016)

"A hierarchical structure of information components, for example, a subject, business unit, or functional taxonomy, any part of which can be used to classify a content item in relation to other items in the structure." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance for Healthcare Professionals", 2018)

🎓Knowledge Management: Ontology (Definitions)

"A data model that represents the entities that are defined and evaluated by its own attributes, and organized according to a hierarchy and a semantic. Ontologies are used for representing knowledge on the whole of a specific domain or on of it." (Gervásio Iwens et al, "Programming Body Sensor Networks", 2008)

"An ontology specifies a conceptualization, that is, a structure of related concepts for a given domain." (Troels Andreasen & Henrik Bulskov, "Query Expansion by Taxonomy", 2008)

"A semantic structure useful to standardize and provide rigorous definitions of the terminology used in a domain and to describe the knowledge of the domain. It is composed of a controlled vocabulary, which describes the concepts of the considered domain, and a semantic network, which describes the relations among such concepts. Each concept is connected to other concepts of the domain through semantic relations that specify the knowledge of the domain. A general concept can be described by several terms that can be synonyms or characteristic of different domains in which the concept exists. For this reason the ontologies tend to have a hierarchical structure, with generic concepts/terms at the higher levels of the hierarchy and specific concepts/terms at the lover levels, connected by different types of relations." (Mario Ceresa, "Clinical and Biomolecular Ontologies for E-Health", Handbook of Research on Distributed Medical Informatics and E-Health, 2009)

"In the context of knowledge sharing, the chapter uses the term ontology to mean a specification of conceptual relations. An ontology is the concepts and relationships that can exist for an agent or a community of agents. The chapter refers to designing ontologies for the purpose of enabling knowledge sharing and re-use." (Ivan Launders, "Socio-Technical Systems and Knowledge Representation", 2009)

 "The systematic description of a given phenomenon, which often includes a controlled vocabulary and relationships, captures nuances in meaning and enables knowledge sharing and reuse. Typically, ontology defines data entities, data attributes, relations and possible functions and operations." (Mark Olive, "SHARE: A European Healthgrid Roadmap", 2009)

"Those things that exist are those things that have a formal representation within the context of a machine. Knowledge commits to an ontology if it adheres to the structure, vocabulary and semantics intrinsic to a particular ontology i.e. it conforms to the ontology definition. A formal ontology in computer science is a logical theory that represents a conceptualization of real world concepts." (Philip D. Smart, "Semantic Web Rule Languages for Geospatial Ontologies", 2009)

"A formal representation of a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships between those concepts. It is used to reason about the properties of that domain, and may be used to define the domain." (Yong Yu et al, "Social Tagging: Properties and Applications", 2010)

"Is set of well-defined concepts describing a specific domain." (Hak-Lae Kim et al, "Representing and Sharing Tagging Data Using the Social Semantic Cloud of Tags", 2010)

"An ontology is a 'formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualisation'. It is composed of concepts and relations structured into hierarchies (i.e. they are linked together by using the Specialisation/Generalisation relationship). A heavyweight ontology is a lightweight ontology (i.e. an ontology simply based on a hierarchy of concepts and a hierarchy of relations) enriched with axioms used to fix the semantic interpretation of concepts and relations." (Francky Trichet et al, "OSIRIS: Ontology-Based System for Semantic Information Retrieval and Indexation Dedicated to Community and Open Web Spaces", 2011)

"The set of the things that can be dealt with in a particular domain, together with their relationships." (Steven Woods et al, "Knowledge Dissemination in Portals", 2011) 

"In semantic web and related technologies, an ontology (aka domain ontology) is a set of taxonomies together with typed relationships connecting concepts from the taxonomies and, possibly, sets of integrity rules and constraints defining classes and relationships." (Marcus Spies & Said Tabet, "Emerging Standards and Protocols for Governance, Risk, and Compliance Management", 2012)

"High-level knowledge and data representation structure. Ontologies provide a formal frame to represent the knowledge related with a complex domain, as a qualitative model of the system. Ontologies can be used to represent the structure of a domain by means of defining concepts and properties that relate them." (Lenka Lhotska et al, "Interoperability of Medical Devices and Information Systems", 2013)

