Martin Eppler

Purpose - This paper aims to study hybrid knowledge visualization in police crime fighting and military operations. Making effective and timely use of all available, relevant knowledge is a major requirement for today's police officers who strive to fight organized crime or resolve complex criminal acts under time pressure. As they share this knowledge integration challenge with many management contexts, the authors have examined the knowledge visualization practices of a leading regional police force (and of a military unit) to derive insights for corporate knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach - To examine the knowledge visualization practices of a leading regional police force, the authors have conducted on-site observations, focus groups and interviews, as well as site, document, tool and software analyses within the police headquarters. Findings - As one main result of their empirical investigation, the authors find that the police force's practice of hybrid (i.e. digital and physical) knowledge visualization offers a useful strategy for corporate knowledge management as well. They also show how organizations can apply this dual approach to making knowledge visible, i.e. using sophisticated visualization software in combination with hands-on physical and permanently visible knowledge boards. Originality/value - They discuss how these two modalities can be combined to improve knowledge management and how this hybrid practice can be understood theoretically through the lens of boundary object theory. With this regard, this article also extends the boundary object theory by identifying nine dynamic qualities of collaborative visualizations.

Making effective and timely use of all available, relevant knowledge is a major requirement for today's police officers who strive to fight organized crime or resolve complex criminal acts under time pressure. As they share this knowledge integration challenge with many management contexts, we have examined the knowledge visualization practices of a leading regional police force (and of a military unit) in order to derive insights for corporate knowledge management. To do so, we have conducted on-site observations, focus groups, and interviews, as well as site-, document-, tool- and software- analyses within the police headquarters. As one main result of our empirical investigation, we find that the police force's practice of hybrid (i.e., digital and physical) knowledge visualization offers a useful strategy for corporate knowledge management as well. We also show how organizations can apply this dual approach to making knowledge visible i.e., using sophisticated visualization software in combination with hands-on physical and permanently visible knowledge boards. We discuss how these two modalities can be combined to improve knowledge management and how this hybrid practice can be understood theoretically through the lens of boundary object theory. With this regard, we also extend boundary object theory by identifying nine dynamic qualities of collaborative visualizations.

In this paper, we review the benefits of sketching or ad-hoc, collaborative hand drawings for knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and knowledge documentation. We have conducted a comprehensive literature review in the fields of design, psychology, and computer science that documents the multiple advantages of sketch-based approaches for managing knowledge in organizations, especially on the team-level. We argue for the complementary use of this 'low-tech knowledge management' approach with existing digital infrastructures and tools. The article concludes with a set of propositions for practitioners regarding the use of sketching in different knowledge management contexts and with implications for future research in this area.

Although the application of sketch-based chart annotation is not pervasive in management, the use of sketchmarks can provide numerous benefits to managerial discussions. The collaborative use of chart annotations can support management teams in their decision making based on quantitative charts by visually eliciting and capturing interpretation processes, clarifying basic assumptions, stimulating different perspectives, and extrapolating trends into the future. Sketch-based annotations combine the simplicity and immediacy of drawing with the clarity and richness of charting. In this paper, we provide the rationale for this under-researched visual management and communication practice, illustrate it through examples, and - as our main contribution - provide a first overview classification of the different sketchmarks that management groups can use in their discussion of quantitative charts (for such contexts as strategy or project reviews). In the end of the paper we briefly describe our future research in this area and highlight implications for management.