Plass, J.L., & Salisbury, M.W. (2002). A living systems design model for web-based knowledge management systems. Educational Technology Research & Dev

Annotated Bibliography
This article outlines the process of creating a knowledge management structure for an organization that is also a living system, in that the users can contribute to the system in order to help it grow and the system itself can analyze the users and adapt in order to accommodate the users needs. This is a function of the organization which has a large contingency of more experienced learners who will soon be leaving for retirement and the organization would like to capture their knowledge and experience so it can be used by the incoming group of workers. The system will be living with an environment with changing conditions, therefore the model used to create the system must be constantly evaluating the environment at each step to determine whether needs are being met. According to the Iterative-prototyping approach to software development, the steps are a nearly linear process of evaluation, establishing the problem space, designing solutions, implementing solutions and final summative evaluation and delivery. (p. 37) This process combined with the Instructional systems design (ISD) approach were combined to create the Living-Systems Approach. The steps of this approach are. Analyze the end-user requirements, design instructional information architecture, develop instructional interaction design, develop instructional information design, implement system design and conduct developmental evaluation (pg. 40). The purpose of this design is to accommodate changing learners and environments in which the final system will live. The article outlines the implementation and use of this method in creating software for a government agency. It concludes that this new design was necessary since the standard ISD process wouldn’t work for a situation with changing needs and evolving design.
My Thoughts
It seems that this type of system will be more in demand as technology progresses. Though the initial investment may be greater, the possibility of having a system in place that can grow and change with the organization is tantalizing. One concern would be that users would stop using it after awhile. Many times resources go unused because people prefer to muddle through on their own, similar to the way people don’t read instructions or ask for directions. Another concern is that a living system will grow, but not necessarily remain trim. The article doesn’t discuss what happens to outdated information or whether it reacts to policy changes that would make certain information on the site obsolete. The danger becomes that the system could grow and become so dense and bogged with information that people quit using it, if it isn’t carefully and clearly organized and accurate. The whole thing very much depends on the situation and the content. This structure works well in this particular case, but it remains to be seen whether it can be generalized to other living system applications, though there doesn’t seem to be any reason why this wouldn’t work.