"(a) In computer science and information science, an ontology formally represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between pairs of concepts. It can be used to model a domain and support reasoning about concepts. (b) In philosophy, ontology is the study of the nature of being, becoming, existence , or reality , as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences." (Ronald J Lofaro, "Knowledge Engineering Methodology with Examples", 2015)

"It is a shared structure which classify and organizes all the entities of a given domain." (T R Gopalakrishnan Nair, "Intelligent Knowledge Systems", 2015)

"The study of how things relate. Used in big data to analyze seemingly unrelated data to discover insights." (Jason Williamson, "Getting a Big Data Job For Dummies", 2015)

"An ontology is a formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization." (Fu Zhang et al, "A Review of Answering Queries over Ontologies Based on Databases", 2016)

🎓Knowledge Management: Explicit Knowledge (Definitions)

"Knowledge that is easily codified, shared, documented, and explained." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The knowledge that deals with objective, rational, and technical knowledge (data, policies, procedures, software, documents, etc.)." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"Explicit knowledge is information that is captured in a way that it can be shared. People can learn it without having to rely directly on other people. In knowledge management practice, explicit knowledge is contrasted with tacit knowledge, which is knowledge that is inside people’s heads." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement", 2012)

"Recorded information, for example, a written policy or procedure." (Joan C Dessinger, "Fundamentals of Performance Improvement" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"Knowledge that can be codified using symbols such as words, numbers, and pictures." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)", 2017)

🎓Knowledge Management: Knowledge Management (Definitions)

"The conscious and systematic facilitation of knowledge creation or development, diffusion or transfer, safeguarding, and use at the individual, team- and organizational level." (Martin J Eppler, "Managing Information Quality" 2nd Ed., 2006)

"The field of study that relates to the centralized management of a company’s corporate knowledge and information assets in order to provide this knowledge to as many company staff members as possible and thus encourage better and more consistent decision making." (Evan Levy & Jill Dyché, "Customer Data Integration", 2006)

"Discipline that intends to provide, at its most suitable level, the accurate information and knowledge for the right people, whenever they may be needed and at their best convenience." (J Ares, "Guidelines for Deploying a Knowledge Management System", 2008)

"The process of creating, capturing and organizing knowledge objects. A knowledge object might be a research report, a budget for the development of a new product, or a video presentation. Knowledge Management programs seek to capture objects in a repository that is searchable and accessible in electronic form." (Craig F Smith & H Peter Alesso, "Thinking on the Web: Berners-Lee, Gödel and Turing", 2008)

"The process established to capture and use specific knowledge in an organization for the purpose of improving organizational performance." (Murray E Jennex, "Technologies in Support of Knowledge Management Systems", 2009)

"1.The management of an environment where people generate tacit knowledge, render it into explicit knowledge, and feed it back to the organization. The cycle forms a base for more tacit knowledge, which keeps the cycle going in an intelligent learning organization. (Brackett 2011) 2.The discipline that fosters organizational learning and the management of intellectual capital as an enterprise resource." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management" 1st Ed., 2010)

"The process that helps organizations identify, select, organize, disseminate, and transfer important information and expertise that are part of the organization's memory and that may reside in unstructured form within the organization." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"Knowledge management is a set of practices related to how organizations learn from their own experiences. Many of these practices focus on ensuring that what employees know and learn is captured in a shareable form (explicit knowledge)." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement ", 2012)

"The accumulation, organization, and use of experience and lessons learned, which can be leveraged to improve future decision-making efforts. KM often involves listing and indexing subject matter experts, project categories, reports, studies, proposals, and other intellectual property sources or outputs that are retained to build corporate memory. Good KM systems help train new employees and reduce the impact of turnover and retirement of key employees." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices", 2014)

"The process of capturing, using, leveraging, and sharing organizational knowledge." (Sally-Anne Pitt, "Internal Audit Quality", 2014)

"The intentional process of creation, acquisition and sharing of knowledge and its utilization as a key factor in the creation of added value. It is an inextricably human and cooperative process." (António C Moreira & Ricardo A Zimmermann, "Electronic Government: Challenges for Public Services Consumer Behaviour and Value Creation", 2015)

"Knowledge management is considered as a systematic process of managing knowledge assets, processes, and environment to facilitate the creation, organization, sharing, utilization, and measurement of knowledge to achieve the strategic aims of an organization." (Haitham Alali et al, "Knowledge Sharing Success Model of Virtual Communities of Practice in Healthcare Sector", 2016)

"Knowledge management promotes activities and processes to acquire, create, document, and share formal explicit knowledge and informal implicit knowledge. Knowledge management involves identifying a group of people who have a need to share knowledge, developing technological support that enables knowledge sharing, and creating a process for transferring and disseminating knowledge." (Ciara Heavin & Daniel J Power, "Decision Support, Analytics, and Business Intelligence" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"The process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge." (Izabella V Lokshina et al, "Internet of Things and Big Data-Driven Data Analysis Services for Third Parties", 2019)

"The methods and underlying policies for sharing information effectively so that the sum of the skills, experience and entrepreneurial attributes of all stakeholders is greater than the sum of the individual parts. If done well, each stakeholder also benefits, thus increasing the ‘sum of the individual parts’ that go on to increase the ‘sum of the whole’ in a virtuous circle." (Sue Milton, "Data Privacy vs. Data Security", 2021)

🎓Knowledge Management: Knowledge (Definitions)

"Justified true belief, the know-what/-how/-who/-why that individuals use to solve problems, make predictions or decisions, or take actions." (Martin J Eppler, "Managing Information Quality" 2nd Ed., 2006)

"An individual’s understanding of facts or information. Knowledge provides the basis for performing a skill that an individual must have to perform a task successfully." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"1.Generally, expertise; familiarity gained through experience or association; cognizance, the fact or condition of knowing something; the acquaintance with or the understanding of something; the fact or condition of being aware of something, of apprehending truth or fact." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The body of information and facts about a specific subject. Knowledge implies familiarity, awareness, and understanding of information as it applies to an environment. A key characteristic of knowledge is that 'new' knowledge can be derived from 'old' knowledge." (Carlos Coronel et al, "Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management" 9th Ed., 2011)

"The fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association. Knowledge adds understanding and retention to information." (Craig S Mullins, "Database Administration", 2012)

"The metadata about all the changes that a participant has seen and maintains." (Microsoft, "SQL Server 2012 Glossary", 2012)

"A collection of specialized facts, procedures, and judgment rules. Knowledge refers to what one knows and understands. Knowledge is categorized as unstructured, structured, explicit, or implicit. What we know we know we call explicit knowledge. Knowledge that is unstructured and understood, but not clearly expressed, we call implicit knowledge." (Ciara Heavin & Daniel J Power, "Decision Support, Analytics, and Business Intelligence 3rd Ed.", 2017)

"A mixture of experience, values and beliefs, contextual information, intuition, and insight that people use to make sense of new experiences and information." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)", 2017)

"Knowing something with the familiarity gained through experience, education, observation, or investigation; it is understanding a process, practice, or technique, or how to use a tool." (Project Management Institute, "Project Manager Competency Development Framework" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"That array of facts and relationships that an individual has available to him or her for the performance of work, it may be part or all of an accepted body of knowledge, or knowledge that has been produced as largely self-generated content by the individual." (Catherine Burke et al, "Systems Leadership" 2nd Ed., 2018)

"The sum of a person’s - or mankind’s - information about and ability to understand the world." (Open Data Handbook)

🔦Process Management: Roles (Definitions)

"A job type defined in terms of a set of responsibilities." (Atul Apte, "Java Connector Architecture: Building Custom Connectors and Adapters", 2002)

"A set of expectations for behavior; describes the extent to which each individual performs activities related to project." (Timothy J  Kloppenborg et al, "Project Leadership", 2003)

"Specified responsibilities that identify a set of related activities to be performed by a designated individual (e.g., a project manager)." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"A definition of the behavior and responsibilities of an individual or set of individuals working together as a team." (Bruce MacIsaac & Per Kroll, "Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP", 2006)

"A defined set of work tasks, dependencies, and responsibilities that can be assigned to an individual as a work package. A role describes a collection of tasks that constitute one component of a process, and would normally be performed by an individual." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"The set of expectations in a social system that define the services individuals or groups are supposed to provide." (Alexander Grashow et al, "The Practice of Adaptive Leadership", 2009)

"The characteristic and expected behaviors of an individual, derived from his or her responsibilities and preferences in providing value to the organization." (David Lyle & John G Schmidt, "Lean Integration", 2010)

"1.Generally, a label assigned to a set of connected behaviors, rights and obligations. 2.In data modeling, the way in which entities of one type relate to entities of another type in a relationship. 3.In data security, a name used to refer to the logical set of related responsibilities assignable to a person or organization, and to parties with these assigned responsibilities." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A defined function to be performed by a project team member, such as testing, filing, inspecting, coding." (Cynthia Stackpole, "PMP® Certification All-in-One For Dummies®", 2011)

"Description of specific skills, qualifications and work profiles in software development. These should be filled by the persons (responsible for these roles) in the project." (Tilo Linz et al, "Software Testing Foundations" 4th Ed., 2014)

"Usual or expected functionality of an actor in the context of an activity or a business process; an actor can have one or several roles. " (Gilbert Raymond & Philippe Desfray, "Modeling Enterprise Architecture with TOGAF", 2014)

"A defined function to be performed by a project team member, such as testing, filing, inspecting, or coding." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide )", 2017)

"In ITIL, this is a set of responsibilities, activities and authorities granted to a person or team. A role is defined in a process. One person or team may have multiple roles, for example the roles of configuration manager and change manager may be carried out by a single person." (Brian Johnson & Leon-Paul de Rouw, "Collaborative Business Design", 2017)

"A defined function to be performed by a project team member, such as testing, filing, inspecting, coding." (Jeffrey K Pinto, "Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage" 5th Ed., 2018)

"A set of responsibilities, activities and authorities granted to a person/team." (ITIL)

🔦Process Management: Baseline (Definitions)

"A documented characterization of the actual results achieved by following a process, which is used as a benchmark for comparing actual process performance against expected process performance." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

"A range of expected results that would normally be achieved by following a defined process. Often expressed in terms of the process control limits defined by the discipline of statistical process control." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"Documented process performance values used as a reference to compare actual and expected process performance." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"A documented characterization of the range of expected results that would normally be achieved by following a specific process under typical circumstances." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"A documented characterization of the results achieved by following a process that is used as a benchmark for comparing actual process performance against expected process performance." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

[capability baseline:] "A statistically based description of the performance or results of a process that has been performed repeatedly. Capability baselines can quantify attributes of the process (e.g., effort or duration) or of the product produced by the process (e.g., amount or quality). Control charts used in statistical process control are one form of capability baseline. However, other statistical representations may be more appropriate, depending on the nature of the data being characterized. The purpose of a capability baseline is to predict outcomes and to interpret the results of process performance." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

📊Business Intelligence: Lagging Indicator (Definitions)

"When something consistently occurs a given period of time after something else, it is sometimes called a lagging indicator. The term is frequently applied to a curve of something that is correlated with the curve of something else, except it occurs a fixed period of time later (i.e., is shifted to the right on a graph with a time scale). For example, retail prices many times are lagging indicators of wholesale prices. Conversely, wholesale prices are often leading indicators of retail prices." (Robert L Harris, Information Graphics: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference, 1996)

"An indicator that follows the occurrence of something; hence used to determine the performance of an occurrence or an event. By tracking lagging indicators, one reacts to the results. For example, the high and low temperature, precipitation, and humidity of a given day." (Lynne Hambleton, "Treasure Chest of Six Sigma Growth Methods, Tools, and Best Practices", 2007)

"Data that reflects a slower reaction to economic or market changes; useful to describe trends." (Annetta Cortez & Bob Yehling, "The Complete Idiot's Guide® To Risk Management", 2010)

"An indicator that precedes the occurrence of something; hence, such indicators are used to signal the upcoming occurrence of an event. By tracking leading indicators, one can prepare or anticipate the subsequent event and be proactive. For example, barometric pressure and doplar radar of a surrounding region are indicators of ensuing weather." (Clyde M Creveling, "Six Sigma for Technical Processes: An Overview for R Executives, Technical Leaders, and Engineering Managers", 2006)

"Information that helps to forecast an increase in risk likelihood or severity before it appears in actual risk measures." (Annetta Cortez & Bob Yehling, "The Complete Idiot's Guide® To Risk Management", 2010)

"Backward-looking performance indicators that represent the results of previous actions. Characterizing historical performance, lagging indicators frequently focus on results at the end of a time period; e.g., third-quarter sales. A balanced scorecard should contain a mix of lagging and leading indicators." (Intrafocus) 

🔦Process Management: (Capability) Maturity Model [CMM] (Definitions)

[capability maturity model:] "A model that contains the essential elements of effective processes for one or more disciplines and describes an evolutionary improvement path from ad hoc, immature processes to disciplined, mature processes with improved quality and effectiveness." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI®: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

[capability maturity model (CMM):] "A formal document describing the requirements for a 'good' process, using some structure or taxonomy. Process maturity models define how you “ought to” produce a product, and typically require that the process be defined, documented, taught, practiced, measured, improved, and enforced." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"A model to categorize the maturity of an organization by different levels. Most famous are the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and its successor, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). Following this approach, many organizations have developed SOA maturity models." (Nicolai M Josuttis, "SOA in Practice", 2007)

"A Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is an evolutionary roadmap for implementing the vital practices from one or more domains of organizational process. It contains the essential elements of effective processes for one or more disciplines. It describes an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc, immature process to a disciplined, mature process with improved quality and effectiveness." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management 2nd Ed.", 2009)

"A structured collection of characteristics of effective processes at progressive levels of quality and effectiveness. A maturity model provides a common language and a shared vision for process improvement, a standard for benchmarking, and a framework for prioritizing actions. A maturity model assumes a natural evolutionary path for organizational process improvement." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A framework that describes, for a specific area of interest, a number of levels of sophistication at which activities in this area can be carried out." (Jim Davis & Aiman Zeid, "Business Transformation: A Roadmap for Maximizing Organizational Insights", 2014)

"First introduced by the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute in 1991 to improve the process of software development. However, their broader applicability was recognized, and the model was expanded in 2000 to apply to enterprise-wide process improvement." (Sally-Anne Pitt, "Internal Audit Quality", 2014)

[Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI):] "A process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes, which will improve their performance." (Adam Gordon, "Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK" 4th Ed.", 2015)

[capability maturity model integration (CMMI):] "A process model that captures the organization’s maturity and fosters continuous improvement." (Shon Harris & Fernando Maymi, "CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide" 8th Ed., 2018)

"A set of structured levels that describe how well an organization can reliably and sustainably produce required outcomes." (Yassine Maleh et al, 'Strategic IT Governance and Performance Frameworks in Large Organizations", 2019)

[Capability Maturity Model (CMM):] "A five level staged framework that describes the key elements of an effective software process. The Capability Maturity Model covers best practices for planning, engineering and managing software development and maintenance ." (IQBBA)

[Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI):] "A framework that describes the key elements of an effective product development and maintenance process. The Capability Maturity Model Integration covers best-practices for planning, engineering and managing product development and maintenance. (CMMI)

"A structured collection of elements that describe certain aspects of maturity in an organization, and aid in the definition and understanding of an organization's processes. A maturity model often provides a common language, shared vision and framework for prioritizing improvement actions." (SQA)

"A Maturity Model is a framework that is used as a benchmark for comparison when looking at an organisation's processes." (Experian) [source]

"A means of identifying and/or measuring the maturity of something of interest, such as a Service, Capability, Function, Skill, or Competency." (IF4IT)

🔦Process Management: Affinity Diagram (Definitions)

"A tool used to gather and group ideas; usually depicted as a “tree” diagram." (Clyde M Creveling, "Six Sigma for Technical Processes: An Overview for R Executives, Technical Leaders, and Engineering Managers", 2006)

"A process workflow model (diagram) showing the flow from one activity to the next." (Toby J Teorey, "Database Modeling and Design" 4th Ed., 2010)

"A form of visualization that shows patterns of ideas or data, by grouping them by topic or some attribute they share." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A group creativity technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis." (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2013)

"In UML, a diagram that represents work flows for activities. They include several kinds of symbols connected with arrows to show the direction of the work flow." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Software Engineering", 2015)

"A technique that allows large numbers of ideas to be classified into groups for review and analysis." (Project Management Institute, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)", 2017)

"A graphical representations of workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency." (IQBBA)